43 research outputs found
Groundnut cropping guide
This cropping guide is one in a series being produced for extension workers by the African Soil
Health Consortium (ASHC). The series also covers banana-coffee, cassava, maize-legumes,
sorghum and millet-legumes, rice systems and sweetpotato, but this guide is focused on groundnut.
Rural extension workers will find this handbook particularly useful for guiding their clients as they
shift from producing groundnut under traditional cropping systems for subsistence to more marketoriented
enterprises through sustainable intensification.
The guide aims to provide, in a single publication, all the most important information needed to
design and implement effective systems, including those that combine groundnut with a range of
other crops, either as intercrops or in rotations, but with the primary focus on groundnut.
Although ASHC’s work is focused on the needs of smallholder farmers in Africa, emerging and
established commercial farmers will also find the contents relevant and useful.
The ASHC mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers through adoption of
Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approaches that optimise fertilizer use efficiency and
effectiveness. The overarching framework for the guide is therefore provided by ISFM.
The overall objective of the handbook is to provide simple, useful tips on how farmers with small
to medium-sized farms can benefit from more efficient and profitable groundnut production.
Currently yields in Africa average under 1 tonne per hectare and can be as low as 500 kg or less: in
comparison yields in Asia average over 2.2 tonnes per hectare and are close to 4 tonnes per hectare
in the Americas.
By following the recommendations in this guide, smallholder farmers should be able to increase
production from under 1 tonne per hectare to as much as 2.5-3 tonnes per hectare or more. By
adopting optimal crop rotations, yield of crops such as cereals will also be increased and by
adopting successful intercrop combinations and arrangements smallholder farmers will benefit from
increases in overall production and profitabilit
Geographic patterns of phenotypic diversity in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) landraces from North Eastern Ethiopia
Understanding the pattern of genetic variability is an important component of germplasm collection and
conservation as well as the crop’s improvement process including the selection of parents for making
new genetic recombination. Nine hundred seventy four sorghum landraces from North Eastern (NE)
Ethiopia were evaluated for agro-morphologic characters to assess geographic patterns of phenotypic
diversity and to identify whether there are specific areas of high diversity for particular traits. The
Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H′) for qualitative traits ranged from 0.30 to 0.93 (mean = 0.67) for
grain covering and grain color, respectively. The landraces also displayed highly significant differences
(p<0.01) for all the quantitative traits with days to flowering ranging from 64 to 157 days (range = 93),
days to maturity from 118 to 215 (range=97) days, plant height from 115 to 478 cm; 1000-seeds weight
from 18 to 73 g, and grain number from 362 to 9623. The first five principal component axes captured
71% of the total variation with days to flowering and maturity, leaf number and length, panicle weight,
grain weight and number per panicle, panicle length, length of primary branches, 1000-seeds weight
and internode length accounting for most of the variability. Cluster analysis grouped the landraces into
ten clusters. The clustering of zones and districts revealed close relationship between geographic
locations based on proximities and agro-ecological similarities. Differentiation analysis showed that
most of the landraces variability was within rather than between geographic origins of the landraces,
indicating weak genetic differentiation among landraces from predefined geographic origins such as
political administrative zones and districts. The weak differentiation might be due to frequent gene flow
across the study area because of seed exchanges among farmers
Tapping the Economic Potential of Chickpea in Sub-Saharan Africa
Chickpea is a nutrition-rich, cropping-system friendly, climate-resilient, and low-cost
production crop. It has large economic potential in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, where it
currently accounts for only approximately half a million hectares of the approximately 12 million
hectares of total chickpea production land worldwide. This review highlights the opportunities for
promoting chickpea production and marketing to tap the vast economic potential in SSA. The region
can potentially produce chickpea on approximately 10 million hectares, possibly doubling the
global production, and the region could become one of the highest consumption geographies of
this healthy crop. Chickpea could easily be integrated into existing cropping systems including
rice-fallows and cereal monocropping systems. Successful cases studies of the crop in the region are
highlighted. The region could tap into the potential at scale through intervention in the agricultural
policy environment and development and promotion of improved chickpea production technologies
supported by well-organized extension services and sustainable seed systems. These interventions
could be complemented with value addition and product quality improvementsĂŤ for SSA chickpea to
benefit from high-value markets
Past, Present and Future Perspectives on Groundnut Breeding in Burkina Faso
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a major food and cash crop in Burkina Faso. Due to
the growing demand for raw oilseeds, there is an increasing interest in groundnut production from
traditional rain-fed areas to irrigated environments. However, despite implementation of many
initiatives in the past to increase groundnut productivity and production, the groundnut industry still
struggles to prosper due to the fact of several constraints including minimal development research
