Diversity in Okra Species:Okra is an important vegetable crop in the world. It is very rich in minerals and vitamins. Diversity is the mainspring of evolution and without variation little genetic advance can be achieved. My research has been to catalogue the variation pattern in both Abelmoschus esculentus (L. Moench) and Abelmoschus caillei (A. Chev) Stevels, using multivariate techniques. These results provided a basic information for prosecuting a full-fledged okra breeding programme.
Character Association in Okra:Pod yield in okra is a quantitative character influenced by many other characters. My research results have identified the relative importance of other characters and this has facilitated the construction of a selection index. In addition, the knowledge of inheritance of these characters would provide sufficient grounds for effective selection in a breeding programme.
Analysis of Genotype x Environment Interaction in Okra:The presence of genotype x environment interaction is a major problem in getting a reliable estimate of heritability and it makes it difficult to predict with greater accuracy the rate of genetic progress under selection for a given character. The extensive study of this subject has given insight into the need to breed for specific locations as many genotypes tend to perform best in some locations. The studies also give opportunity to evaluate various stability analytical techniques.
Cowpea Improvement and Production:Cowpeas are high protein food crop which are also utilised as hay for livestock and as green manure. It has high quality protein that is free of metabolic inhibitos. My studies on cowpeas covered variability and inter-character association, as well as the agronomy and stability analysis. Some cowpea varieties have been identified that will perform well in Ogun state environment.
Genotype x Environment Interaction in Soybean:Soybean is the world’s most important oil seed and grain legume. It has the largest usable protein content of all cultivated legumes. In spite of its qualities, soybean is not a popular crop in Nigeria, hence, the need to popularise it. To this end, I have been collaborating with soybean research at IITA. I have been a part of the multilocational trials and gxe analysis. These studies, which started in 1991, have identified some soybean varieties that could be grown in some parts of Nigeria. I also collaborate with Soybean National Programmes in the agronomic evaluation of breeding lines.
Resistance to Defoliation in Soybean:I have been involved in the study of inheritance of resistance to defoliation, caused by Spodotera sp in soybean. The results pointed to the possibility of producing varieties resistant to the leaf pest.
Character Association in Soybean:The inter-character correlation and inheritance in soybean has also been studied .The result indicated that effectiv3e selection could be made using some characters.
