C. Fatokun - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by C. Fatokun
Cowpea has the potential to make a significant contribution to food and nutritional security and ... more Cowpea has the potential to make a significant contribution to food and nutritional security and poverty reduction in West and Central Africa. Constraints to be addressed include poor access to inputs including seeds, pest control, and product markets for widespread distribution of improved varieties, and integrated pest management technologies to reduce crop losses and improve product quality. The collaborative project between IITA and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) over a decade has enhanced cowpea production and grain quality through PRONAF, a technologically strong and effective participatory research development and capacity building with NARES and IFAD-funded development projects. PRONAF has made a substantial contribution to developing and disseminating sustainable, improved cowpea innovations in West and Central Africa. Target countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. In addition to innovations, capacity buildin...
Agronomy, 2021
This study determined the gene effects involved in the inheritance of pod length and other yield-... more This study determined the gene effects involved in the inheritance of pod length and other yield-related traits and relationships among traits in crosses between two cowpea lines (TVu 2280 and TVu 2027) and a yard-long bean (TVu 6642) line with long pods. Plants of six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC1P2) derived from TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and TVu 2027 × TVu 6642 were evaluated under field conditions. Data collected on 14 yield components of each cross were used for generation mean analysis. Gene effects and their magnitudes varied with the crosses; digenic epistatic gene effects were detected for 10 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and 11 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642. Only additive gene effect was significant for pod length in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 while additive, dominant, and two of the three digenic epistatic gene effects were significant in TVu 2027 × TVu 6642. Models that incorporated only significant additive, dominant, and digenic epistasis were adequate for all 14 trait...
Genetic linkage map was constructed within the cultivated gene pool of cowpea from F10 recombinan... more Genetic linkage map was constructed within the cultivated gene pool of cowpea from F10 recombinant inbred population of 94 individuals. The recombinant population was derived from a cross between the breeding lines Kanannado and 88DM-345 which were developed in Nigeria. Kanannado is day sensitive while 88DM-345 is day neutral. Twenty-three AFLP primer combinations were tested on the inbred lines and the parentals generating 141 marker loci. A total of 96 AFLP marker loci identified 11 linkage groups spanning 2551.6 cM with an average distance of 231.9 cM. Average marker density was 26.58 per marker loci. Linkage groups ranged from 17.2 to 1137.8 cM and included 3–35 marker loci, respectively. A total of 4330 crossing-over with an average of 2.0 per cM was observed. The average number of crossing-over per individual over the genome was 4.5 per chromosome per individual.
The Tropical Legumes III project aims to reduce food insecurity in drought-prone areas of Sub Sah... more The Tropical Legumes III project aims to reduce food insecurity in drought-prone areas of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA), through improved productivity and production of four major grain legumes – chickpea, common bean, cowpea and groundnut. This is being sone by conducting research under three complementary research and delivery pillars: support for the development and release of farmer-preferred varieties; strengthening of the legume breeding capacity of partner CGIAR centers (ICRISAT, IITA and CIAT), and national partners Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda; and establishment of sustainable seed delivery systems that service the needs of small-holderfarmers. Significant achievements have been recorded. Breeding program assessments have been completed in all countries and improvement plans developed for execution. New seed varieties (163) have been released and are fast replacing the old ruling seed varieties in all target countries. Thi...
Flower bud thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) is one of the most damaging pests to cowpea in Afric... more Flower bud thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) is one of the most damaging pests to cowpea in Africa and varietal resistance is one of the effective approaches to minimize the pest damage. Study was conducted to assess variability among 117 genotypes in addition to two resistant (Sanzisabinli and TVu 1509) and one susceptible (Vita7) checks at Cinzana and N’Tarla locations under natural and artificial infestations of thrips. Parameters such as total number of pods per plant and damage scoring were used to assess the test entries. Genotypes CIPEA82672, Suivita2, TVu 1509 and Sanzisabinli were found highly tolerant, Diaye and TVu7677 moderately tolerant whilst nine genotypes were found tolerant to thrips attacks. CIPEA82672 and Suivita2 had higher grain yield than the resistant checks. Year by genotype, year by location and year by location by genotype interactions were significant for most traits. Genotype by genotype by environment (GGE) effect on yield showed CIPEA82672 most stable a...
