PREDICTING AMARANTH YIELD (Amaranthus Hypochondriacus) CULTIVATED ON A NON-COHESIVE SOIL

Amaranth hypochondraicus is an uncommon amaranth in West Africa highly characterized with his multifunctional values which ranges from its good edible leaves, ornamental purpose and to its highly nutritious and medicinal seeds. This study was aimed at predicting yields obtained from an experimental farm using irrigation water as a single factor at four different levels. The levels of factor imposed include: applying 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% of the water needed to bring soil moisture content to field capacity. The site used in the study was designed to provide for maximum water control as much as possible. The plot framing was used to demarcate the study site into sixteen different plots of 1 m^sup 2^ each with four replicates designed with Latin Square Experimental Design. A total crop yield of 33.6 kg was obtained for all the plots. Plots treated with 90% water needed to bring soil moisture to field capacity recorded yield of 11.6 kg (representing 34.52% of total yield), plots with 80% water treatment yielded 9.3 kg (27.68%), plots with 70% water treatment recorded 7.2 kg (21.43%) and those treated with 60% water yielded 5.5 kg (16.37%). The results showed that higher yield is obtainable at higher water application. Using Design Expert to analyze the yields from the field, the predicted yields which correlate with the actual yields from the field was obtained. Significant differences existed between the yields obtained. The predicted and actual yield models gave ranges of R-square values with the highest value of 0.86 obtained plots treated with 90% water needed to bring soil moisture to field capacity. R-square values of 0.64, 0.61 and 0.47 were obtained for plots treated with 80%, 70% and 60% water needed to bring soil moisture to field capacity. The study shows that Amaranthus hypochodraicus is better predicted with minimum water stress of the field capacity.