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).