241 research outputs found
Food legumes in cropping systems and farmers participatory approaches
Food legumes or pulses are an important component of cropping systems and provide an
opportunity to increase food supplies, particularly in the developing world, in a sustainable
way, through intensifying and diversifying agricultural systems. Food legumes are more
positive crops, in terms of resource conservation, than cereals and a rotation of food legumes
with cereals makes cereal production more economic and sustainable. In the developing
world legumes is a major source of nutrition for the poor. However, in the past three decades
the production of food legumes has-gradually fallen in comparison
,
with a rapid growth in
cereals, and livestock products. Yields of the majority of the legumes have stagnated as they
have been relegated to more marginal and unfavorable environments; and no major yield
breakthroughs have been apparent . Concurrently, the first generation of Green Revolution
Technologies used to increase food production are being reduced in effectiveness and have
become unable economically to sustain the present, or desired increased levels in productivity.
This is due, in part, to the increasing dominance of monocropping with cereals and the
subsequent displacement of legumes. The role of food legumes as a key component of
second-generation green revolution technologies is therefore crucial and timely. Large
variations in yields are presently experienced which is compounded by intense biotic and
abiotic stresses, and an inadequate supporting policy environment. We review the potential
role of legumes in cropping systems in developing countries and make little effort to
distinguish between cool and warm-season pulses as trends in supply and demand have been similar and most factors influence both types of pulses. Recent examples of
diversification of cereal based cropping system emphasizing farmer participatory approaches
are discussed
How future climatic uncertainty and biotic stressors might influence the sustainability of African vegetable production
The study was conducted to determine whether likely global climatic
uncertainty in the future will pose substantive risk to small-scale vegetable producers
in Africa, and to consider whether climate change threatens the development and
sustainability of improved vegetable horticultural systems in Africa. Annual average
air temperature and rainfall totals were assessed over the period 1975-2014 or,
where possible, for rainfall for longer periods approaching 100 years; the trends in
these data sets were determined through linear regression techniques. Predictions of
the likely values of annual average air temperatures in the next 25, 50, 75 and 100
years were made. Considerable variability in trends is reported ranging from
extremely fast warming in Tunis, Tunisia contrasting with slight cooling in Bamako,
Mali. Annual variability in rainfall was substantive but there were no long-term trends
of consequence, even when considered over the last 100 years. Consequently, the
sustainability of vegetable production will be threatened mostly by changes in pest
(e.g., weeds, insects, fungi, bacteria and viruses) damage to crops in small-scale
production systems. A call is made for national governments to give these issues
enhanced priority in the distribution of future research and capacity-building
resources, as most of these production stressors are under-researched and evident
solutions to such problems are not currently available
Integrating genetics and natural resource management for technology targeting and greater impact of agricultural research in the semi-arid tropics
Good management of natural resources is the key to good agriculture. This is true everywhere - and particularly in the semi-arid tropics, where over-exploitation of fragile or inherently vulnerable agro-ecosystems is leading to land and soil degradation, productivity decline, and increasing hunger and poverty. Modern crop varieties offer high yields, but the larger share of this potential yield can only be realized with good crop management. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), working over a vast and diverse mandate area, has learned one key lesson: that technologies and interventions must be matched not only to the crop or livestock enterprise and the biophysical environment, but also with the market and investment environment, including input supply systems and policy. Various Natural Resource Management (NRM) technologies have been developed over the years, but widespread adoption has been limited for various reasons: technical, socio-economic and institutional. To change this, ICRISAT hypothesizes that 'A research approach, founded on the need to integrate a broad consideration of technical, socio-economic and institutional issues into the generation of agricultural innovations will result in a higher level of adoption and more sustainable and diverse impacts in the rainfed systems of the semi-arid tropics.' Traditionally, crop improvement and NRM were seen as distinct but complementary disciplines. ICRISAT is deliberately blurring these boundaries to create the new paradigm of IGNRM or Integrated Genetic and Natural Resource Management. Improved varieties and improved resource management are two sides of the same coin. Most farming problems require integrated solutions, with genetic, management-related and socio-economic components. In essence, plant breeders and NRM scientists must integrate their work with that of private and public sector change agents to develop flexible cropping systems that can respond to rapid changes in market opportunities and climatic conditions. The systems approach looks at various components of the rural economy - traditional food grains, new potential cash crops, livestock and fodder production, as well as socio-economic factors such as alternative sources of employment and income. Crucially the IGNRM approach is participatory, with farmers closely involved in technology development, testing and dissemination. ICRISAT has begun to use the IGNRM approach to catalyse technology uptake and substantially improve food security and incomes in smallholder farm communities at several locations in India, Mali, Niger, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Zimbabwe
Ecoregional research in Africa: learning lessons from IITA's Benchmark Area Approach
Ecoregional research has the potential to help address some of the huge challenges facing agriculture in developing countries by developing technologies that work under different agro-ecological conditions, and the processes by which these technologies can be adapted to work in other areas with similar conditions. The CGIAR system has been developing ecoregional research as a new paradigm for over a decade. In this paper we evaluate one of the most ambitious of these initiatives called the Benchmark Area Approach (BAA) pioneered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. We evaluate the BAA against nine good practice criteria for ecoregional research, finding that the approach is delivering, or has the potential to deliver, on all nine. Many of the lessons learnt from this evaluation will be relevant to current and future attempts to undertake co-ordinated multi-locational research for developmen
Diversifying diets: using indigenous vegetables to improve profitability, nutrition and health in Africa
The picture of malnutrition in Africa is quite depressing: 20–25 per cent of the
population’s nutrient intake falls below minimum dietary requirements, 25–30
per cent of children under five years of age are underweight, 33–45 per cent
suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD), while a further 30–50 per cent are
stunted. There is more than 25 per cent goitre prevalence among 6–11 year
olds, 13–20 per cent have low birth weights, and infant mortality rates stand at
an unacceptable 5.5–13.5 per cent (Kean et al., 1999). Even more alarming is
an 18 per cent rise in the number of malnourished children projected by 2020
(IFPRI, 2001).
