Case study 5: Cluster analysis of morphological and agronomic characteristics of Napier grass - part of the strategy for selecting 'best-bet' genotypes for feeding to livestock

Study design/Study B1

The multi-location evaluation of a selection of Napier grass accessions was undertaken by the African Feed Resources Network across a number of locations as shown in the table below (Ndikumana and Kamidi). The nine accessions had been recommended by ICRISAT. Except for one location promising 'local' varieties commonly grown in the particular region were also included in the experiments as shown in the table. Experiments were laid down as randomised blocks but details of the numbers of replications have not been given in the publications.

Accession	Location
Accession	L1	L2	L3	L4	L5	L6	L7	L8	L9	L10
16834	x	x	x	x	x	x		x		x
16835	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x
16837	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
16838		x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x
16840		x		x	x				x	x
16786	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x
16791	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x
16798	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
15743		x		x	x	x		x	x	x
Local varieties	4	1	1	3	6	0	1	2	1	1

L1: Cote d'Ivoire; L2: Ghana, L3: Tanzania; L4: Tanzania; L5: Kenya; L6: Ethiopia;
L7: Uganda; L8 Ethiopia; L9: Zimbabwe; L10 Malawi

The sites covered a wide range of agro-climatic conditions in the sub-humid (L3, L4, L7, L9 and L10), humid (L1 and L2) and highland (L5, L6 and L8) ecological zones.