Seasonal effects on the morphological traits, yield characteristics, and nutritional components of ratooned adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) varieties

Abstract

Adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) is a promising crop and an alternative staple food in the Philippines valued for its ease of cultivation and nutrient-dense content grains. One of the advantages in cultivating adlay is its capacity to produce new crop from the roots after harvest, also known as ratooning. However, there is limited information on the morphological and nutritive value of different ratooned adlay varieties at different seasons. This study was conducted to evaluate the morphological and nutritional components of the five ratooned adlay varieties across seasons. Trials were conducted during the dry season (January to June 2022) and wet season (July to December 2022) using randomized complete block design with four replicates. Seasonal variation in morphological traits, yield and nutritive value were observed in five ratooned adlay varieties. Ratooned adlay varieties had higher survival rate during the wet season. Gulian variety had the highest survival rate (52.85%) during the wet season while the average survival rate across varieties remained below 50%. Weight of 1000-seeds and yield of all ratooned adlay varieties were highly significant during the wet season compared to the dry season. Gulian variety had the highest yield of 1,705 kg/ha in the wet season while Tapol had the highest yield of 815 kg/ha during the dry season. Nutritionally, the Pulot variety had the highest fat content (2.65%) and Tapol had the highest fiber (3.13%) across both seasons, on average. Gulian variety had the highest grain yield during the wet season with 88.09% return of expenses while Tapol variety had the highest grain yield during the dry season but with -9.5% return of expenses among the ratooned adlay varieties in this study. The study highlights that season significantly affects ratooning efficiency of adlay varieties.