ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

from both savings in inputs (labor for irrigation, fuel for water pumping, fertilizers) and from higher yields
combined with better product quality.
2.5
2.3
Fig. 2. Annual profit
per m 2 of a
conventional market
garden, an AMG and
an AMG planted
with dates
Profit (US $/ m2)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.1
Conventional
0.7
AMG without
dates
Production systems
AMG with dates
Vegetable varietal adaptation to the Sudano-Sahel
High air temperatures are the main environmental constraint for vegetable production in the Sudano-Sahel (Fig. 3).
Mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures in Niamey
°C
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Fig. 3. Annual
variation in
mean maximum
and minimum
temperatures in
Niamey-Niger.
Note the cooler
night
temperatures
from Mid
October to
March that is the
main vegetables
production
season
Most vegetable varieties produced in the Sudano-Sahel are purchased from seed companies based in Europe and the
USA. Many of these varieties are not adapted to the high temperatures of the Sahel. However, areas with warm
climates such as Australia, Israel, California, India, AVRDC in Taiwan and others have bred heat-tolerant varieties
that are more suitable for Sudano-Sahelian conditions. Over the last four years ICRISAT-Niamey has screened a
large number of varieties of nine vegetables species to select those that are best adapted to the Sudano-Sahel.
Examples of some of these varietal differences are given in Figures 4-7.
yield (t/ha)
160
120
80
40
0
3640 3641 3019 3057 3060 3068 3059 3026
variety
l.s.d.(0.05)= 13.95
Fig. 4. Fruit yield
of eight hybrid
tomatoes from
Hazera
Company. All
varieties have
firm fruit with
long shelf life
and tolerance to
a wide range of
soil born diseases
viruses and pests
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