Farmers' preferences for East African highland cooking banana 'Matooke' hybrids and local cultivars

BackgroundAn understanding of farmers' preferences of new banana cultivars and their characteristics is critical for developing and selecting cultivars that meet consumer needs. Therefore, phenotypic selection in a genetically variable population remains an important aspect of plant breeding.MethodsThe participatory varietal selection approach for preference ranking was used on 31 'Matooke' secondary and primary triploid hybrids and local banana cultivars evaluated between 2016 and 2019 in Uganda and Tanzania to investigate how farmers' preference attributes could help breeders identify superior cultivars. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The qualitative data from farmers' focus group discussions (FGDs) were described using content analysis. The Mann–Whitney U test and Wilcoxon's signed-rank test were used to confirm the difference in farmers' preferences between groups.ResultsFarmers' approaches for defining characteristics were multivariate, and their preferences varied by site and country. Large fruit, a large bunch, market acceptability of the banana bunch, a sturdy stem, and an attractive appearance of the banana plant were the characteristics most preferred by farmers in Tanzania and Uganda. Tanzanian farmers preferred large bunches over other characteristics like bunch marketability and robust stem. Large fruit, drought tolerance, a strong stem, and phenotypic similarity to local cultivars were prioritized by Ugandan farmers. Both men and women farmers were more concerned with production-related characteristics, but the former valued marketing-related characteristics more, while the latter preferred use-related characteristics. Their preferences did not differ statistically, but the relative importance assigned by each group to the selected attributes was different.ConclusionFarmers' varietal preferences are frequently based on some assumed requirements, resulting in cultivar rejection or non-adoption. Therefore, determining the value attributed to each characteristic by various farmer groups is crucial in developing 'Matooke' banana cultivars with desired attributes that will boost the rate of adoption on-farms. Breeding initiatives that establish a system of integrated approaches and rely on thorough diagnosis of both production and consumption characteristics will best serve farmers' diverse preferences. To accomplish this, planning for varietal improvement initiatives at various levels—including internationally, regionally, nationally, and locally—would require a strong participatory structure that is gender inclusive

Framework for behavioral intelligence research in plant breeding

Large-scale challenges such as climate change, malnutrition, reducing biodiversity, social inequities, and poverty threaten the well-being of millions of smallholders in the Global South. Recognizing these challenges, plant breeding efforts have embraced new types of targets to better support smallholders. They do so, for instance, by breeding more climate-tolerant and nutritious varieties, and by paying more attention to breeding of so-called orphan crops, which are typically not traded internationally but play an important role in regional food security. In doing so, plant breeding programs are placing a greater emphasis on ensuring that new varieties and products meet producers’ and consumers’ needs.PRIFPRI1; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for allMarkets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI); Food and Nutrition Polic

Contextualizing women's and men's trait preferences and choice options in the uptake of breeding products: A framework

Women and men value chain actors in low-income countries assess and choose varieties, animal breeds, or strains according to a multitude of factors, such as local agroecological conditions, production and consumption habits, and seed availability and accessibility. Continuous changes in the ecological, economic, and political contexts shape women’s and men’s day-to-day social interactions as well as their livelihood options and can create new needs for specific breeding products. However, the uptake of new breeding products is also contingent on women’s and men’s range of choice options. The existence and extent of these choice options depend on one’s social and economic position and capacity to negotiate access and control over strategic resources.Non-PRIFPRI5; DCA; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Cross-cutting gender themeMarkets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI); Food and Nutrition PolicyCGIAR Gender Platfor

Enrichment with classical music enhances affiliative behaviours in bottlenose dolphin.

Environmental enrichment is a crucial element for the promotion of welfare of animals kept under human care. While a large variety of environmental enrichments has been proposed and studied for terrestrial animals, including a growing area represented by acoustical enrichment such as music, the same is not true for marine mammals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of classical music to act as an enrichment for bottlenose dolphins under human care (Tursiops truncatus); its effect on the dolphins’ behaviour were compared with that of a less complex auditory stimulus (rain sound), another novel, but visual enrichment (slideshow of photographs), and an already known form of enrichment (floating objects). The study was conducted on 8 dolphins housed in a dolphinarium in Riccione, Italy. Enrichments were provided for 20 minutes/day, on 7 days for each enrichment type. Their effect was evaluated by observing changes in behaviours expressed during or shortly after the provision of the enrichment. Some effects were unspecific, being shared by most, or all types of enrichment, including an increase of activity levels and synchronous swimming. However, only classical music was able to increase several social affiliative behaviours both during its presentation and after its removal. The results indicate that classical music has positive effects on behaviour, that qualify it as an effective environmental enrichment for dolphins in this context. Some aspects remain to be elucidated, including the mechanisms by which music exerts its effects, and how specific to classical music the latter are. Nonetheless, the specificity of effects on social behaviour suggest that classical music could be particularly useful when an improvement in social behaviours is needed

LYMPHOCRYPTOVIRUS-ASSOCIATED PTLD VIRAL TRANSCRIPT EXPRESSION IN 8 XENOTRANSPLANTED CYNOMOLGUS MACAQUES

The aim of this work is to characterize posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD), frequently related to Epstein Barr Virus, observed in 8 adult immunosuppressed cynomolgus macaques, which received neural precursors from CTLA4Ig transgenic pigs to treat a pharmacologically-induced form of Parkinson's disease. The mean time of occurrence of the first clinical signs of PTLD was 177.62 days and the mean survival time was 199.87 days. 87.5% of PTLD occurred in the nasal cavity (50%), intestinal tract (50%), or both (12.5%); 50% with lymph nodal involvement. The histological diagnosis and immunohistochemical profile (anti-CD3, anti-CD5, anti-CD20, anti-CD79cyt, Ki-67) is compatible with a monomorphic PTLD, most frequently diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, high grade. Double-labeled immunohistochemistry for Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA)-2 and CD20 revealed a high percentage of CD20+ neoplastic cells also positive for EBNA-2, while CD3+ cells in the tumors were negative for EBNA2. RT-PCR of transcripts EBNA-1 and Latent Membrane Protein-1 (LMP-1) have been performed in neoplastic cells from 5/8 PTLD primates and 2 hyperplastic lymph nodes from 2 PTLD+ primates (control). A consensus-PCR with specificity for EBNA-2 gene was performed on PTLD+ samples with a 92% of sequence identity between Rhesus and cynomolgus viruses. EBNA-1 and EBNA-2 expression was demonstrated in all PTLD+ specimens (no expression in controls). Four different RT-PCR assays failed to detect LMP-1 in all specimens. This report identifies in detail the pathological features of PTLD in cynomolgus monkeys in the setting of neuronal transplantation and a specific pattern of viral transcript expression (EBNA-1+ EBNA-2+ LMP-1-) in Lymphocryptovirus-associated PTLD

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services