A Roadmap for Participatory Chestnut Breeding for Nut Production in the Eastern United States

Chestnut cultivation for nut production is increasing in the eastern half of the United States. Chinese chestnuts (Castanea mollissima Blume), or Chinese hybrids with European (C. sativa Mill.) and Japanese chestnuts (C. crenata Sieb. & Zucc.), are cultivated due to their high kernel quality, climatic adaptation, and disease resistance. Several hundred thousand pounds of high-quality fresh nuts are taken to market every fall, and several hundred additional orchards are entering bearing years. Grower-led on-farm improvement has largely facilitated this growth. A lack of significant investments in chestnut breeding in the region, paired with issues of graft incompatibility, has led many growers to cultivate seedlings of cultivars rather than grafted cultivars. After decades of evaluation, selection, and sharing of plant materials, growers have reached a threshold of improvement where commercial seedling orchards can be reliably established by planting offspring from elite selected parents. Growers recognize that if cooperation persists and university expertise and resources are enlisted, improvement can continue and accelerate. To this end, the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry (UMCA) and chestnut growers throughout the eastern United States are partnering to formalize a participatory breeding program – the Chestnut Improvement Network. This partnership entails the UMCA providing an organizational structure and leadership to coordinate on-farm improvement, implement strategic crossing schemes, and integrate genetic tools. Chestnut growers offer structural capacity by cultivating seedling production orchards that provide financial support for the grower but also house segregating populations with improved individuals, in situ repositories, and selection trials, creating great value for the industry.

Sensory Analyses and Nutritional Qualities of Wheat Population Varieties Developed by Participatory Breeding

Wheat is a staple food in many diets and is currently cultivated worldwide. It provides a large proportion of the daily energy intake and contributes to food balance. Changes in agro-industrial practices in the bread sector, from the field to bread-making, have led to an increase in chronic diseases and nutritional deficits, emphasizing the link between food and health. Several levers could be used to improve the nutritional quality of bread wheat. Organic farming, by avoiding the use of pesticides, might allow for greater consumption of wholegrain products. Breeding wheat cultivars with an enhanced mineral content may serve as another lever. In this context, the on-farm participatory plant-breeding of highly diversified varieties could provide promising resources. This study investigated the sensory and nutritional quality of nine population varieties resulting from a ten-year participatory plant-breeding process compared to two commercial pure-line varieties. Analysis of variance showed genotype effects for Mg and Zn concentration, so breeding for a high Mg and Zn concentration can reasonably be envisaged. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between plant height, peduncle height (distance between the Last Leaf and Spike (LLSD)) and nutrient content. Finally, as population varieties express more differences in their profile when grown in less fertile soils, these results emphasize the benefits of genetic diversity for diverse nutritional intake and sensory properties.

Identification of alleles for sweet phenotype in local corn varieties in southern Brazil

Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) has high levels of sugar in the endosperm, being used for self-consumption by families in the far west of the state of Santa Catarina (FWSC), southern Brazil. The present work aimed to identify the genes responsible for the sweet phenotype and to characterize morphologically nine local corn varieties conserved in this region. The allelic tests proved the presence of two known recessive alleles (sugary1 mutant/sweet and shrunken2 mutant/super sweet) in eight of the nine varieties studied, and a third gene of unidentified genetic origin. The morphological characterization of ear and grain showed a similarity between the varieties for qualitative characters and a greater variation between and within the varieties for quantitative characters. The cluster analysis divided the materials into four groups and one isolated variety whose gene encoding the sweet phenotype can be a rare gene or still unknown. The results point to the possibility of a new allele having been selected under the specific conditions of the FWSC region, which presents environmental and social factors that influence the diversification of the Zea genus. The continuation of genetic studies on the sweet phenotype of this variety and the development of integrated strategies of in situ on farm and ex situ conservation and participatory breeding in FWSC can contribute to the expansion of the genetic variability of sweet corn and encourage conservation and use of this local germplasm.

Participatory plant breeding programs to optimize use of crop genetic resources

This chapter summarizes a sample of variety evaluation, experimental design, and breeding method innovations that have served as solid approaches for participatory plant breeding (PPB) efforts. With success in PPB comes success in conservation at a local level of useful alleles and allele assemblages in the form of on-farm crop genetic resources. PPB programs of this sort have the potential to add value to local or traditional varieties that might otherwise be abandoned, thus promoting their in situ conservation. This chapter briefly touches on methodologies to assess farmers’ variety preferences. This is followed by sections that highlight some experimental designs for on-farm variety evaluation and farmer-participatory breeding methods for combining in-situ conservation with genetic improvement. Finally, some of the challenges that may limit genetic gain from PPB programs are noted – problems that increase the risk of wholesale replacement of on-farm genetic diversity rather than conservation through improvement.

