Roundtable: The conservation and sustainable use of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) in Ghana - Highlights

As part of a development initiative "The potential of agrobiodiversity for improving diets and nutrition in Ghana" to contribute to the transformation of food systems for healthy and sustainable diets and environmental sustainability, a Roundtable on the conservation and sustainable use of NUS in Ghana was organized in Accra on 28 October 2021, with participation of representatives of government institutions, private sector entities, and civil society organization

Developing improvement strategies for management of the Sisrè berry plant [Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach & Thonn.) Daniell] based on end-users’ preferences in Southern Nigeria

Synsepalum dulcificum is a valuable horticultural and lesser-known crop, famous for the uniqueness of its taste modifying properties, which is candidate for genetic improvement in West Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 100 respondents purposively selected to analyze the current production systems and constraints as well as to document the farmers’ and consumers’ preferences for breeding traits in Southern Nigeria. The results showed that none of the investigated farmers applied all required crop management practices to produce the species (land cleaning before establishment, pegging and lining, holing, base manure application, crop irrigation, weeding, pruning, fertilizers application, and pests and diseases control). Farmers were grouped into three clusters based on crop management practices. There was a strong and highly significant agreement among farmers (Kendall’s W = 0.8, p < 0.001) that bush fire, poor plant growth, drought, pests, and parasitic weed were the five most important constraints in Southwest Nigeria. In Southeast Nigeria, damage by insects and birds, poor seed germinability and poor knowledge of cultivation technics were the most important constraints challenging production. Farmers’ agreement around these constraints was moderate but highly significant (Kendall’s W = 0.6, p < 0.001). Overall, the top three desired breeding traits by farmers included: high growth rate, extended fruit shelf-life, and high fruits yield while the top three consumer’s preferences included: high miraculin potency (long lasting action of the miraculin), fruit glossiness, and high metabolites content. However, cultural specificities were detected in these preferences with a higher agreement in Yoruba farmers’ preferences compared with their counterparts Igbo. The Igbo consumers showed a higher concordance in their traits’ preferences than the Yoruba consumers. These findings pave the way for an informed cultivar development for the Sisrè berry plant in Nigeria and expand knowledge on end-users’ preferences for the species in West Africa

Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries.

Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. Changes in PTB rates, ranging from -90% to +30%, were reported in many countries following early COVID-19 pandemic response measures ('lockdowns'). It is unclear whether this variation reflects real differences in lockdown impacts, or perhaps differences in stillbirth rates and/or study designs. Here we present interrupted time series and meta-analyses using harmonized data from 52 million births in 26 countries, 18 of which had representative population-based data, with overall PTB rates ranging from 6% to 12% and stillbirth ranging from 2.5 to 10.5 per 1,000 births. We show small reductions in PTB in the first (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.95-0.98, P value <0.0001), second (0.96, 0.92-0.99, 0.03) and third (0.97, 0.94-1.00, 0.09) months of lockdown, but not in the fourth month of lockdown (0.99, 0.96-1.01, 0.34), although there were some between-country differences after the first month. For high-income countries in this study, we did not observe an association between lockdown and stillbirths in the second (1.00, 0.88-1.14, 0.98), third (0.99, 0.88-1.12, 0.89) and fourth (1.01, 0.87-1.18, 0.86) months of lockdown, although we have imprecise estimates due to stillbirths being a relatively rare event. We did, however, find evidence of increased risk of stillbirth in the first month of lockdown in high-income countries (1.14, 1.02-1.29, 0.02) and, in Brazil, we found evidence for an association between lockdown and stillbirth in the second (1.09, 1.03-1.15, 0.002), third (1.10, 1.03-1.17, 0.003) and fourth (1.12, 1.05-1.19, <0.001) months of lockdown. With an estimated 14.8 million PTB annually worldwide, the modest reductions observed during early pandemic lockdowns translate into large numbers of PTB averted globally and warrant further research into causal pathways

Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries.

Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. Changes in PTB rates, ranging from -90% to +30%, were reported in many countries following early COVID-19 pandemic response measures ('lockdowns'). It is unclear whether this variation reflects real differences in lockdown impacts, or perhaps differences in stillbirth rates and/or study designs. Here we present interrupted time series and meta-analyses using harmonized data from 52 million births in 26 countries, 18 of which had representative population-based data, with overall PTB rates ranging from 6% to 12% and stillbirth ranging from 2.5 to 10.5 per 1,000 births. We show small reductions in PTB in the first (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.95-0.98, P value <0.0001), second (0.96, 0.92-0.99, 0.03) and third (0.97, 0.94-1.00, 0.09) months of lockdown, but not in the fourth month of lockdown (0.99, 0.96-1.01, 0.34), although there were some between-country differences after the first month. For high-income countries in this study, we did not observe an association between lockdown and stillbirths in the second (1.00, 0.88-1.14, 0.98), third (0.99, 0.88-1.12, 0.89) and fourth (1.01, 0.87-1.18, 0.86) months of lockdown, although we have imprecise estimates due to stillbirths being a relatively rare event. We did, however, find evidence of increased risk of stillbirth in the first month of lockdown in high-income countries (1.14, 1.02-1.29, 0.02) and, in Brazil, we found evidence for an association between lockdown and stillbirth in the second (1.09, 1.03-1.15, 0.002), third (1.10, 1.03-1.17, 0.003) and fourth (1.12, 1.05-1.19, <0.001) months of lockdown. With an estimated 14.8 million PTB annually worldwide, the modest reductions observed during early pandemic lockdowns translate into large numbers of PTB averted globally and warrant further research into causal pathways

Evaluation and phenotypic plasticity of taro [Colocasia esculenta (l.) Schott.] genotypes for nutrient and anti-nutrient composition.

The study was carried out to determine the nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of taro genotypes and also determine the phenotypic plasticity of the genotypes in two agro ecological zones in Ghana. The towns and zones were Bunso in the semi deciduous forest (an upland) and Tano Dumasi in the forest savannah transition agro-ecological (a waterlogged area) zone in the Eastern and Ashanti regions respectively.Two (2) freshly harvested corms of each genotype from each location were assessed for their nutritional (moisture, protein, carbohydrate, ash and fat) and anti-nutritional (phytate, oxalate and tannin) composition Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and AMMI analysis using GenStat 12 edition to assess the effect of genotype, environment and their interaction on the traits studied. Phenotypic plasticity for the genotypes and the traits studied was also calculated. Pearson correlation was also conducted to assess the relationship between the traits studied. There were significant differences among the genotypes for nutrient and anti-nutrient composition except for percentage fat, indicating enough genetic variability among the genotypes, giving room for good selection progress for development of taro varieties. A higher magnitude of the environment over genotype and genotype by environment interaction observed indicates the influence of environment in the expression of the nutritional and anti-nutritional traits. Observed varied phenotypic plasticity among the genotypes for the nutrient and anti-nutrients composition also indicates varied adaptation of the genotypes to the environment. Genotypes BL/SM/115, CE/MAL/32 and CE/IND/16 and hybrids KAO19 × CE/MAL/32 and CE/IND/16×KAO19, CE/IND/16 × BL/SM/10, and CE/IND/16 × BL/SM/115 which recorded high nutrients and low anti-nutrients content and were stable across the environments can be released to farmers for cultivation. They could also be included in breeding programs for the development of enhanced nutritional quality of taro in Ghana

Comparative analysis of management practices and end-users' desired breeding traits in the miracle plant [Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach & Thonn.) Daniell] across ecological zones and sociolinguistic groups in West Africa

Background: Understanding end-users' preferred breeding traits and plant management practices is fundamental in defining sound breeding objectives and implementing a successful plant improvement programme. Since such knowledge is lacking for Synsepalum dulcificum, a worldwide promising orphan fruit tree species, we assessed the interrelationships among socio-demography, ecology, management practices, diversity and ranking of desired breeding traits by end-users of the species (farmers, final consumers and processing companies) in West Africa. Methods: Semi-structured interviews, field-visits and focus groups were combined to interview a total of 300 farmers and final consumers belonging to six sociolinguistic groups sampled from three ecological zones of Benin and Ghana. One processing company in Ghana was also involved. Data collected included socio-demographic characteristics; crop management systems and practices; and preferences of farmers, final consumers and processing companies and ranking of breeding traits. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independence, and non-parametric tests, generalized linear models, multi-group similarity index and Kendall's concordance coefficient. Results: Men (86.33% of respondents) were the main holders of S. dulcificum in the study area. The three most frequent management practices observed in the species included weeding, fertilization and pruning, which were applied by 75.66%, 27.33% and 16.66% of respondents, respectively. The management intensity index varied significantly across ecological zones, sociolinguistic groups, and instruction level (p 0.05). General multigroup similarity indices (CTS ) for farmer-desired traits, on one hand, and final consumer-desired traits, on the other hand, were high across ecological zones (CTS ≥ 0.84) and sociolinguistic groups (CTS > 0.83). Nevertheless, respondents from the Guineo-Congolian (Benin) and the Deciduous forest (Ghana) zones expressed higher agreement in the ranking of desired breeding traits. Preference for breeding traits was 60% similar among farmers, final consumers, and processors. The key breeding traits desired by these end-users included in descending order of importance big fruit size, early fruiting, high fruit yielding (for farmers); big fruit size, high fruit miraculin content, fruit freshness (for final consumers); and high fruit miraculin content, big fruit size, high fruit edible ratio (for processing companies). Conclusion: This study revealed stronger variations in current management practices across ecological zones than across sociolinguistic groups. A high similarity was shown in end-users' preferences for breeding traits across the study area. Top key traits to consider in breeding varieties of S. dulcificum to meet various end-users' expectations in West Africa include fruit size and fruit miraculin content. These results constitute a strong signal for a region-wide promotion of the resource

