Agronomic Performance of Some
Exotic Tobacco Cultivars Under
the Zimbabwean Environmental
Conditions
R. T. Ruzane, F. Magama, S. Banana
and S. Dimbi
CORESTA CONFRENCE 2019
TOBACCO RESEARCH BOARD
KUTSAGA
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Presentation Outline
o Background
oMaterials and Methods
o Results
oConclusion
oAcknowledgements
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Background
o Cultivars play an important role in tobacco
production.
o Agronomic attributes of a cultivar are very
important to farmers and merchants
o Growers continuously demand new varieties
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Background
o Plant breeders to make sure that new
varieties are available to growers
o it’s important to assess the progress of local
breeding efforts relative to achievements
made by other breeders in order to identify
gaps in variety development.
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Objective
o To compare the
agronomic performance
of local and some exotic
tobacco cultivars under
the Zimbabwean
environmental
conditions
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Materials and Methods
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Research Site
o Kutsaga Research Station
o Located 16 Km South East of the CBD
o Longitude 310 13’ E, Latitude 170 91’ S
o Altitude of 1 480 m
oGranite sands
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Cultivars
o 18 varieties used
in trial ( 5 Countries)
o – Tested for 3 seasons
o Rain fed conditions
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Cultivars
Origin Code
Country 1 B1-B6
Country 2 C1 & 2
Country 3 Q1 & 2
Country 4 G1-3
Zimbabwe K RK26, K RK64, K RK66, K RK71, K RK72
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Design
o Experimental design
Randomised
complete block
design (RCBD) with 18
treatments in 3 blocks
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Cultural Practices
o Lands - early
ploughed (January
to end of March)
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Cultural Practices
o Fumigation done
prior
o Two supplementary
nematicides at
planting and at 6
weeks after planting
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Cultural Practices
o Compound C
(6:8:17) and
Ammonium Nitrate
fertilizers applied
(Rates based on soil
fertility tests)
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Cultural Practices
o Special emphasis on
CPAs
o All recommended
applied as
preventatives for foliar
diseases
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Measurements
o Yield
✓Leaf expansion
✓Stalk height
✓Yield data (kg/ha)
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Measurements
oQuality
✓Grade Index
✓Curing style
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Measurements
✓Season Quality
✓Root knot
damage
✓Leaf diseases
✓General
appearance
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Data analysis
o Data subjected to ANOVA
oGenStat 18th edition (2016, VSN
International) used
o Treatment means separated using the least
significance difference (LSD) at P<0.05
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Results
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Quality of Season 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Tem
p º
C
Ra
infa
ll (
mm
)
Month
Rainfall = 694.73 mm
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Quality of Season 2
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Tem
p º
C
Ra
infa
ll (
mm
)
Month
Rainfall = 1093.76 mm
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Quality of Season 3
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Tem
p º
C
Ra
infa
ll (
mm
)
Month
Rainfall = 673.07 mm
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Leaf expansion (largest leaf)
0
15
30
45
60
Lea
f Ex
pa
nsi
on
Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 4Cntry 1 Cntry 3
F-prob = <0.001
o Zim varieties generally had a larger leaf
o Country 3 varieties generally had a smaller leaf
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Leaf expansion (Penultimate)
0
15
30
45
60
Lea
f Ex
pa
nsi
on
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
F-prob = 0.028
o B6, K RK64 & K RK72 had the highest geomean
o Country 3 varieties had the lowest geomean
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Stalk height (cm)
0
30
60
90
He
igh
t (c
m)
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
F-prob = <0.001
o Country 1 & 3 varieties were short and compact
o Zim & Country 4 varieties were amongst the tallest
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0
6
31
4 5 7
2
Gall-rating scale
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0
6
31
4 5 7
2
8
Gall-rating scale
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RKN Evaluation
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Sc
ore
(0
-8)
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Yield (Kg/ha)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
Tota
l M
ass
(K
g/h
a)
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
F-prob = 0.634
o K RK64, K RK66 and K RK71 had the best yield
o Yield ranged from 2585 – 3582 kg/ha
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Grade Index
0
15
30
45
60
75
Gra
de
in
de
x (
%)
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
F-prob = 0.292
o All varieties had an acceptable grade index
(GI) of above 50%
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Curing Style
0
25
50
75
100
Pe
rce
nt
(%) Other Grades
orange
Lemon
Pale lemon
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
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Curing Style
0
25
50
75
100
Pe
rce
nt
(%) Other Grades
orange
Lemon
Pale lemon
Cntry 1 Cntry 2 Zimbabwe Cntry 3 Cntry 4
o Exotic cultivars produced a higher proportion
of pale lemon styles
o Zim varieties had more lemon – orange styles
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Summary
o For leaf measurements, the Zim varieties
proved to be superior than some exotic
cultivars
oGenerally all varieties had acceptable yield
with K RK64, K RK66 and K RK71 being the
best variety
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Summary
oGrade index was statistically similar for all
cultivars
o Exotic cultivars succumbed to RKN
challenge
o Exotic cultivars produced a large proportion
of pale lemon styles while Zim cultivars had
predominantly lemon/orange styles
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Discussion
o Varieties are bred for specific environments
o Convergence of agronomic selection
parameters
o Performance of exotic cultivars are affected
in the absence of CPAs liberally applied
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Conclusions
o The Zimbabwean breeding programme is
highly robust
o Local varieties are more adapted to local
conditions
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Acknowledgements
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THANK YOU
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