Phenotypic variation in amaranths (Amaranthus species) from West Nile, Central and Western Uganda
Abstract
The genus Amaranthus has over 70 species. It is commonly called Ddodo or Bbugga in Uganda.
It is predominantly grown for cash and it’s consumed both as grain and a leafy vegetable. In spite
of the high nutrient content, vegetable amaranth has significantly received less research compared
to the grain amaranth. The main objective of this study is to identify variation in Amaranthus spp.
grown in different parts of Uganda and these findings are expected to be a valuable contribution
to amaranth and lay the basis for breeding work at the Horticulture Unit of the Department of
Agricultural Production of Makerere University. The study was carried out at Makerere University
Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo in Wakiso district, Uganda. We used Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates and collected data on various parameters
which included plant morphology, development, growth and yield. The data was analysed using
R on R studio interface (R 4.2.2). Central 1 was the best performing genotype of the five genotypes
with the maximum height (146cm), maximum leaf number (158), first to flower (29 days), branch
number (16) and highest fresh plant biomass (36.35g).