65 † Corresponding author © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. EVALUATION OF FIELD PEA (PISUM SATIVUM L) GENOTYPES PERFORMANCE FOR YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS AT FIVE GROWING ENVIRONMENTS OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA Yasin Goa1 --- Mathewos Ashamo2 1,2Areka Agricultural Research Center, Areka, Ethiopia ABSTRACT Field experiments consisting of 24 field pea genotypes were evaluated for performance and correlation of yield and its components in five locations of Southern region, Ethiopia using a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2006/07. Data on some agronomical traits such as number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of seeds per pod, Harvest index, 100 seed weight, plant height, biological yield, and seed yield were recorded. Significant difference was observed in all locations among the field pea genotypes for grain yield. The top mean grain yield (2659 kg ha -1 ) over the locations was achieved by the genotype Gume followed by Milky (2625 kg ha -1 ), FpEx-Dz (2511 kg ha -1 ) and Weyyetu (2460 kg ha -1 ). Among the test locations maximum mean grain yield was produced at Angacha (3801.98 kg ha -1 ) followed by Hossana (2087.93 kg ha -1 ), Freeze (1734.96 t ha -1 ) and Waka (1428.8 kg ha -1 ). The mean seed yield and positive environmental indices value of the present study corroborated that Angacha was found to be a favourable environment for the majority of field pea genotypes. Combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) Genotype environment interaction (GEI) was highly significant for all traits of the study though; Markos, IG-51890 and IG-51700 identified to be stable for more than one trait and officially released variety should be demonstrated on farm for acceptability and two ‘pipe line ‘genotypes namely IG- 51890 and IG-51700 for further evaluation in diverse environments of south Ethiopia. Strong positive correlation of number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant, harvest index, biological yield and plant height with seed yield indicates that these traits should be used as selection criteria to improve grain yield. Keywords: Field pea, Performance, Simple correlation, Wider adaptability, Yield components. Contribution/ Originality The study with the objective of releasing new varieties from promising field pea genotypes and demonstrating the commercial cultivars for growing areas of southern region, Ethiopia. 1. INTRODUCTION Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an annual herbaceous legume adapted to cool moist climate with moderate temperatures [1]. It is the second most important staple cool-season food legume among the highland pulses in rural Ethiopia [2]. In Ethiopia field pea is produced in various regions and is widely grown in north, south, west and central parts of the country including, pocket areas in highland and mid highlands with altitude ranging from 1800-3000 m.a.s.l. It is one of the major cool season food legumes, which occupies about 255,968.83 and 52,124.96 hectares of land annually with estimated production of 3,273,775.14 qt and 651,049.80 qt in the Current Research in Agricultural Sciences 2014 Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 65-76 ISSN(e): 2312-6418 ISSN(p): 2313-3716 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 66 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. country and southern region, respectively [3]. Besides, it plays a significant role in commodity group of export, earning a substantial amount of foreign exchange for the country and cash for poor farmers. In 2001/2002, from a total 1,229,336 quintals (qt) of pulses production of the southern region, about 2.3 % of foreign currency was contributed from field pea [4]. Regardless of its significance, national as well as regional average yield is low; 12.79 qt/ha and 12.49 qt/ha, respectively [3]. Of the major problems that contribute for low yield and productivity, are few numbers of improved field pea varieties with high yield potential, wider adaptability, resistant to biotic and a biotic stresses for southern part of Ethiopia in field pea production. Thus to improve the productivity of field pea in Ethiopia, selections of some high yielding varieties has been achieved but unstable for grain yields under a wide range of geographical zones of Ethiopia [2]. Several Researchers have recently reviewed the Genotype x environment interactions (GEI) and its implication for efficient breeding strategies in crop plants for adaptation and yield stability [5]. Stability