Effect of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Technologies on the Performance of Millet in Niger: Understanding the Processes Using Simulation

Low soil fertility and erratic rainfall are the most limiting factors to crop production, in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of West Africa. The region is the home of the world’s poorest people, 90% of whom live in villages and gain their livelihood from subsistence agriculture. However, yields of cereals in general, and millet in particular that constitute the staple food of rural people, are very low (300–400 kg/ha). Research has developed technologies of integrated soil fertility management, but resource poor farmers have not adopted them. DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) is a tool incorporating models of 16 different crops with software that facilitates the evaluation and application of crop models for different purposes. Its use requires a minimum data set on weather, soil, crop management and experimental data. The simulations from these data can help scientists to develop promising management options to improve farmer’s conditions. However, requirements for such model use is to evaluate its capabilities under farming ­situations, soils, and weather that are characteristic of the area where it will be used. This study was conducted to evaluate the DSSAT millet model capabilities for ­simulating the interactions between soil fertility and millet yields in three sites (Banizoumbou, Bengou and Karabedji) of Niger over 5 years (2001–2005) and ­different nitrogen management

Exploiting genomic resources for efficient conservation and utilization of chickpea, groundnut, and pigeonpea collections for crop improvement

Both chickpea and pigeonpea are important dietary source of protein, while groundnut is one of the major oil crops. Globally, ~1.1 million grain legume accessions are conserved in genebanks, of which, ICRISAT genebank holds ~50,000 accessions of cultivated species and wild relatives of chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut from 133 countries. These genetic resources are reservoirs of many useful genes for the present and future crop improvement programs. Representative subsets in the form of core and mini core collections have been used to identify trait-specific genetically diverse germplasm for use in breeding and genomic studies in these crops. Chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea have moved from ‘orphan’ to ‘genomic resources rich crops’. The chickpea and pigeonpea genomes have been decoded, and the sequences of groundnut genome will soon be available. With the availability of these genomic resources, the germplasm curators, breeders and molecular biologists will have abundant opportunities to enhance the efficiency of genebank operations, mine allelic variations in germplasm collection, identify genetically diverse germplasm with beneficial traits, broaden the cultigen’s genepool, and accelerate the cultivar development to address new challenges to production, particularly with respect to climate change and variability. Marker-assisted breeding approaches have already been initiated for some traits in chickpea and groundnut, which should lead to enhanced efficiency and efficacy of crop improvement. Resistance to some pests and diseases has been successfully transferred from wild relatives to cultivated species

Chickpea and temperature stress

Chickpea is an important food grain legume and an essential component of crop rotations throughout the world. However, the adaptation and productivity of chickpea is often limited by low and high temperatures. Cold stress generally occurs in the late vegetative and reproductive stages across the geographical areas of chickpea production. Cold and freezing temperatures (−1.5°C to 15°C) are considered a major problem during the seedling stage of winter-sown chickpea in Mediterranean areas and autumn-sown crops in temperate regions (Singh, 1993). South Australia and parts of north India are most affected by chilling temperatures at flowering (Berger et al., 2011). On the other hand, high day and night temperatures (>30/16°C) may cause damage during the reproductive stage on winter-sown chickpea in Mediterranean inseason rainfall areas, south Asia and spring-sown regions (Berger et al., 2011). In chickpea, temperature is a major environmental factor regulating the timing of flowering thus influencing grain yield (Summerfield et al., 1990; Berger et al., 2004). Both low and high temperatures can limit the growth and grain yield of chickpea at all phenological stages..

Managing aflatoxin in smallholder groundnut production in Southern Africa: Paired comparison of the windrow and Mandela cock techniques

Timely drying of groundnuts is important after harvest. In most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, moisture content reduction is practically achieved by solar drying. In particular, the groundnuts are traditionally cured in the field using the inverted windrow drying technique. Recently, the Mandela cock technique, a ventilated stack of groundnut plants with a chimney at the center, has been introduced in the southern Africa region with the aim of reducing moisture content and the risk of aflatoxin contamination. An on-farm study was conducted in Malawi to compare the effectiveness of the Mandela cock and Windrow drying techniques with respect to aflatoxin control. For two consecutive years, farmers (2016, n = 29; 2017; n = 26) were recruited to test each of the two drying techniques. A mixed-design ANOVA showed that the Mandela cock groundnut drying technique led to sig- nificantly (p < 0.001) higher aflatoxin levels in groundnut seed compared to the traditional inverted windrow drying (5.7 μg/kg, geometric mean vs 2.5 μg/kg in 2016 and 37.6 μg/kg vs 8.4 μg/kg in 2017). The present findings clearly demonstrate the need for regulation and technology validation if farmers and consumers are to benefit

Variability and trait‐specific accessions for grain yield and nutritional traits in germplasm of little millet ( Panicum sumatrense Roth. Ex. Roem. & Schult.)

Little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth. Ex. Roem. & Schult.), a member of the grass family Poaceae, is native to India. It is nutritionally superior to major cereals, grows well on marginal lands, and can withstand drought and waterlogging conditions. Two-hundred diverse little millet landraces were characterized to assess variability for agronomic and nutritional traits and identify promising accessions. Highly significant variabilitywas found for all the agronomic and grain nutrient traits. Accessions of robusta were high yielding whereas those of nana were rich in grain nutrients. About 80% of the accessions showed consistent protein and zinc (Zn) contents whereas iron (Fe) and calcium (Ca) contents were less consistent (29.5 and 63.5%, respectively) over 2 yr. Promising trait-specific accessions were identified for greater seed weight (10 accessions), high grain yield (15), high biomass yield (15), and consistently high grain nutrients (30) over 2 yr (R2 = .69–.74, P ≤ .0001). A few accessions showed consistently high for two or more nutrients (IPmr 449 for Fe, Zn, Ca, and protein; IPmr 981 for Zn and protein). Five accessions (IPmr 855, 974, 877, 897, 767) were high yielding and also rich in Ca. Consumption of 100 g of little millet grains can potentially contribute to the recommended dietary allowance of up to 28% Fe, 37% Zn, and 27% protein. Multilocation evaluation of the promising accessions across different soil types, fertility levels, and climatic conditions would help to identify valuable accessions for direct release as a cultivar or use in little millet improvement