and fluctuating markets. Yield penalty due to the presence of drought and biotic stresses continue
to be a major drawback for groundnut production. This review traces progress in the groundnut
breeding that started in Burkina Faso before the country’s political independence in 1960 through to
present times. Up to the 1980s, groundnut improvement was led by international research institutions
such as IRHO (Institute of Oils and Oleaginous Research) and ICRISAT (International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics). However, international breeding initiatives were not su�cient to
establish a robust domestic groundnut breeding programme. This review also provides essential
information about opportunities and challenges for groundnut research in Burkina Faso, emphasising
the need for institutional attention to genetic improvement of the crop
DNA markers reveal genetic structure and localized diversity of Ethiopian sorghum landraces
North Eastern Ethiopia is a major sorghum-growing region. A total of 415 sorghum landraces were sampled to represent the range of agro-ecologies (three altitude ranges) as well as spatial heterogeneity, that is, 4 zones: North Welo, South Welo, Oromiya and North Shewa with each zone containing 2 to 5 districts. The landraces were genotyped with simple sequence repeats (SSR) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. High genetic diversity was observed among the landraces for both marker systems. STRUCTURE analysis revealed 4 clusters of genetically differentiated groups of landraces. Cluster analysis revealed a close relationship between landraces along geographic proximity with genetic distance between landraces increasing with an increase in geographic distance. The grouping of landraces based on districts was influenced by clinal trend and geographic proximity. The FST statistics showed significant geographic differentiation among landraces at various levels of predefined geographic origin but a large portion of the variation was among landraces within rather than between predefined populations. The landraces from North Shewa were predominantly in one cluster, and landraces from this area also exhibited the greatest allelic diversity and the highest number of private alleles. There was low variation among the highland Zengada landraces, but these landraces were quite strongly differentiated and fell into one population cluster. The low to moderate genetic differentiation between landraces from various geographic origins could be attributed to gene flow across the region as a consequence of seed exchange among farmers
Genomic tools in groundnut breeding program: Status and perspectives
Groundnut, a nutrient-rich food legume, is cultivated world over. It is valued for its good quality cooking oil, energy and protein rich food, and nutrient-rich fodder. Globally, groundnut improvement programs have developed varieties to meet the preferences of farmers, traders, processors, and consumers. Enhanced yield, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and quality parameters have been the target traits. Spurt in genetic information of groundnut was facilitated by development of molecular markers, genetic, and physical maps, generation of expressed sequence tags (EST), discovery of genes, and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for some important biotic and abiotic stresses and quality traits. The first groundnut variety developed using marker assisted breeding (MAB) was registered in 2003. Since then, USA, China, Japan, and India have begun to use genomic tools in routine groundnut improvement programs. Introgression lines that combine foliar fungal disease resistance and early maturity were developed using MAB. Establishment of marker-trait associations (MTA) paved way to integrate genomic tools in groundnut breeding for accelerated genetic gain. Genomic Selection (GS) tools are employed to improve drought tolerance and pod yield, governed by several minor effect QTLs. Draft genome sequence and low cost genotyping tools such as genotyping by sequencing (GBS) are expected to accelerate use of genomic tools to enhance genetic gains for target traits in groundnut
Diallel Analysis of Early Leaf Spot (Cercospora arachidicola Hori) Disease Resistance in Groundnut
Early leaf spot (ELS) is one of the major biotic constraints of groundnut production in West and Central Africa. A study using 6 Ă— 6 F2 full diallel populations from six parents (NAMA, B188, PC79-79, QH243C, TS32-1, and CN94C) was conducted to assess the mode of inheritance of ELS resistance traits. The F2 and parents were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data was collected on ELS disease severity, and an area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) was estimated. The results revealed that additive and non-additive gene actions were involved in the inheritance of the ELS resistance traits, but additive gene action was predominant. Significant reciprocal cross effect was observed, suggesting cytoplasmic effect on ELS resistance. Graphical analysis also revealed the predominance of additive gene action for ELS resistance. The results suggest that early generation selection should be effective for ELS resistance. Looking at the distribution of array points along with the regression line, parental lines NAMA, PC79-79, and B188 would be suitable as good donors in an ELS disease resistance breeding program
Groundnut production constraints and farmers’ trait preferences: a pre-breeding study in Togo
Background
Groundnut is an important legume crop in Togo. However, groundnut yield has been steadily decreasing for decades as a result of lack of organized breeding program to address production constraints. Though, low yielding varieties and late leaf spot have been often reported as the most important constraints, there is no documented evidence. Identifying and documenting the major production constraints is a prerequisite for establishing a good breeding program with clearly defined priority objectives and breeding strategies. Thus, the objectives of this study were to identify groundnut production constraints and assess farmers’ preferred traits.
