Preliminary Comparison of Seed Productivity of Three Selected Strains of the Boerhavia elegans Choisy ( Nyctaginaceae Caryophyllales ) under the Irrigation System in Wadi Hadhramout Farms

Abstract

The plant Boerhavia elegans Choisy ( Nyctaginaceae Caryophyllales ) is one of the natural vegetation cover plants that a number of farmers in Wadi Hadhramaut have recently focused on cultivating under a well-irrigated system. This research was conducted through collecting Boerhavia seeds and carrying out seed production experiments. Seeds from eight strains were collected from three locations in Wadi Hadhramaut and planted in an observation trial for propagation. From these, the top three high-yielding strains (genotypes) were selected (Wadi Jathmah / Seiyun2, Wadi Al-Khoun / Tarsafat, and Wadi Shuhuh / Shuhuh2) and planted in a statistical experiment using a completely randomized block design with four replications. The experiment was analyzed as a factorial experiment (strains, cuttings, strains × cuttings). The analysis results showed a significant difference between the Seiyun2 strain and both the Shuhuh2 and Tarsafat strains at the 5% level. For the cuttings, there was a significant difference between the second cutting and each of the first, third, and fourth cuttings, as well as a significant difference between the first cutting and each of the third and fourth cuttings at the 5% level. As for the interaction between strains and cuttings, there was a significant interaction, particularly between the three strains and the second cutting at the same level. The most productive strain for Boerhavia elegans seeds was Seiyun2, with a total yield of 1193.5 kg/hectare across the four cuttings, compared to 826.7 kg/hectare and 773.4 kg/hectare for Shuhuh2 and Tarsafat, respectively. The total production percentage of Seiyun2 was 42.7% of the total strain production, compared to 29.6% and 27.7% for Shuhuh2 and Tarsafat, respectively. The best cuttings for the strains were the first and second, as they constituted 75–92% of the total production of the four cuttings. However, adding the third cutting increased the percentage to 97.7%–99.5%. It was also observed in both the observation and statistical experiments that there appears to be a relationship between the plant density of Boerhavia elegans and seed production. Some chemical analyses of Boerhavia elegans seeds and starch indicated that the seeds contain 6.1% protein, 0.98% nitrogen, and 190 milliequivalents/liter of calcium, which are higher than those found in starch.