analysis based on regression technique of popularized by Eberhart and Russell [6] and explained using genetic models based on approach by Perkins and Jinks [7], [8] has made it possible to handle rationally these Genotype x environment interactions. Successful yield improvement strategy also requires the knowledge on the nature of correlation among different traits interact to influence the final yield, especially for crops that are tested in diverse environment. The reviews of literature reveal differences between results reported by various scientists on performance and correlation analysis in different crops. This indicates that the traits association changes with change in genotype. Seboka and Fikresilassie [9] conducted experiments on 16 field pea genotypes and reported that seed yield had positive and significant correlation with grain filling periods, number of seeds per pod, seed per plant, pod length and plant height. Positive and significant association was existed between seed yield and plant height and number of days to physiological maturity. Tesfaye [10]; Tezera [11]also reported that positive and highly significant association exhibited between seed yield and thousand seed weight which is consistent with this study but against with the study reported by Seboka and Fikresilassie [9] in Ethiopia. The positive significant correlation observed between seed yield with plant height are in agreement with results reported by Fikreselassie, et al. [12] but contradicts with earlier studies from Ethiopia [10, 11]. Bakhsh, et al. [13] showed that correlation of plant height, number of primary branches and harvest index with grain yield were different. Several past studies show that the association between characters changes with change in environment and genotype. For example Singh and Singh [14] showed 100 seed weight to be negatively associated with grain yield, whereas, the same trait appeared to be positively associated with grain yield in another study reported by Arshad, et al. [15]. Similarly, the harvest index was positively associated with grain yield in one of these studies whereas; this correlation was negative in the other. It has been suggested that these differences could be due to variations in genotypes studied in different environments [13]. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 67 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. In this Research with determining field pea genotype having high yield and wider adaptability, correlation between yield and yield components were examined in the southern region of Ethiopia 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. History of the Study Area The genotypes were evaluated at five locations: Angacha (2381masl,1759.1mm, Luvicphaeozems, 18.27°c, E38°29’, N07°3’);Hossana (2290masl,1592.1mm, Profondic Luvisols, 17.02°c, E37°5’, N07°5’); Freeze (2884masl,1860.7mm, ,Dystric Luvisols,18°c, E38°00’, N07°52’);Waka(2440masl,817.7mm,Haplicalisol,16.54°c,E37°11’36’’,N07°03’0.83’’)andAreka(1830 masl,1659.1mm,Haplic alisol,20.3°c, E37°41’30’’, N07°4’24’’) [16, 17] representing the field pea growing areas of SNNPRs in the Meher season of 2006/07. 2.2. Design and Methodology The experiment was laid out in complete Randomized block design with three replications of plots having 6 rows of 4m length with 20 cm and 5 cm distance between rows and plants with the plots and blocks path of 1.5m and 2m, respectively. The plant materials used in this Research were twelve promising materials from regional variety trial, eleven released materials obtained from Kulumsa Agricultural Research center and local checks of the respective locations ; a total of 24 field pea genotypes were used in this study during 2006/07 Meher growing season (Table 1). Land preparation was done mid-May to June at all locations and planting of field pea was conducted starting from end of June to Early July. Fertilizer rates of 100 kg DAP per hectare was applied at the time of planting, in all locations. The recommended hand weeding was used to control weeds. Morphological data on plant height, hundred seed weight, pod per plant, Harvest index, seed per plant, biological yield were recorded. Grain yield per plot were recorded and converted into Kg/ha. Analysis of variance for each environment was done for grain yield and other traits, using the SAS System for Windows Release 8.02 [18] system computer program. Bartlett’s test was used to examine the homogeneity of variances between environments for validity of the combined analysis of variance on the data. A combined analysis of variance was done from the mean data (Table 3) from each location, to create the means data for the different statistical analysis methods. