Seed Production Aspects of Macroptilium atropurpureum cv. Siratro in Uganda

Abstract

The effect of support height on seed yield components and seed quality of Macroptifium atropurpureum cv. Siratro was determined. Plants were sown at a spacing of 1 m x 1 m in a complete randomised block design replicated four times and staked at 0, 1, 2 and 3 metres high. Support significantly increased the number of inflorescences per plant (P<0.01), flowers per inflorescence (P<0.01), pods per seed head (P<0.01), seeds per pod (P<0.05), weight of 100 seeds (P<0.05), and seed yield per square metre (P<0.01). The number of inflorescences per plant and seed yield (g m') were highly correlated with support height, N=0.98 and 0.97, respectively. Staking significantly (P<0.05) improved the germination rate and percentage of the harvested seed.