Imbalanced diets lead to nutrient deficiencies. Efforts to combat micronutrient
deficiencies through biofortification of staple crops or by diet supplementation
with vitamins or minerals are relatively expensive and can target only a few
nutritional factors. Indigenous vegetables are rich in provitamin A and vitamin
C, several mineral micronutrients, other micronutrients and nutraceuticals
(Yang and Keding, 2009). Diversifying diets with indigenous vegetables is
a sustainable way to supply a range of nutrients to the body and combat
malnutrition and associated health problems, particularly for poor households.
The relative increased costs of crop diversification would be one-off and minor
in relation to the ongoing costs of supplementation through drug treatment or
through artificial food additives
Dealing with diversity in scientific outputs: implications for international research evaluation
This paper examines the changing role and broadening goals of international agricultural research centers (lARCs), focusing on their evaluation mechanisms and priority setting processes. The case of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is used to identify the relative importance of outputs. It was found that, for lARCs, a wider range of credit items should be used in evaluating the institutional and individual performance. A decentralized process using nested institutional and project logframes would powerfully help to identify milestones for institutional and individual evaluatio
Dealing with diversity in scientific outputs: implications for international research evaluation
Relearning old lessons for the future of food—by bread alone no longer: diversifying diets with fruit and vegetables
Diversifying diets and agricultural enterprises
with fruit and vegetables is a potent weapon
in the current global battle against malnutrition
and poverty. Agricultural science can contribute
substantially to enhance the development prospects
and health of not only disadvantaged and
vulnerable individuals at one end of the spectrum
but also the growth and equity of national
economies at the other. Moreover, with relatively
simple applied research, new crop species and
technologies can rapidly enter the development
pathway to benefi t even the poorest people or
nations. More upstream research can help to
guard fruit and vegetable production against the
vagaries of potential climatic uncertainty, which
is projected to become more prominent over
future decades. However, historical and continuing
widespread underinvestment in fruit and
vegetable research and development from the
national to the global level may severely compromise
the world’s ability to use such highvalue
species for crop diversifi cation and as a
major engine of development growth to ensure
global food and nutritional security
Exploiting the functionality of root systems for dry, saline, and nutrient deficient environments in a changing climate
Increasing episodes of drought, lack of sufficient nutrients, exposure to toxic minerals, and soil compaction
are just a few examples of the environmental constraints that the roots are exposed to during plant growth.
Understanding how roots respond to these stresses is crucial for improving crop production under such
conditions. Yet, investigating roots is a very difficult task and, therefore, very little is known about the
precise role that the roots play in contributing to plant adaptation to hostile environments. It is assumed that
while the root depth and abundance would contribute to drought tolerance, profuse rooting would enhance
nutrient capture, and where the membrane transporters would exclude salts from the root cells. However, a
great deal is still unknown about how these mechanisms actually operate; for example which particular
characteristics of roots and root hydraulics actually contributes to water uptake in a way that confers
increased tolerance, how the stress signaling from the roots affects the physiological relations in the shoot
and those between the shoot and the root, how water and nutrient absorption relate to one another when
both are limiting, or how roots avoid the loading of salt in xylem vessels.
In this paper, our intention is not an exhaustive review of roots, but to highlight a few research topics
related to abiotic stresses - mostly drought stress, but also nutrient limitation (especially phosphorus) and
salt stress - where roots and their hydraulics are at the center stage. First, we provide an update on root
structure, root hydraulics, and modes of water and nutrient absorption, mainly focusing on how inter- and
intra-specific variations in these aspects can modify the way roots respond to a range of abiotic stresses.
We then review scattered reports across a range of crops showing the contribution of roots to stress
tolerance, and then report our own assessment of the role of roots using near isogenic lines (NILs
GCH1 deficiency activates brain innate immune response and impairs tyrosine hydroxylase homeostasis
The Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk gene GTP cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH1) catalyzes the rate-limiting step in tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) synthesis, an essential cofactor in the synthesis of monoaminergic neurotransmitters. To investigate the mechanisms by which GCH1 deficiency may contribute to PD, we generated a loss of function zebrafish gch1 mutant (gch1-/-), using CRISPR/Cas technology. gch1-/- zebrafish develop marked monoaminergic neurotransmitter deficiencies by 5 dpf, movement deficits by 8 dpf and lethality by 12 dpf. Tyrosine hydroxylase protein levels were markedly reduced without loss of ascending dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons. L-Dopa treatment of gch1-/- larvae improved survival without ameliorating the motor phenotype. RNAseq of gch1-/- larval brain tissue identified highly upregulated transcripts involved in innate immune response. Subsequent experiments provided morphological and functional evidence of microglial activation in gch1-/-. The results of our study suggest that GCH1 deficiency may unmask early, subclinical parkinsonism and only indirectly contribute to neuronal cell death via immune-mediated mechanisms. Our work highlights the importance of functional validation for GWAS risk factors and further emphasises the important role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of PD
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