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 68 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Table-1. Origin and name of field pea genotypes used for the study Note: - P =Promising material at Areka Agricultural Research Center (ARC), R- Released varieties by various research centers of Ethiopia Note: 1-24 name of genotypes: 1 = Fp. Coll.37/99, 2= Fp. Coll.40/99, 3= Fp. Coll.51/99, 4= Fp. Coll.199/99, 5= IG. -49563, 6= IG -50936,G7= IG- 50547,8= IG- 51664,G9= IG-51700,10= Gume,G11= Megeri,G12= Holletta-90 ,G13= Dadimos ,G14= Tulu dimtu,G15= Hassabe ,G16= Woyyetu,17= IG- 51890,18= Milky,19= FPEX- DZ,20= SAR-Fp-61, 21= SAR-Fp-13,22= Markos,23= Tegegnech,24= Local check 2.3. Stability Analysis Stability parameters were estimated following the Eberhart and Russell [6]. A genotype with high mean seed yield, regression coefficient (b) close to unity and deviation from regression (S2d) near to zero was defined as a stable cultivar [6]. It was calculated by regression mean grain yield of individual genotypes/environments on environmental/genotypic index. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The analysis of variance of field pea genotypes at individual locations (Table 2) was highly significant for mean grain yield at Angacha, Areka,waka and Freeze, whereas significant at Hosanna. Combined analysis of variance were performed for grain yield and other yield related traits to see the nature of main effect and GEI so that it may help to recognize the influence of GEI variety selection for general and or/ specific adaptations. The pooled analysis of variance over locations for plant height, harvest index, pods per plant, seeds per plant, biological yield and grain yield (Table 3) showed highly significant to significant differences between genotypes, locations and genotype x locations interaction, thus indicating substantial variability among these for seed yield and yield components except seed per plant and pod per plant. Significant genotype x environment interaction(GEI) was also reported by Karasu, et al. [21] in soybean, by Bakhsh, et al. [20] in chickpea and by Girma, et al. [19] and Tezera [11] in field pea. The average grain yield range for genotypes over test location was 1540.6 for Fp coll. 199/99 to 2658.8 kg/ha for Gume. Varieties Gume, Milky and Woyyetu were found to be superior yielder with their average yield of 2658.8, 2624.9 and 2460.3 kg/ha, respectively (Table 6). Similarly genotypes were also significantly different for Biological yield, hundred seed weight, and harvest index and plant height across test locations. Average plant height ranged from 117.3 for IG-51890 to 139.4 for Holleta-90. Environmental effects were highly significant for all traits. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 69 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Genotypic (varietal) effects were highly significant for all traits except seed per plant and pod per plant (Table 3). GEI effects were significant for all traits indicating the importance of GEI. Table-2. Analysis of variance of 24 field pea genotypes at individual locations during 2006/07 Source of variation DF Mean Square of grain yield (kg/ha) at each locations Angacha Hosanna Areka Freeze Waka REP 2 3604.22 ns 1197730.4 * 424125.8 ns 426862.4 ns 15571.7 ns VAR 23 1313137.9** 591978.7 * 453387.99** 309029.4 ** 1004844.3 ** Error 46 186645.8 172432.6 89697.44 140035.9 93047.04 CV 11.36 19.88798 19.89026 21.56903 21.34903 LSD 5%) 710.04 682.47 463.65 615.03 501.33 Note:-ns, *, ** are non-significant, significant (P<0.05) and highly significant (P<0.01), respectively. Combined analysis of variance for average harvest index across test environments also showed that genotypes were significantly (P<0.01) different for average harvest index values. Megeri, Gume and Tegegnech were the best genotypes with their over location average harvest index value of 0.32, 0.31 and 0.29, respectively. Although there were observable variations among genotypes for over location means for number of pods per plant and number of seeds per plant, but difference among genotypes were not significant. Mean number of pod and seed of genotypes for test environments ranged from 9.1 to 13; 45 to 73, respectively. Analysis of variance of biological yield showed that highly significant (P<0.0.01) differences were also observed among genotypes. It ranged from 6678 for IG-50547 to 10116 kg/ha for Milky. The highest hundred seed weights were recorded (23.9gm) Gume and Markos (23.6gm) while the lowest was (15.2gm) Fp coll. 199/99. The knowledge of environmental effects on plant traits is essential for choosing appropriate environments for good performance of genotypes [22]. For all plant traits environments were significantly different. The significant effect of environment indicated that the testing environment were statistically different in yield potential i.e the mean yield of genotype differed from environment to environment. The superior mean grain yield (2659kg ha-1) over the locations was recorded by the genotype Gume followed by Milky (2625 kg ha-1), FpEx-Dz (2511 kg ha-1) and Weyyetu (2460 kg ha-1) (Table 6). Among the locations maximum mean seed yield was produced at Angacha (3801.93 kg ha-1) followed by Hossana (2087.95kg ha-1), Freeze (1734.96 t ha-1) and Waka (1428.8 kg ha-1) (Table 4). The environmental indices were found to be positive for days to HI and 100 seed weight under Waka agro climatic condition. At Hosanna, most of the yield contributing traits i.e. pod/plant; seed/pod/, seed/plant, biological yield, harvest index and 100 seed weight were found positive. Under Angacha conditions almost all the yield attributing traits viz., number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, seed/pod, biological yield, harvest index and grain yield possessed positive value for environmental index for each location which suggested that Angacha was the most favorable location for the expression of almost all the characters under study (Table 4). Therefore, results of the present study corroborate d that Angacha was found to be a favourable environment for the majority of field pea genotypes of this study. The yields of a given Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 70 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. genotype changed with the changes of environment indicate the evaluation of genotypes over locations is crucial. This study revealed that the yield potential of each genotype changed with the varying environments. The combined analysis of variance indicated that big influence of environment on yield performance of field pea genotypes in southern Ethiopia. The relatively large portion of GEI variance, when compared to genotypes is of very important consequence. GEI effect was highly significant to significant for all traits and it accounted 14.4 % of total variation for grain yield, 10.67 % for biological yield, 0.46 % for harvest index, 12.63 % hundred seed weight, 9.9% for plant height, 22.05 % for seed per plant and 22.8 % for pod per plant (Table 3). The presence of significant GEI showed that inconsistency in performance of field pea genotypes across environments. Similar result was recorded [11, 19, 23, 24] a change in environment caused GEI on field pea, lentil and grass pea, respectively. These differential responses of genotypes caused difference in ranking of genotypes at each environment. Hence as the extent of GEI increase, there will be difficulties to select varieties, which perform well in diverse environmental conditions. Some genotypes that perform well in one environment are found to be dispirited in other environments. For example Milky was the top yielding genotypes in its grain yield (3015kg/ha) at Freeze while it is the 4th from the last at Areka. The grain yields of Gume were 2405,4828,2546,1428 and 2087 kg/ha at Areka, Angacha, Hosanna, Freeze and Waka, respectively. Also significant differences were observed among locations indicating the dissimilarity of the environments and significant G x E interaction meant that the genotype inconsistently over the different environments (ranks of genotypes changed in different environments). This suggests that, genotypes need thorough and repeated testing before they can be recommended for particular environments or set of environments. Table-3. Combined analysis of variance over locations for grain yields and six yield components of field pea Note:-ns, **, * are non-significant, significant (P<0.05) and highly significant (P<0.01), respectively. N.B Bio=biological yield, Spp2 =seed per plant, ppp= pod per plant, HSW=hundred seed weight, ph= plant height &HI=Harvest index Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 71 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Table-4. Environmental indices, mean yield and CV of individual location in 2006/07 Cropping season Serial No. Characters Waka Areka Hosanna Freeze Angacha 1 Pod/plant -2 -2.78 1.26 -0.43 4.06 2 HI 0.03 -0.042 -0.009 0.041 0.037 3 100 seed weight 1.65 -2.85 1.01 1.01 -0.82 4 Seed/pod -0.45 -0.178 0.04 