EVALUATION OF GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF BUTTERNUT VARIETIES PRODUCED UNDER DIFFERENT AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONES IN WESTERN KENYA

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1 EVALUATION OF GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF BUTTERNUT VARIETIES PRODUCED UNDER DIFFERENT AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONES IN WESTERN KENYA FEMINA MMBONE OGALLO MSc. HORTICULTURE

2 Butternut plant

3 SUPERVISORS 1. Dr. Jane Ambuko 2. Dr. George Cheminingwa

4 INTRODUCTION Butternut (Curcubita moschata) belongs Curcubitaceae family It originated from Mexico and is now widely cultivated in many countries (Mediterranean and Tropical) Butternut is rich in Vitamin C, A and E. It also has sugars and minerals such as Mn, Mg and K Butternut has many uses; it can be roasted, toasted, boiled, made into fries, casseroles, grilled or made into soup. It can be blended with other foods to improve their nutritive value It has a long shelf life up to 3 months at room conditions

5 INTRODUCTION CONT The main producing areas for butternut are Nyanza province with 336 ha. followed by Rift Valley province with 123 ha. and Eastern province with 103 ha.(hcda, 2010 ) In 2010 total area under production was 650 ha. producing 9194 tonnes valued at ksh246,678,000/= No studies on yield potential

6 PROBLEM STATEMENT Siaya County is persistently a food deficit county with 7(seven) months food insecure and 5(five) months food secure. This affect the 842,305 people living in the County or the 158,925 households. The main staple food is maize yet cannot grow very well due to the harsh climate prevailing i.e. erratic rains. Rainfall reliability is at 66% Most part of parts of the County lie within AEZ LM3, LM4 and LM5 which are not optimal maize producing areas There is need for alternative nutritive crops which can thrive better than maize in this dry regions

7 PROBLEM STATEMENT CONT. Kenya is classified into 7(seven) climatic zones basing on either vegetations or humidity. Mooreland is zone 1 and actually is the top of mountains such as Mt. Kenya and Mt. Elgon. In this zone the altitude is very high i.e. above 14,000 ft A.S.L No crop can grow in this zone. However mosses and ferns grow very well here. The next zone as you descend is Upper Highlands (UH). This zone is over 7,000 ft A.S.L and it is very suitable for tea production, dairy farming and Merino sheep farming. Such areas are Limuru, Kinangop, Nyandarua. The next is Lower Highlands (LH). This area is sometimes referred to as the wheat zone or the upper limit coffee zone. It is over 5,ooo ft A.S.L to 7,oo0 ft A.S.L

8 PROBLEM STATEMENT CONT.. The next as you descend is Upper Midlands (UM). It is also called the coffee zone. Its altitude is over 5,000 ft to 5,500 ft A.S.L. The next is Lower Midlands (LM) which sometimes it is referred as sugarcane zone. This is then followed with Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALS) and finally Swamps and very low lying areas.

9 PROBLEM STATEMENT CONT Butternut squash is one such crop that should be promoted There is a ready market (domestic and export) for the crop hence potential for increased income among small holder farmers Despite its great potential, little research efforts have focused on this crop Some of the research gaps that need to be addressed include performance of commercial varieties under the various agro-climatic conditions, optimal fertilization regimes, maturity indices under different production conditions and postharvest quality attributes

10 THE BROAD OBJECTIVE To determine the performance of two butternut varieties grown under two different agro ecological zones namely Lower Midlands 3 and Upper Midlands 3 and their quality attributes

11 THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES 1.To evaluate growth and yield performance of two butternut varieties (Waltham and Butter Boy hybrid) grown under two different agro ecological zones (AEZs) in Kenya; Lower Midlands 3 and Upper Midlands 3 2. To determine the effect of production environment (AEZ) and fertilization on quality attributes of the Waltham and Butter Boy hybrid butternut varieties

12 HYPOTHESIS Butternut varieties grown in different agro ecological zones will not have same yields and quality attributes.

13 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN : The experimental design to be used is RCBD i.e. Randomized Complete Block design No. of factors are 3(three) i.e. (i)the varieties Waltham and Butter Boy Hybrid (ii) The agro ecological zones LM3 and UM3 (iii) The fertilizer application N.PK and Urea No. replicates is 3 No. treatments are 24. STUDY SITE: Siaya Agricultural Centre (LM3 zone)and KARI Kakamega (UM3 zone)

14 MATERIALS Butternut seed: 2(two) tins of Butternut seed (each 50 gm) from Amiran Kenya LTD and Kenya Seed co. The varieties for trial are Butter boy hybrid and Waltham -Fertilizer: 1(one) bag DAP (50 kg each) 1(one) bag CAN (50 kg each) 1(one) litre Easy grow flowers and fruits Insecticide - 1(one) litre Diazol Fungicide 1(one) kg Ridomil Manure: 100 wheel barrows of farm yard manure (one) roll of sisal string 1(one) tape measure 4(four) watering cans 1(one) knapsack sprayer

15 METHODOLOGY Objective 1. Growth yields attributes comparison will be done. The attributes to be compared are germination %, size and weight of fruits, no. days to flowering, no. of days to maturity, no. of fruits per plant, average weight of the fruits Objective 2. Post harvest attributes will be compared including, color, cumulative weight loss, Vitamins, minerals, overall shelf life

16 WORKPLAN MONTH DEVELOP CONCEPT NOE Material Acquisition Land Preparatio n Carry Out Farm Operations Collecting and Analyzing Data Working on Thesis Defendi ng Thesis Aug 2013 Sept 2013 Oct.2013 XXX Nov Dec XXX Jan Feb

17 WORKPLAN CONT.. MONTH DEVELOP CONCEPT NOE Material Acquisition Land Preparatio n Carry Out Farm Operations Collecting and Analyzing Data Working on Thesis Defendi ng Thesis March 2014 XXX Apr.2014 XXX May.2014 XXX June 2014 July 2014 Aug Sept.2014

18 WORKPLAN CONT.. MONTH DEVELOP CONCEPT NOE Material Acquisition Land Preparatio n Carry Out Farm Operations Collecting and Analyzing Data Working on Thesis Defendi ng Thesis March 2014 XXX Apr.2014 XXX May.2014 XXX June 2014 July 2014 Aug Sept.2014

19 WORKPLAN CONT.. MONTH DEVELOP CONCEPT NOE Material Acquisition Land Preparatio n Carry Out Farm Operations Collecting and Analyzing Data Working on Thesis Defendi ng Thesis Oct.2014 XXX Nov.2014 XXX Dec.2014

20 THE BUDGET 1(one) bag DAP (50 kg ksh4000/=.ksh4000/= 1(one) bag CAN (50 kg ksh3000/=.ksh3000/= 2(two) tins butternut seeds each ksh200/= ksh400/= 1(one) litre Easy flowers and fruits ksh1200/= ksh1200/= 1(one) litre ksh 1500/=..ksh1500/= 1(one) kg ksh 1800/= ksh1800/= 1(one) roll of sisal ksh200/=..ksh200/= A ksh3000/= ksh3000/= Knapsack ksh10000/= ksh10000/= 100 wheelbarrow of ksh60/= ksh6000/= 4(four) watering ksh300/= ksh1200/= 1(one) tape ksh300/=..ksh300/= 4(four) ksh300/=..ksh1200/= Brix test..ksh50,000/= Supervision fee - 9(nine) field ksh7000/=.ksh63000/= Labour 30 ksh300/=.ksh9000/= Grand total.ksh155500/=