‘NASPOT 11’, a Sweetpotato Cultivar Bred by a Participatory Plant-breeding Approach in Uganda

Abstract

Additional index words. seedling screening, sweetpotato breeding, sweetpotato virus disease, Alternaria bataticola blight The sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] cultivar NASPOT 11 (Namulonge Sweetpotato 11) was approved for release by the Ugandan Plant Variety Release Committee in Apr. 2010 (Mwanga et al., 2010). This is the fifth time the sweetpotato breeding program in Uganda has officially released sweetpotato cultivars. The program released 19 cultivars between 1995 and 1999 (Mwanga et al., 2009), but to the best of our knowledge, 'NASPOT 11' represents the first sweetpotato cultivar bred from segregating populations by participatory plant breeding (PPB) for Africa and perhaps the world (Gibson et al., 2008; Mwanga et al., 2010). 'NASPOT 11' has acceptable storage root shape (long elliptic) when grown in light soils, has high dry matter (DM) (%34%), and good to excellent consumer acceptance, depending on growth conditions. The cultivar has moderate to high field resistance to sweetpotato virus disease (SPVD) and Alternaria bataticola blight.

Heterosis and combining ability for storage root, flesh color, virus disease resistance and vine weight in Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.]

“…MDP 1774 clone from B7×A3 family showed the highest heterosis in season B with New Kawogo being the most represented female parent and Naspot 10 O the most represented male parent. These findings are in agreement with previous results (Mwanga et al, 2011) where New Kawogo was described as being high biomass yielding cultivar.…”

“…However, there was a consistency between seasons because the high yielding families did not differ that much across seasons. In both seasons, checks performed better than overall progenies and other parents, which is in agreement with the findings of (Mwanga et al 2007(Mwanga et al , 2011 who recognized Naspot 11 and Ejumula as good performers for storage root yield. The frequency of the checks was maintained high to lower plot error considerably and to improve the efficiency of the ranking (Kempton and Gleeson, 1997).…”

“…In that regard MDP355 clone from B2×A2 (Magabali×Naspot 1) family showed the best heterosis in season A. Knowing that Magabali is very susceptible variety to SPVD (Mwanga et al, 2011), these findings may imply that genes responsible for SPVD resistance are homozygous and recessive in Magabali. Mid-parent heterosis for vine weight was better in seasons A than B.…”

Farmer perception and utilization of leaf functional traits in managing agroecosystems

“…Certain traits do factor heavily into applied research on plant breeding, which largely focuses on how long-term trends in crop domestication are due to selection for suites of "domestication traits," including yield, nutritional quality, harvest factors (such as shattering in grains) or propagation (Doebley, Brandon, & Smith, 2006;Meyer, DuVal, & Jensen, 2012). However, farmers are also known to both evaluate the impacts of management and make management decisions based on other observable and tactile traits, such as leaf colour, size and thickness, or phenology (Gibson, Byamukama, Mpembe, Kayongo, & Mwanga, 2008;Mwanga et al, 2011) that are not necessarily part of a domestication syndrome. For example, in coffee agroforestry systems in Central America, farmers commonly select shade trees through an understanding of traits such as leaf texture and size, foliage density and rooting patterns (Cerdán, Rebolledo, Soto, Rapidel, & Sinclair, 2012), while in cocoa agroforestry systems in West Africa, farmers select shade trees based on observable leaf traits that are critical for ecosystem processes including organic matter accumulation (Isaac, Dawoe, & Sieciechowicz, 2009).…”

Invertebrate pests and diseases of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas): a review and identification of research priorities for smallholder production

“…In less developed countries formal breeding programmes are largely unaffordable therefore programmes have focused on screening and evaluating local germplasm for resistance (Collins et al, 1991;Okpul et al, 2011) though exceptions include successful breeding effort in Uganda (Mwanga et al, 2011). There is a high level of diversity of varieties, for example in one assessment program in PNG, 590 varieties were found to be highly resistant to scab (Kokoa, 2001).…”