0.13 0.46 5 Seed/plant -15.29 -16.16 6.08 -1.82 27.14 6 Biological yield (kg/ha) -1724.8 -2109.5 605.6 -2069.23 5297.8 7 Grain yield (kg/ha) -665.59 -676.08 -6.44 -359.43 1707.54 8 Grain yield Location mean 1428.8 1418.31 2087.95 1734.96 3801.93 9 CV 21.34 19.89 19.88 21.56 11.36 Source: Individual location agronomic & yield data 3.1. Correlation of Yield and Yield Related Characters The correlation coefficients among traits such as biological yield, harvest index, number of pod per plant, 100 seed weight, seed /plant and plant height in field pea genotypes for mean data over five test environments are presented in Table 5. The association study of yield with other components indicated that there was high magnitude of positive and significant correlation of grain yield with biological yield (r = 0.89**), seed/plant (r=0.63**),), pod/plant (r=0.59**), harvest index (r = 0.58**), seed/pod (0.36**), plant height (r = 0.48**) and hundred seed weight(r=0.12**). Traits like harvest index, pod per plant, seed/pod, seed /plant, biological yield and plant height each of which had positive and significant correlation one among other traits. But the association of 100 seed weight with pod per plant, seed /pod and biological yield had positive and non significant; seed /plant and plant height had negative and none significantly, whereas the same trait had positive and significant association with harvest index. The result of this study showed the existence of significantly positive association between grain yield and number of yield components, namely biological yield, harvest index, number of pods per plant, 100 seed weight ,seed /plant ,seed per pod and plant height indicating that selection for any one of them permits improvement in grain yield. This finding is in line with [10, 11] reported that the existence of positive association between grain yield and number of other components, namely biological yield per plant, harvest index per plant, number of pod per plant and 1000 seed weight. The positive and significant correlation of seed yield with number of seeds per pod, seed per plant ,pod per plant and plant height in this study corroborate with the Seboka and Fikresilassie [9]. Similarly the positive significant correlation observed between seed yield with plant height in the study are in agreement with results reported by Seboka and Fikresilassie [9], Fikreselassie, et al. [12] but against with previous studies from Ethiopia [10, 11]. The improvement of any one of these characters can improve not only grain yield but also other characters that had close association with grain yield. Hence, for efficient selection for grain yield improvement should consider all these traits at the same time rather than considering single strongly correlated characters. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 72 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Table-5. Simple correlation for mean yield and yield related traits of 24 field pea genotypes GY PH HI PP/PT SS/P SS/PT BIO HSW GY * PH 0.48** * HI 0.58** 0.14** * PP/PT 0.59** 0.54** 0.32** * SS/P 0.36** 0.24** 0.33** 0.29** * SS/PT 0.63** 0.52** 0.39** 0.92** 0.62** * BIO 0.89** 0.55** 0.28** 0.60** 0.29** 0.60** * HSW 0.12** -0.08ns 0.26** 0.008ns 0.08ns -0.009ns 0.05ns * Note: ns, **= non significant and highly significant at 1% PH=plant height, HI= harvest index, PP/PT= pod /plant, HI= Harvest index, SS/P=seed/pod, SS/PT=seed/plant &HSW= hundred seed weight The stability parameters as expressed in terms of mean (x') regression coefficient (bi) and standard deviation from regression (s2di) according to Eberhart and Russell [6] for all the 24 genotype of field pea are given in (Table 7,a,b). The simultaneous consideration of two parameters of stability and yield (Table 7a) for the individual genotype revealed that the genotypes Gume, Milky, Megeri, Dadimos, Woyyetu, FPEX-DZ, SAR-Fp-61 and Tegegnech were high Yielders (between 2100-2700Kg/ha) and had high values of S2di showing the performance of the varieties were unstable while SAR-Fp-13 had average yield and unstable. The yield performance of the genotypes; ‘Fp. Coll.199/99’ (1541kg/ha), ‘IG.