Germination studies on winged bean accessions (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus L.)

Abstract

The winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus L.) is an underutilized legume crop that has a good nutritional profile and has great potential to improve food security in the tropics. The purpose of this experiment was to study the genetic variability between 20 accession types from the germplasm (seed, root, and leaf material) grown in a controlled laboratory environment. The germplasm was grown using the roll towel method in a completely randomized design with three replications (three separate trials). The seedlings were assessed for their performance after 14 days of growth by measuring a number of key parameters: germination percentage, shoot length, root length, and number of leaves. The germination percentage for the 20 accessions ranged from 5.33--9.33%, and there was a significant amount of variation in the seed vigour of the accessions due to the high coefficient of variation associated with this measurement. In addition, there was approximately 10% variation in root length (11.17-30.67 cm) and shoot length (18.27-40.90 cm) but only moderate variability in the number of leaves (2.33-9.33 leaves per plant). The two accessions that had the best performance for germination were NUWB-03 and NUWB-22, whereas Malappuram and NUWB-34 had the best performance for root and shoot growth. On the other hand, the GOA accessions had the least performing accession type with respect to all of the above parameters. These results indicate that there is substantial genetic variability between the germplasm accessions studied, which could be exploited to select superior genotypes for crop improvement and further breeding programmes.