Cultivar evaluation and its role in seed production in South Africa
1995
Liebenberg, A.J.
In South Africa a national cultivar evaluation programme is run by the Agricultural Research Council in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, the seed industry and farmers' cooperatives. It is financed by the dry bean producers. A total of 30 cultivars are planted annually at 34 localities. The lowest yield of a cultivar at different yield targets in nine out of ten years is calculated by means of a regression analysis. This is called it's yield reliability. All the cultivars are characterised for disease resistance, quality and agronomic traits. The results are published in an annual report which is widely distributed among extension officers and producers. Farmers are able to select cultivars with a high yield potential, a low disease risk or some other trait of particular importance such as canning quality. Producers can then order seed well in advance. This enables seed companies to plan for the production of enough disease free certified seed. The disease free seed scheme originated as an extension of the cultivar trials and it ensures the availability of high quality seed of the best cultivars.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical