Studies have shown that the continuous application of N, P, and K fertilizers has led to the depletion of secondary and micronutrients, which have become limiting nutrients hindering crop growth and yield. An on-farm trial was conducted to determine the effect of site-specific nutrient fertilizers and compost on soybean yield, phosphorus use efficiency, and soil properties, at Nyong Guma, Serekpere, Daffiama Saapare, and Naaga in northern Ghana. Nine (9) treatments (3 rates of mineral fertilizer ...

The nutrient-rich tubers of the greater yam, Dioscorea alata L., provide food and income security for millions of people around the world. Despite its global importance, however, greater yam remains an orphan crop. Here, we address this resource gap by presenting a highly contiguous chromosome-scale genome assembly of D. alata combined with a dense genetic map derived from African breeding populations. The genome sequence reveals an ancient allotetraploidization in the Dioscorea lineage, followed ...

Plant-parasitic nematodes, particularly root-knot nematodes (RKN: Meloidogyne spp.) and cyst nematodes (CN: Globodera and Heterodera spp.) cause severe yield reduction in most cultivated crops and are of high economic importance. African nightshade (Solanum spp.) and African spinach (Amaranthus spp.) are important African indigenous vegetables (AIV) and are rich sources of nutrition and income. However, their host status to plant-parasitic nematodes remains largely speculative. Therefore, a survey ...

Food insecurity and malnutrition are challenges in rural Rwanda that are presumed to be affected by differential household socioeconomic status, but the relationship between food and nutrition security and socioeconomic status is not well-understood. We used a participatory and multidisciplinary study comprising nutrition survey, focus group discussion (FGD), detailed household/farm characterization, and interviews to construct a participatory household typology and to determine differences in the ...

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for food and cash of the smallholder farmers worldwide. However, the total potential benefits to be derived from the common bean as a source of food and income, its complementarities with non-legume food crops, and significance to the environment are underexploited. Intensification of common bean could provide approaches that offer new techniques to better manage and monitor globally complex systems of sustainable food production. ...

Food security and livelihoods among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are often constrained by limited farm resource endowment. It can be difficult to improve resource endowment given barriers such as low land availability and the unaffordability of agricultural inputs, so here we ask whether farmers can gain a better return on their resources through optimizing their farm strategy in terms of the composition and/or diversity of crop and livestock species raised. Our survey of 1,133 ...

Despite the importance of storage root (SR) organs for cassava and the other root crops yield, their developmental origin is poorly understood. Here we use multiple approaches to shed light on the initial stages of root development demonstrating that SR and fibrous roots (FR) follow different rhizogenic processes. Transcriptome analysis carried out on roots collected before, during and after root bulking highlighted early and specific activation of a number of functions essential for root swelling ...

The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa necessitates effective approaches to improve provitamin A content of major staple crops. Cassava holds much promise for food security in sub-Saharan Africa, but a negative correlation between β-carotene, a provitamin A carotenoid, and dry matter content has been reported, which poses a challenge to cassava biofortification by conventional breeding. To identify suitable material for genetic transformation in tissue culture with the overall ...

White Guinea yam is mostly a dioecious outcrossing crop with male and female flowers produced on distinct plants. Fertile parents produce high fruit set in an open pollination polycross block, which is a cost-effective and convenient way of generating variability in yam breeding. However, the pollen parent of progeny from polycross mating is usually unknown. This study aimed to determine paternity in white Guinea yam half-sib progenies from polycross mating design. A total of 394 half-sib progenies ...

In 2016, a study was conducted in Tanzania to assess the impact of radio and SMS in scaling-up smallholder participation in legume-based sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) practices and technologies. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (i) does participation in the campaign enhance farmers’ knowledge of legume-based sustainable agricultural intensification practices and technologies? (ii) what is the impact of the campaign on the adoption of legume-based sustainable ...