SURVEY OF CASTOR SEED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SEEDLING ESTABLISHMENT AT BADEGGI, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the most versatile oil crops with high socio-economic values around the world. The crop has been demonstrating its economic potentials by earning notable foreign exchange credits to many countries. However, following the incorporation of castor into national research mandate in Nigeria, poor seedling establishment and low yield have been identified as some of the limitations to its commercial production in the country. Based on this background, 51 local and 48 exotic castor germplasm were surveyed on seed physical characters and evaluated for field seedling establishment at three locations. The collections revealed high divergence in seed colour, seed shape, seed mottle, seed caruncle and seed sizes. Variability observed in 100 seed-weights among the accessions ranged from 8.51g to 65g with average of 26.48g. High significant variability in seedling establishment was observed among the accessions. The highest establishments (87 – 89 %) were recorded in Acc. 002 and Acc.062 across the locations and the least (10 – 17 %) was recorded in Acc.104. Significant genotypic effect and no significant effect of genotype X location were recorded. High broad sense heritability of 88 and 22.51 per cent genetic gain show good expected gain from selection programs.