Quinoa in Ecuador: Recent Advances under Global Expansion

Quinoa is a highly diverse crop domesticated in the Andean region of South America with broad adaptation to a wide range of marginal environments. Quinoa has garnered interest worldwide due to its nutritional and health benefits. Over the last decade, quinoa production has expanded outside of the Andean region, prompting multiple studies investigating the potential for quinoa cultivation in novel environments. Currently, quinoa is grown in countries spanning five continents, including North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Here, we update the advances of quinoa research in Ecuador across different topics, including (a) current quinoa production situation with a focus on breeding progress, (b) traditional seed production, and (c) the impact of the work of the nongovernment organization “European Committee for Training and Agriculture” with quinoa farmers in Chimborazo province. Additionally, we discuss genetic diversity, primary pests and diseases, actions for adapting quinoa to tropical areas, and recent innovations in quinoa processing in Ecuador. Finally, we report a case study describing a participatory breeding project between Washington State University and the Association of Andean Seed and Nutritional Food Producers Mushuk Yuyay in the province of Cañar.

A promising new tamarind selection-lakshamana : Linking biodiversity with livelihood

Tamarind is a well-known commodity of Indian cuisine having medicinal and industrial uses. It is a nutritious tree crop of widespread occurrence growing on marginal lands in semi-arid and sub-humid tropical climates of India, making it highly valuable in ensuring food security for rural poor. Given the great potential of this neglected and underutilized species to address global challenges such as hunger, poverty and climate change adaptation, there is a need to revisit research and development priorities in its favor and to develop strategies together with stakeholders to increase its utilization. In the present study, a survey was undertaken in Tumkur district of Karnataka to characterize the variability available in tamarind for pod and tree characters and identify superior trees using horticultural traits. A farmer’s tamarind selection “Lakshamana” emerged from participatory breeding having significantly better traits compared to local tamarind.

SHiNeMaS : A web tool dedicated to seed lots history, phenotyping and cultural practices

Motivation In 2005, researchers from the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement, INRAE) started a collaboration with the French farmers' seed network Réseau Semences Paysannes (RSP) on bread wheat participatory breeding (PPB). The aims were: (1) to study on-farm management of crop diversity, (2) to develop population-varieties adapted to organic and low-inputs agriculture, (3) to co-develop tools and methods adapted to on-farm experiments. In this project, researchers and farmers' organizations needed to map the history and life cycle of the population-varieties using network formalism to represent relationships between seed lots. All this information had to be centralized and stored in a database. Results We describe here SHiNeMaS (Seeds History and Network Management System) a web tool database. SHiNeMaS aims to provide useful interfaces to track seed lot history and related data (phenotyping, environment, cultural practices). Although SHiNeMaS has been developed in the context of a bread wheat participatory breeding program, the database has been designed to manage any kind and even multiple cultivated plant species. SHiNeMaS is available under Affero GPL licence and uses free technologies such as the Python language, Django framework or PostgreSQL database management system (DBMS). Conclusion We developed SHiNeMaS, a web tool database, dedicated to the management of the history of seed lots and related data like phenotyping, environmental information and cultural practices. SHiNeMaS has been used in production in our laboratory for 5 years and farmers' organizations facilitators manage their own information in the system.

SHiNeMaS : A web tool dedicated to seed lots history, phenotyping and cultural practices

Motivation: In 2005, researchers from the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, INRAE) started a collaboration with the French farmers' seed network Reseau Semences Paysannes (RSP) on bread wheat participatory breeding (PPB). The aims were: (1) to study on-farm management of crop diversity, (2) to develop population-varieties adapted to organic and low-inputs agriculture, (3) to co-develop tools and methods adapted to on-farm experiments. In this project, researchers and farmers' organizations needed to map the history and life cycle of the population-varieties using network formalism to represent relationships between seed lots. All this information had to be centralized and stored in a database. Results: We describe here SHiNeMaS (Seeds History and Network Management System) a web tool database. SHiNeMaS aims to provide useful interfaces to track seed lot history and related data (phenotyping, environment, cultural practices). Although SHiNeMaS has been developed in the context of a bread wheat participatory breeding program, the database has been designed to manage any kind and even multiple cultivated plant species. SHiNeMaS is available under A ero GPL licence and uses free technologies such as the Python language, Django framework or PostgreSQL database management system (DBMS). Conclusion: We developed SHiNeMaS, a web tool database, dedicated to the management of the history of seed lots and related data like phenotyping, environmental information and cultural practices. SHiNeMaS has been used in production in our laboratory for 5 years and farmers' organizations facilitators manage their own information in the system.