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021
Optimization of a breeding program for increased genetic gain requires quality assurance (QA) and... more Optimization of a breeding program for increased genetic gain requires quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) at key phases of the breeding process. One vital phase in a breeding program that requires QC and QA is the choice of parents and successful hybridizations to combine parental attributes and create variations. The objective of this study was to determine parental diversity and confirm hybridity of cowpea F1 progenies using KASP (Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR)-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A total of 1,436 F1 plants were derived from crossing 220 cowpea breeding lines and landraces to 2 elite sister lines IT99K-573-1-1 and IT99K-573-2-1 as male parents, constituting 225 cross combinations. The progenies and the parents were genotyped with 17 QC SNP markers via high-throughput KASP genotyping assay. The QC markers differentiated the parents with mean efficiency of 37.90% and a range of 3.4–82.8%, revealing unique fingerprints of the parents. Ne...
Crop Science, 2020
Management and distribution of experimental data from prebreeding projects is important to ensure... more Management and distribution of experimental data from prebreeding projects is important to ensure uptake of germplasm into breeding and research programs. Being able to access and share this data in standard formats is essential. The adoption of a common informatics platform for crops that may have limited resources brings economies of scale, allowing common informatics components to be used across multiple species. The close integration of such a platform with commonly used breeding software, visualization, and analysis tools reduces the barrier for entry to researchers and provides a common framework to facilitate collaborations and data sharing. This work presents significant updates to the Germinate platform and highlights its value in distributing prebreeding data for 14 crops as part of the project 'Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives' (hereafter Crop Trust Crop Wild Relatives project) led by the Crop Trust (https://www.cwrdiversity.org). The addition of data on these species compliments data already publicly available in Germinate. We present a suite of updated Germinate features using examples from these crop species and their wild relatives. The use of Germinate within the Crop Trust Crop Wild Relatives project demonstrates the usefulness of the system and the benefits a shared informatics platform provides. These data resources provide a foundation on which breeding and research communities can develop additional online resources for their crops, harness new data as it becomes available, and benefit collectively from future developments of the Germinate platform. How to cite this article: Raubach S, Kilian B, Dreher K, et al. From bits to bites: Advancement of the Germinate platform to support genetic resources collections and prebreeding informatics for crop wild relatives.
![Research paper thumbnail of Identification of QTL for perenniality and floral scent in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/88246789/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](PLOS ONE, 2020
Perennial habit and floral scent are major traits that distinguish domesticated cowpeas from thei... more Perennial habit and floral scent are major traits that distinguish domesticated cowpeas from their wild relatives. However, the genetic basis of these two important traits remains largely unknown in cowpea. Plant longevity, a perenniality-related trait, and floral scent, an outcrossing trait, were investigated using a RIL population derived from a cross between a domesticated and a wild cowpea. QTL analysis revealed three significant loci, one on chromosome 8 associated with plant longevity and two, on chromosomes 1 and 11, for floral scent. Genes within the QTL regions were identified. Genes encoding an F-box protein (Vigun08g215300) and two kinases (Vigun08g217000, Vigun08g217800), and involved in physiological processes including regulation of flowering time and plant longevity, were identified within the perenniality QTL region. A cluster of O-methyltransferase genes (Vigun11g096800, Vigun11g096900, Vigun11g097000, Vigun11g097600, and Vig-un11g097800) was identified within the floral scent QTL region. These O-methyltransferase cowpea genes are orthologs of the Arabidopsis N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT) gene, which is involved in the biosynthesis of melatonin. Melatonin is an indole derivative, which is an essential molecule for plant interactions with pollinators. These findings lay the foundation for further exploration of the genetic mechanisms of perenniality and floral scent in cowpea. Knowledge from this study can help in the development of new extended-growth cycle lines with increased yield or lines with increased outcrossing for population breeding.
Journal of Genetics, 2020
Both cowpea and yard-long bean belong to Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata but have diverged thr... more Both cowpea and yard-long bean belong to Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata but have diverged through human induced evolution in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, respectively. To map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield associated traits and derive new lines that may combine the attributes of both types, we developed a F2:3 mapping population derived from a cross between cowpea line TVu2185 and yard-long bean line TVu6642. Using DArT markers, a total of 30 QTLs accounting for 1.8–13.0% phenotypic variation was detected for pod and seed traits. Some novel major QTLs for peduncle number per plant (qPeN2.2), pod length (qPoL3), seed breadth (qSB4), length (qSL7.2) and thickness (qST9) identified on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9, respectively, are particularly interesting and need to be validated. Moreover, we confirmed previously reported QTLs for pod length (qPoL8) and 100-seed weight (qSW8) on chromosome 8 and for seed number per pod (qSN9.2) on chromosome 9 suggesting usefulness for marker-assisted-selection purpose. Notably, some QTLs for these traits were clustered especially on chromosomes 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 indicating the presence of the same QTL or linked loci in these regions. Moreover, the involvement of epistasis was observed for trait expressions, but compared with the main effect QTLs, the phenotypic effects of epistatic-QTLs detected were much less. The present QTL analysis may provide a useful tool for breeders to formulate efficient breeding strategy for introgression of the desirable alleles for yield related traits in cowpea using molecular markers.
Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly: JARQ, 2019
A comparative analysis of farmers' preferences on improved cowpea varieties was carried out based... more A comparative analysis of farmers' preferences on improved cowpea varieties was carried out based on the data obtained from farmers' participatory varietal selection and questionnaire survey undertaken in southeastern Niger and north-central Burkina Faso. The grain yield was consistently the most important and common selection criterion for farmers in both countries, with a significant influence of other traits, including balance between grain and fodder yields, earliness, seed characteristics, and resistance to Striga gesnerioides in their variety selection process. In other words, if the variety had enough yield, the farmers' selection of the variety was separated from the second criterion reflecting farmers' demand specific to their social and environmental conditions, such as tradition, marketing, assets, rainfall, and biotic and abiotic stresses in the region. Key criteria for farmers' variety selection were obtained as well as an understanding of the potential of participatory activities to improve strategies in cowpea breeding and dissemination targeting these regions.
Experimental Agriculture, 2019
SummaryComparative analysis of preferences and key criteria for selecting cowpea (Vigna unguicula... more SummaryComparative analysis of preferences and key criteria for selecting cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) varieties was conducted using the data collected from farmers’ participatory varietal selection (FPVS) activities conducted over 3 years with a total of 2401 farmers (1230 male and 1171 female) in 13 villages in Tougouri department in northern region and Tiéfora department in southern region of Burkina Faso in West Africa. Over the 3 years, farmer criteria for variety selection remained basically stable, but some variations among the regions and years were noticed. Grain yield was the most common and the most important criterion for farmers’ choice in both regions. Farmers in Tougouri (north) put more emphasis on early maturity (90%) and drought resistance (19.7%) as selection criteria than farmers in Tiéfora (south). Farmers in Tiéfora placed statistically significant importance on seed colour and plant type, while farmers in Tougouri did not, and for these selection criter...
Journal of Applied Entomology, 2019
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.; Fabaceae) is an important grain legume grown especially in ... more Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.; Fabaceae) is an important grain legume grown especially in the dry savannah agro-ecologies of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In Africa, cowpea is part of the traditional cropping systems and it is considered as a strategic crop because of its multiple uses as human food, animal feed, source of nitrogen for soil restoration and income for resource-poor farmers
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is an important protein-rich grain legume and fodder crop grown acr... more Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is an important protein-rich grain legume and fodder crop grown across the semi-arid zones of the tropics below the Saharan desert and similar agro-ecological zones of eastern and southern Africa and the world. Drought, heat, low fertility soils, pests and diseases are key factors causing traditional varieties in Africa to yield much lower than their potential. Collaborative breeding programs are being aimed to develop improved cowpea cultivars for Africa. Marker-assisted backcrossing is being applied to accelerate introgression of known resistance genes into local cultivars, including resistance to the parasitic weed Striga, several fungal and bacterial diseases, nematodes and insect pests. Marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS) is being evaluated in four countries in Africa using four populations, each derived from a cross between elite parents carrying traits relevant to each target environment. Following QTL discovery at F3 - F4 generations, mem...
![Research paper thumbnail of A consensus genetic map of cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.] and synteny based on EST-derived SNPs](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/88246618/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Consensus genetic linkage maps provide a genomic framework for quantitative trait loci identifica... more Consensus genetic linkage maps provide a genomic framework for quantitative trait loci identification, map-based cloning, assessment of genetic diversity, association mapping, and applied breeding in marker-assisted selection schemes. Among “orphan crops” with limited genomic resources such as cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] (2 n = 2 x = 22), the use of transcript-derived SNPs in genetic maps provides opportunities for automated genotyping and estimation of genome structure based on synteny analysis. Here, we report the development and validation of a high-throughput EST-derived SNP assay for cowpea, its application in consensus map building, and determination of synteny to reference genomes. SNP mining from 183,118 ESTs sequenced from 17 cDNA libraries yielded ≈10,000 high-confidence SNPs from which an Illumina 1,536-SNP GoldenGate genotyping array was developed and applied to 741 recombinant inbred lines from six mapping populations. Approximately 90% of the SNPs were techn...
Cowpea has the potential to make a significant contribution to food and nutritional security and ... more Cowpea has the potential to make a significant contribution to food and nutritional security and poverty reduction in West and Central Africa. Constraints to be addressed include poor access to inputs including seeds, pest control, and product markets for widespread distribution of improved varieties, and integrated pest management technologies to reduce crop losses and improve product quality. The collaborative project between IITA and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) over a decade has enhanced cowpea production and grain quality through PRONAF, a technologically strong and effective participatory research development and capacity building with NARES and IFAD-funded development projects. PRONAF has made a substantial contribution to developing and disseminating sustainable, improved cowpea innovations in West and Central Africa. Target countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. In addition to innovations, capacity buildin...
Agronomy, 2021
This study determined the gene effects involved in the inheritance of pod length and other yield-... more This study determined the gene effects involved in the inheritance of pod length and other yield-related traits and relationships among traits in crosses between two cowpea lines (TVu 2280 and TVu 2027) and a yard-long bean (TVu 6642) line with long pods. Plants of six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC1P2) derived from TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and TVu 2027 × TVu 6642 were evaluated under field conditions. Data collected on 14 yield components of each cross were used for generation mean analysis. Gene effects and their magnitudes varied with the crosses; digenic epistatic gene effects were detected for 10 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 and 11 traits in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642. Only additive gene effect was significant for pod length in TVu 2280 × TVu 6642 while additive, dominant, and two of the three digenic epistatic gene effects were significant in TVu 2027 × TVu 6642. Models that incorporated only significant additive, dominant, and digenic epistasis were adequate for all 14 trait...
Genetic linkage map was constructed within the cultivated gene pool of cowpea from F10 recombinan... more Genetic linkage map was constructed within the cultivated gene pool of cowpea from F10 recombinant inbred population of 94 individuals. The recombinant population was derived from a cross between the breeding lines Kanannado and 88DM-345 which were developed in Nigeria. Kanannado is day sensitive while 88DM-345 is day neutral. Twenty-three AFLP primer combinations were tested on the inbred lines and the parentals generating 141 marker loci. A total of 96 AFLP marker loci identified 11 linkage groups spanning 2551.6 cM with an average distance of 231.9 cM. Average marker density was 26.58 per marker loci. Linkage groups ranged from 17.2 to 1137.8 cM and included 3–35 marker loci, respectively. A total of 4330 crossing-over with an average of 2.0 per cM was observed. The average number of crossing-over per individual over the genome was 4.5 per chromosome per individual.
The Tropical Legumes III project aims to reduce food insecurity in drought-prone areas of Sub Sah... more The Tropical Legumes III project aims to reduce food insecurity in drought-prone areas of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA), through improved productivity and production of four major grain legumes – chickpea, common bean, cowpea and groundnut. This is being sone by conducting research under three complementary research and delivery pillars: support for the development and release of farmer-preferred varieties; strengthening of the legume breeding capacity of partner CGIAR centers (ICRISAT, IITA and CIAT), and national partners Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda; and establishment of sustainable seed delivery systems that service the needs of small-holderfarmers. Significant achievements have been recorded. Breeding program assessments have been completed in all countries and improvement plans developed for execution. New seed varieties (163) have been released and are fast replacing the old ruling seed varieties in all target countries. Thi...
Flower bud thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) is one of the most damaging pests to cowpea in Afric... more Flower bud thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) is one of the most damaging pests to cowpea in Africa and varietal resistance is one of the effective approaches to minimize the pest damage. Study was conducted to assess variability among 117 genotypes in addition to two resistant (Sanzisabinli and TVu 1509) and one susceptible (Vita7) checks at Cinzana and N’Tarla locations under natural and artificial infestations of thrips. Parameters such as total number of pods per plant and damage scoring were used to assess the test entries. Genotypes CIPEA82672, Suivita2, TVu 1509 and Sanzisabinli were found highly tolerant, Diaye and TVu7677 moderately tolerant whilst nine genotypes were found tolerant to thrips attacks. CIPEA82672 and Suivita2 had higher grain yield than the resistant checks. Year by genotype, year by location and year by location by genotype interactions were significant for most traits. Genotype by genotype by environment (GGE) effect on yield showed CIPEA82672 most stable a...
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021
Optimization of a breeding program for increased genetic gain requires quality assurance (QA) and... more Optimization of a breeding program for increased genetic gain requires quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) at key phases of the breeding process. One vital phase in a breeding program that requires QC and QA is the choice of parents and successful hybridizations to combine parental attributes and create variations. The objective of this study was to determine parental diversity and confirm hybridity of cowpea F1 progenies using KASP (Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR)-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A total of 1,436 F1 plants were derived from crossing 220 cowpea breeding lines and landraces to 2 elite sister lines IT99K-573-1-1 and IT99K-573-2-1 as male parents, constituting 225 cross combinations. The progenies and the parents were genotyped with 17 QC SNP markers via high-throughput KASP genotyping assay. The QC markers differentiated the parents with mean efficiency of 37.90% and a range of 3.4–82.8%, revealing unique fingerprints of the parents. Ne...
Crop Science, 2020
Management and distribution of experimental data from prebreeding projects is important to ensure... more Management and distribution of experimental data from prebreeding projects is important to ensure uptake of germplasm into breeding and research programs. Being able to access and share this data in standard formats is essential. The adoption of a common informatics platform for crops that may have limited resources brings economies of scale, allowing common informatics components to be used across multiple species. The close integration of such a platform with commonly used breeding software, visualization, and analysis tools reduces the barrier for entry to researchers and provides a common framework to facilitate collaborations and data sharing. This work presents significant updates to the Germinate platform and highlights its value in distributing prebreeding data for 14 crops as part of the project 'Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives' (hereafter Crop Trust Crop Wild Relatives project) led by the Crop Trust (https://www.cwrdiversity.org). The addition of data on these species compliments data already publicly available in Germinate. We present a suite of updated Germinate features using examples from these crop species and their wild relatives. The use of Germinate within the Crop Trust Crop Wild Relatives project demonstrates the usefulness of the system and the benefits a shared informatics platform provides. These data resources provide a foundation on which breeding and research communities can develop additional online resources for their crops, harness new data as it becomes available, and benefit collectively from future developments of the Germinate platform. How to cite this article: Raubach S, Kilian B, Dreher K, et al. From bits to bites: Advancement of the Germinate platform to support genetic resources collections and prebreeding informatics for crop wild relatives.
PLOS ONE, 2020
Perennial habit and floral scent are major traits that distinguish domesticated cowpeas from thei... more Perennial habit and floral scent are major traits that distinguish domesticated cowpeas from their wild relatives. However, the genetic basis of these two important traits remains largely unknown in cowpea. Plant longevity, a perenniality-related trait, and floral scent, an outcrossing trait, were investigated using a RIL population derived from a cross between a domesticated and a wild cowpea. QTL analysis revealed three significant loci, one on chromosome 8 associated with plant longevity and two, on chromosomes 1 and 11, for floral scent. Genes within the QTL regions were identified. Genes encoding an F-box protein (Vigun08g215300) and two kinases (Vigun08g217000, Vigun08g217800), and involved in physiological processes including regulation of flowering time and plant longevity, were identified within the perenniality QTL region. A cluster of O-methyltransferase genes (Vigun11g096800, Vigun11g096900, Vigun11g097000, Vigun11g097600, and Vig-un11g097800) was identified within the floral scent QTL region. These O-methyltransferase cowpea genes are orthologs of the Arabidopsis N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT) gene, which is involved in the biosynthesis of melatonin. Melatonin is an indole derivative, which is an essential molecule for plant interactions with pollinators. These findings lay the foundation for further exploration of the genetic mechanisms of perenniality and floral scent in cowpea. Knowledge from this study can help in the development of new extended-growth cycle lines with increased yield or lines with increased outcrossing for population breeding.
Journal of Genetics, 2020
Both cowpea and yard-long bean belong to Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata but have diverged thr... more Both cowpea and yard-long bean belong to Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata but have diverged through human induced evolution in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, respectively. To map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield associated traits and derive new lines that may combine the attributes of both types, we developed a F2:3 mapping population derived from a cross between cowpea line TVu2185 and yard-long bean line TVu6642. Using DArT markers, a total of 30 QTLs accounting for 1.8–13.0% phenotypic variation was detected for pod and seed traits. Some novel major QTLs for peduncle number per plant (qPeN2.2), pod length (qPoL3), seed breadth (qSB4), length (qSL7.2) and thickness (qST9) identified on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9, respectively, are particularly interesting and need to be validated. Moreover, we confirmed previously reported QTLs for pod length (qPoL8) and 100-seed weight (qSW8) on chromosome 8 and for seed number per pod (qSN9.2) on chromosome 9 suggesting usefulness for marker-assisted-selection purpose. Notably, some QTLs for these traits were clustered especially on chromosomes 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 indicating the presence of the same QTL or linked loci in these regions. Moreover, the involvement of epistasis was observed for trait expressions, but compared with the main effect QTLs, the phenotypic effects of epistatic-QTLs detected were much less. The present QTL analysis may provide a useful tool for breeders to formulate efficient breeding strategy for introgression of the desirable alleles for yield related traits in cowpea using molecular markers.
Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly: JARQ, 2019
A comparative analysis of farmers' preferences on improved cowpea varieties was carried out based... more A comparative analysis of farmers' preferences on improved cowpea varieties was carried out based on the data obtained from farmers' participatory varietal selection and questionnaire survey undertaken in southeastern Niger and north-central Burkina Faso. The grain yield was consistently the most important and common selection criterion for farmers in both countries, with a significant influence of other traits, including balance between grain and fodder yields, earliness, seed characteristics, and resistance to Striga gesnerioides in their variety selection process. In other words, if the variety had enough yield, the farmers' selection of the variety was separated from the second criterion reflecting farmers' demand specific to their social and environmental conditions, such as tradition, marketing, assets, rainfall, and biotic and abiotic stresses in the region. Key criteria for farmers' variety selection were obtained as well as an understanding of the potential of participatory activities to improve strategies in cowpea breeding and dissemination targeting these regions.
Experimental Agriculture, 2019
SummaryComparative analysis of preferences and key criteria for selecting cowpea (Vigna unguicula... more SummaryComparative analysis of preferences and key criteria for selecting cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) varieties was conducted using the data collected from farmers’ participatory varietal selection (FPVS) activities conducted over 3 years with a total of 2401 farmers (1230 male and 1171 female) in 13 villages in Tougouri department in northern region and Tiéfora department in southern region of Burkina Faso in West Africa. Over the 3 years, farmer criteria for variety selection remained basically stable, but some variations among the regions and years were noticed. Grain yield was the most common and the most important criterion for farmers’ choice in both regions. Farmers in Tougouri (north) put more emphasis on early maturity (90%) and drought resistance (19.7%) as selection criteria than farmers in Tiéfora (south). Farmers in Tiéfora placed statistically significant importance on seed colour and plant type, while farmers in Tougouri did not, and for these selection criter...
Journal of Applied Entomology, 2019
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.; Fabaceae) is an important grain legume grown especially in ... more Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.; Fabaceae) is an important grain legume grown especially in the dry savannah agro-ecologies of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In Africa, cowpea is part of the traditional cropping systems and it is considered as a strategic crop because of its multiple uses as human food, animal feed, source of nitrogen for soil restoration and income for resource-poor farmers
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is an important protein-rich grain legume and fodder crop grown acr... more Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is an important protein-rich grain legume and fodder crop grown across the semi-arid zones of the tropics below the Saharan desert and similar agro-ecological zones of eastern and southern Africa and the world. Drought, heat, low fertility soils, pests and diseases are key factors causing traditional varieties in Africa to yield much lower than their potential. Collaborative breeding programs are being aimed to develop improved cowpea cultivars for Africa. Marker-assisted backcrossing is being applied to accelerate introgression of known resistance genes into local cultivars, including resistance to the parasitic weed Striga, several fungal and bacterial diseases, nematodes and insect pests. Marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS) is being evaluated in four countries in Africa using four populations, each derived from a cross between elite parents carrying traits relevant to each target environment. Following QTL discovery at F3 - F4 generations, mem...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Consensus genetic linkage maps provide a genomic framework for quantitative trait loci identifica... more Consensus genetic linkage maps provide a genomic framework for quantitative trait loci identification, map-based cloning, assessment of genetic diversity, association mapping, and applied breeding in marker-assisted selection schemes. Among “orphan crops” with limited genomic resources such as cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] (2 n = 2 x = 22), the use of transcript-derived SNPs in genetic maps provides opportunities for automated genotyping and estimation of genome structure based on synteny analysis. Here, we report the development and validation of a high-throughput EST-derived SNP assay for cowpea, its application in consensus map building, and determination of synteny to reference genomes. SNP mining from 183,118 ESTs sequenced from 17 cDNA libraries yielded ≈10,000 high-confidence SNPs from which an Illumina 1,536-SNP GoldenGate genotyping array was developed and applied to 741 recombinant inbred lines from six mapping populations. Approximately 90% of the SNPs were techn...