Methods
A participatory rural appraisal approach was used to collect data on agronomic practices, farmers’ preferences, and possible threats to production through individual and group interviews. Three regions and three villages per region were selected based on the representativeness of groundnut production systems. In each village, 20 farmers were randomly selected and interviewed; thus, a total of 180 farmers were interviewed. Content analysis was carried out for qualitative data and for quantitative data generated within and across regions, comparative descriptive statistics were carried out. Differences in perception and preferences were assessed using chi-square tests.
Results
The study has revealed that, though there were some variation across the regions, traits pertaining to yield such as pod yield (66.66%) and pod size (12.12%) were the most important. Leaf spot diseases, rosette and peanut bud necrosis (37.77%) and insects such as pod sucking bug and bruchid (27.77%) were considered to be the most important constraints limiting groundnut production. Among diseases, farmers in all the three regions indicated that late leaf spot is of economic importance which they associated to various causes such as maturity, drought, or insects. No gender differences were observed for the perception of constraints and groundnut traits preferences. Land size is significantly influenced by age and gender. Besides, farmers have pointed the lack of improved varieties and the unavailability of groundnut seeds highlighting the necessity of a sustainable groundnut seed system linked with a strong breeding program.
Conclusion
This study has enabled understanding of the farming practices, constraints, and farmers preferred characteristics, thus providing the basis for a participatory breeding program in Togo which should consider that farmers perceive low yielding varieties and diseases as major constraints to production
Utilization of Multiyear Plant Breeding Data to Better Predict Genotype Performance
Despite the availability of multiyear, multicycle, and multiphase data in plant breeding programs for annual crops, selection is often based on single-year, single-cycle, and single-phase data. As genotypes in the same fields are usually grown under the same management practice, data from these fields can and should be analyzed together. In Monsanto’s North American maize (Zea mays L.) breeding program, this approach enables a spatial model to be fitted in each field, providing an estimate of spatial trend and a better estimate of residual variance in each field. Multiyear, multicycle analysis showed that the estimates of genotype × year variance (VGY) and genotype × year × location variance (VGYL) were still the largest components of the estimated phenotypic variance. Analysis of any single-year subset of the data inflated the estimate of genotypic variance (VG) by the size of the estimate of VGY, resulting in potential bias in the estimates of genotype performance. These results demonstrate the advantage of a combined analysis of data across years and cycles to make selection decisions for genotype advancement
Breeding tropical legume crops for resilient cropping systems in Sub-Saharan Africa
Legume crops are important components of sustainable agricultural
production, household income and dietary systems. However,
legume production in the tropics is challenged by a number
of biotic (diseases and pests) and abiotic (heat, and drought)
stresses. With support from bilateral projects such as Tropical
Legumes (TL1, TL2 and TL3), CGIAR centers together with national
research partners devoted resources and time to address
these challenges. Genetic resources such as reference sets,
pre-breeding, magic and intraspecific mapping populations, as
well as genomic resources such as comprehensive genetic maps,
whole genome sequences, QTLs and trait-specific markers have
been developed for tropical legume crops such as chickpea,
groundnut, common bean, pigeonpea, soybean and cowpea. Besides,
integrated breeding approaches including high throughput
genotyping and phenotyping platforms, marker-assisted selection
(MAS) in pedigree breeding schemes, marker-assisted
backcrossing (MABC) and marker-assisted recurrent selection
(MARS) have contributed to accelerated development of breeding
lines and varieties. Improved varieties have been released
and disseminated together with integrated crop management
practices. Innovative seed and associated technology dissemination
systems including public-private sector partnerships,
community seed production initiatives, quality declared seed,
mini seed packs, contractual seed production, and revolving
seed fund, among others, were used to popularize these varieties.
This has resulted in enhanced adoption and subsequent improvement
in productivity. More efforts are needed to enhance
genetic gain by reducing time required for cultivar development
through application of genomic and phenomic tools, enhancing
selection intensity through automation, mechanization and digitization,
and increasing the crossing scale and number of cycles
per year