-49563’ (1694kg/ha), ‘IG- 50547’ (1557kg/ha), ‘Hassabe’ (1655kg/ha) were poor. All these varieties produced below average grain yield (2094kg/ha), had low deviation from regression indicating non-sensitivity to environmental changes. These varieties cannot be recommended due to their poor performance. The deviation from regression for majority of the genotypes was highly significant which revealed that response of these genotypes was unpredictable. The results indicated that the 24 genotype of field pea included in this study did not exhibit uniform stability and level responsiveness for all the characters. The genotype Markos was the high yielding and stable genotype with 12.19 and 30% higher yield from grand mean and local check, respectively and non-significant regression coefficient and deviations from regression. Similarly, IG-51700 and IG-51890 gave 7.93 and 25.28%; 1.87and 18.25 % more yield than the grand mean and local check with regression close to unity and non-significant deviation from regression, thereby revealing stable performance across the environments, respectively. Taking into account the stability parameters together, genotypes SAR-Fp-13,FpEx-Dz,Milky,IG- 51890,Tulu dimtu,Megeri,Gume,IG-50547,IG-49563,FP coll.199/99 and Fp coll.51/99 have value of bi < 1.00, hence these genotypes can be considered stable for this character (100 seed weight) in low yielding environments. Statistics also favoured IG-50936 and Dadimos for the stability of 100 seed weight in high yielding environments as b1 values of these genotypes are above 1.00 whereas Fpcoll 40/99, Tulu dimtu and Fp Ex-Dz (bi >1.00) indicated stability for seed per plant in high yielding and low yielding environments respectively (Table 7b). The inconsistency in the association of grain yield with seed per plant and 100 seed weight at different locations (Table-7b) revealed significant environmental effect on the performance of varieties. Based on the results obtained from for environments genotype Markos and IG-51700 (100 seed Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 73 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. weight and grain yield), genotype IG-51890 (number of seed per plant and grain yield) were found to be mutually stable. Table-6. Genotypes mean values for grain yield (kg/ha) and six yield components and order of 24 field pea ranking genotype grown at five environments Note: 1-24 name of genotypes 1= Fp. Coll.37/99,2= Fp. Coll.40/99, 3= Fp. Coll.51/99, 4= Fp. oll.199/99, 5= IG. -49563, 6= IG -50936,7= IG- 50547,8= IG- 51664,9=,10= Gume,11= Megeri , 12= Holletta-90, 13= Dadimos, 14= Tulu dimtu, 15=Hassabe, 16=Woyyetu, 17= IG- 51890,18= Milky, 19= FPEX-DZ, 20= SAR-Fp-61, 21= SAR-Fp-13, 22= Markos, 23= Tegegnech, 24= Local check Table-7a. Stability measures of grain yield for 24 field pea genotypes estimated by Eberhart and Russell [6] N.B: Negative values of deviation from regression=0, without *= non significant, **, * = Significant at the 1% and 5% levels, respectively Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 74 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Table-7b. Stability measures of GY, SS /p and 100SW for the 24 field pea genotypes estimated by Eberhart and Russell [6] model N.B: Negative values of deviation from regression=0, with out *= non significant, **, * = Significant at the 1% and 5% levels, respectively 4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Therefore, this study identified Markos, IG-51890 and IG-51700 to combine good yield with stability for 100 seed weight, seed per plant and grain yield. Among those genotypes Markos which is nationally released variety should be demonstrated and popularized on farmers’ field for pre-scale up; whereas, the two promising genotypes IG-51890 and IG-51700 may be recommended for further testing in diverse environments of south region, Ethiopia. Therefore; top yielding field pea genotypes Gume, Milky, FpEx-Dz and Weyyetu were unstable indicating specific adaptability. The positive value of environmental indices and maximum locations mean yield confirm that Angacha was found to be a favourable environment for the majority of field pea genotypes under this study. Similarly, in this study number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, plant height, biological yield and harvest index were the most important factors in determining seed yield indicating that selection for any one of them may permits improvement in grain yield in field pea program. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 1(3): 65-76 75 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere thanks to Dr Elias Urage and MulugetaTesdalu for safe and successful completion of this study. I am also grateful to SARI for financial support given to conduct my Research REFERENCES [1] E. J. Gritton, Field pea. American society of agronomy-crop sci. Madison: Society of America, 1980. [2] T. Asfaw, D. Beyene, and G. Tesfaye, "Genetics and breeding of field pea. 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