The rolling circle amplification and next generation sequencing approaches reveal genome wide diversity of Kenyan cassava mosaic geminivirus

Rolling circle amplification is a simple approach of enriching populations of single-stranded DNA plant begomovirus genomes (genus, Begomovirus; family, Geminiviridae). This is an innovative approach that utilizes the robustness of the bacteriophage phi29 DNA polymerase used in circle amplification, together with deep sequencing using Illumina Miseq and bioinformatics to assess population diversity of begomoviruses in naturally infected cassava. The approach is suitable for detecting rare members in a population in begomoviral populations in situation where mixtures of isolates, strains, and multiple species occur. The main objectives were to increase the sensitivity of detection of next generation sequencing by enriching it using rolling circle amplification then determination of the diversity of the cassava mosaic geminivirus. This was done by total nucleic acids isolated from sy mptomatic, field cassava infected plants, then using rolling circle amplification to multiply the less abundant viral sequences. Enriched and non-enriched virus-libraries were subjected to deep sequencing using Illumina Miseq. Using  bioinformatic CLC Genomics 5.5.1 software programs the quality assessment of reads and contig assembly of viral sequences. This was done through de novo and reference-guided assembly. The identity and diversities of the begomoviral  sequences were compared with sequences in Sanger sequencing of viral  components deposited in the NCBI Gene Bank. In this study we have demonstrated that RCA increases the chances of detecting the virus by approximately 10 to 1000 fold and wide genome diversity of cassava mosaic geminivirus in various cassava growing zones in Kenya were detected. In conclusion, this approach described herein is simple and will enhance the exploration of begomovirus diversities from cassava infected plants, irrespective of their viral abundance. This will make it possible for routine screening of field samples as the cost of deep sequencing NGS is decreasing and the advances of bioinformatic software development become enhanced. This is the first report of the RCA-Illumina-NGS approach to explore cassava infected with begomoviruses under field conditions and their diversities. Key words: Illumina Miseq sequencing, geminivirus, ssDNA viruses, viral sequence enrichment, de novo genome assembly, rolling cycle amplification (RCA)

Supply-Side Practices and Constraints of the Kola Nut (Cola nitida (Vent) Schott. and Endl.) Value Chain in Ghana: A Descriptive Evidence

The use of kola nut, including natural or alternative medicinal sources, has inevitably created an increased global market demand in excess of its production and provides great prospects for the growth of the kola nut industry in producing countries like Ghana. Nonetheless, there is a great dearth of information on Ghana’s kola nut supply-side practices and constraints that can provide a basis for the development of the industry. This study fills the research gap by describing the practices and constraints of farmers, processors, and marketers of kola nut in Ghana. Using a survey methodology, results showed that nearly all (99.5%) farmers interviewed had not received any extension training on agronomic practices. Low market price of nuts (61.5%) and pests and diseases (60.4%) were the most reported constraints to kola nut production. Chiefs among motivating factors for cultivating kola nut were alternative livelihood support (58%). Some processors (28.6%) who rinsed nuts after depulping used a solution of Akate Master (bifenthrin) and others (51.0%) used fumigation tablets (aluminium phosphide) (91.0%) for storing the nuts. However, these chemicals may be dangerous to the health of consumers in the long run. The low selling price of kola nuts was perceived to be the most (74.8%) constraint to kola nut processing and marketing. Respondents noted that the red nuts were preferred for their durability during transportation and longer shelf life, while the white nuts were preferred for their taste. The results suggest the need for further agronomic, postharvest handling, preservation, and storage, as well as breeding research to provide recommendations to farmers and processors. To overcome some marketing challenges, there is a need for policy support to standardize pricing and grading systems for the mutual benefit of all the stakeholders