Participatory Germplasm Conservation and Seed Production of Naturalized Pumpkin Landraces in Kenya

Abstract

Although seeds come first in the food chain, local and international companies find it unprofitable to invest in provision of African indigenous vegetable seeds to growers. The present study trained farmers in on-farm multiplication of seeds for preferred local pumpkin landraces previously collected from Kakamega and Nyeri counties in Kenya. Nine naturalized accessions of Cucurbita moschata (Lam.) Poir were selected for use based on their earlier superior performance in evaluation trials. They were planted at 2 m x 2m in a completely randomized design, replicated three times in Butere- Mumias, and managed by farmers in Shinyalu and Othaya. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and subjected to Chi-square and variance analyses, respectively. The three sites significantly (P0.05) different. The farmers trained in three years were 132 in Kakamega and 82 in Nyeri. The present study has found sufficient seed yield variation in naturalized pumpkin accessions in Kenya that could be exploited. Consequently, KK-30, KK-35, KK-40 and KK-45 are recommended for adoption and development into commercial pumpkin seed and fruit production cultivars. Regional farmers should be mobilized and empowered to commercially produce and conserve the preferred, but endangered pumpkin produce and germplasm.