Bottle Gourd Landraces and Its Potential Contribution to Food Security

Issues surrounding water scarcity and malnutrition in the rural household of sub-Saharan Africa continue to be a problem and pose threat to food security. In such cases, traditional and underutilized crops have been proposed because of their likely suitability in these marginal areas of crop production characterized by abiotic (drought and heat) and biotic environmental stresses (pest and diseases). Bottle gourd is one such crop with multipurpose use and a huge potential to contribute to food security. The crop is grown for its leaves, fruits, and seeds from landraces providing important nutrition for both humans and livestock. A lot has been documented about its medical properties. The crop exhibits wide genetic variation for qualitative and quantitative traits, which can be used for cultivar development. The objective of this review was to provide information on why bottle gourd is an important food security crop in sub-Saharan Africa. The first section of the paper presents water scarcity, food production, and climate change. This is followed by the section on the neglected underutilized crops species. Then the section of drought tolerance of the crop is presented, and lastly, the section on potential contribution of the crop to food security is presented

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Response to Filter Cake and Macadamia Husk Compost in Two Agroecologies of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Field experiments were carried out during the summer/autumn (first trial) and winter/spring (second trial) seasons of 2019 and 2021 in the Dlangubo, Ngwelezane, and Mtubatuba areas of KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa to study the drought amelioration effects and impact of two locally available organic wastes (filter cake—a residue derived from sugar cane filtration (FC) and macadamia husk compost (MHC)) on the productivity and physiological responses of four orange-fleshed sweet potato cultivars (Beauregard cv., Impilo, W-119 and 199062.1). The effects of FC and MHC were compared with that of inorganic fertilizer (IF) [2:3:2 (30)], FC + IF, MHC + IF, and the control. The soil amendments were applied in the first trials only. Climatic data such as humidity, temperature, and rainfall were taken via remote sensing. The results of the first trial indicated that filter cake and IF significantly performed better than MHC. The strength of filter cake may be attributable to its rich array of mineral nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, iron, and phosphorus. The limited performance of MHC may be attributable to its ability to hold water. Furthermore, a positive correction occurred between the yield of the test orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) cultivars, rainfall, and vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, and normalized difference water index) investigated in the study. In season two, IF treatment did not have any significant effect on the growth and productivity of any of the tested sweet potato cultivars, but, FC, FC + IF, and MHC treatments largely maintained their performances. In conclusion, the use of FC is highly recommended in the production of the test OFSP cultivars. Furthermore, the study indicates that both FC and MHC may not only supply the needed plant nutrients but has the capacity to reduce the impact of drought on the growth of the test cultivars. These findings are of great value to farmers, especially the resource-poor ones

Combined Application of Filter Cake and Macadamia Husk Compost Affects Soil Fertility and Plant Mineral Content of Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes

A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of the combined application of filter cake and macadamia husk compost (FC+MHC) on the soil fertility and dry matter partitioning of Beauregard and 199062.1 cultivars of orange-fleshed sweet potato. The effects of the two organic wastes on the mineral nutrients in the leaves and the storage roots of the 199062.1 cultivar were also investigated. In addition to FC+MHC, four other treatments—filter cake only (FC), macadamia husk compost only (MHC), inorganic fertilizer only (IF), a combination of filter cake and inorganic fertilizer (FC+IF), a combination of macadamia husk compost and inorganic fertilizer (MHC+IF), and a control (CONT)—were included in the investigation for the purpose of comparison. To achieve this, 1 kg of compost was homogenized with 20 kg of soil and filled into graduated 25 L buckets. The experimental design was completely randomized. The plants were grown for 4 months. The results indicated that all treatments altered the soil fertility positively. There were indications that both filter cake and macadamia husk compost inhibited the absorption of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and aluminum (Al). Also, zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) deficiencies in the initial soil were corrected after the application of the organic wastes. In terms of yield, FC+MHC was better than all other treatments. The outcome of this study will no doubt greatly benefit the resource-poor farmers of Northern KwaZulu-Natal who are involved in the production of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes

Long-Term No-Till Conservation Agriculture and Nitrogen Fertilization on Soil Micronutrients in a Semi-Arid Region of South Africa

Knowledge of the long-term complex relationship between soils, crops, and management practices, such as conservation agriculture, is critical in developing nutrient management strategies to optimise crop yields. This study examined the concentration, and the distribution of, soil micronutrients along the soil profile (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm depths) under different tillage practices: no-till (NT), rotational tillage (RT), and conventional tillage (CT), and nitrogen fertilizer application rates (0, 100, 200 kg/ha) in a semi-arid environment after 17 years of implementation of the trial. The results found the lowest concentration (p < 0.05) of copper (Cu) (1.254 mg/kg) and iron (Fe) (22.671 mg/kg) in CT compared to NT [Cu (1.447 mg/kg), Fe (41,156 mg/kg)] and RT [Cu (2.389 mg/kg), Fe (120,437 mg/kg)] treatments. This correlated with the lower soil pH in NT compared to CT treatment, and slightly higher (p > 0.05) under NT (1.782 mg/g) compared to RT (1.715 mg/g) and CT (1.750 mg/g). There were no differences (p > 0.05) in zinc (Zn) in NT (2.856 mg/kg) and RT (2.782 mg/kg) but CT (2.010 mg/kg) treatment was significantly (p < 0.05) lower compared to these treatments. Manganese (Mn) also followed a similar trend whereby CT still had the lowest concentration (p < 0.05) of Mn (8.01 mg/kg) compared to RT (10.71 mg/kg) and NT (11.98 mg/kg). The concentration of Mn, Zn, and Fe was found to be similar (p > 0.05) with an increase in sampling depths. On the other hand, Cu was found to be different (p < 0.05) at different sampling depths. Manganese (10.46 mg/kg) and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) (2.026 mg/g) were found to be concentrated near the 0–10 cm soil surface depth while Zn (2.558 mg/kg), Fe (66,217 mg/kg) and Cu (1.867 mg/kg) were more at the 20–30 cm depth in reduced tillage treatments. The results also showed no differences (p > 0.05) in the concentration of Cu, Mn, and Zn at different levels of nitrogen fertilizer under all tillage treatments. It was concluded that NT and rational tillage with mulch, favoured the availability of micronutrients (Cu, Mn, Fe, and Zn) in the studied cropping system

Long-Term No-Till Conservation Agriculture and Nitrogen Fertilization on Soil Micronutrients in a Semi-Arid Region of South Africa

Knowledge of the long-term complex relationship between soils, crops, and management practices, such as conservation agriculture, is critical in developing nutrient management strategies to optimise crop yields. This study examined the concentration, and the distribution of, soil micronutrients along the soil profile (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm depths) under different tillage practices: no-till (NT), rotational tillage (RT), and conventional tillage (CT), and nitrogen fertilizer application rates (0, 100, 200 kg/ha) in a semi-arid environment after 17 years of implementation of the trial. The results found the lowest concentration (p p > 0.05) under NT (1.782 mg/g) compared to RT (1.715 mg/g) and CT (1.750 mg/g). There were no differences (p > 0.05) in zinc (Zn) in NT (2.856 mg/kg) and RT (2.782 mg/kg) but CT (2.010 mg/kg) treatment was significantly (p p p > 0.05) with an increase in sampling depths. On the other hand, Cu was found to be different (p p > 0.05) in the concentration of Cu, Mn, and Zn at different levels of nitrogen fertilizer under all tillage treatments. It was concluded that NT and rational tillage with mulch, favoured the availability of micronutrients (Cu, Mn, Fe, and Zn) in the studied cropping system