Browsing by Author "Reuben Ssali"

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Combined use of sensory methods for the selection of root, tuber and banana varieties acceptable to end-users
(Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2023-06-13) Aurélie Bechoff; Laurent Adinsi; Gérard Ngoh Newilah; Mariam Nakitto; Zoé Deuscher; Reuben Ssali; Ugo Chijioke; Elizabeth Khakasa; Kephas Nowakunda; Alexandre Bouniol; Dominique Dufour; Christophe Bugaud
BACKGROUND: The assessment of user acceptability in relation to crop quality traits should be a full part of breeding selection programs. Our methodology is based on a combination of sensory approaches aiming to evaluate the sensory characteristics and user acceptability of root, tuber and banana (RTB) varieties. RESULTS: The four-stepped approach links sensory characteristics to physicochemical properties and end-user acceptance. It starts with the development of key quality traits using qualitative approaches (surveys and ranking) and it applies a range of sensory tests such as Quantitative Descriptive Analysis with a trained panel, Check-All-That-apply, nine-point hedonic scale and Just-About-Right with consumers. Results obtained on the same samples from the consumer acceptance, sensory testing and physicochemical testing are combined to explore correlations and develop acceptability thresholds. CONCLUSION: A combined qualitative and quantitative approach involving different sensory techniques is necessary to capture sensory acceptance of products from new RTB clones. Some sensory traits can be correlated with physicochemical characteristics and could be evaluated using laboratory instruments (e.g. texture). Other traits (e.g. aroma and mealiness) are more difficult to predict, and the use of a sensory panel is still necessary. For these latter traits, more advanced physicochemical methods that could accelerate the breeding selection through high throughput phenotyping are still to be developed.
Combining ability and heritability analysis of sweetpotato weevil resistance, root yield, and dry matter content in sweetpotato
(Frontiers in Plant Science, 2022-09-07) Immaculate Mugisa; Jeninah Karungi; Paul Musana; Roy Odama; Agnes Alajo; Doreen M. Chelangat; Milton O. Anyanga; Bonny M. Oloka; Iara Gonçalves dos Santos; Herbert Talwana; Mildred Ochwo-Ssemakula; Richard Edema; Paul Gibson; Reuben Ssali; Hugo Campos; Bode A. Olukolu; Guilherme da Silva Pereira; Craig Yencho; Benard Yada
Efficient breeding and selection of superior genotypes requires a comprehensive understanding of the genetics of traits. This study was aimed at establishing the general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA), and heritability of sweetpotato weevil (Cylas spp.) resistance, storage root yield, and dry matter content in a sweetpotato multi-parental breeding population. A population of 1,896 F1 clones obtained from an 8 × 8 North Carolina II design cross was evaluated with its parents in the field at two sweetpotato weevil hotspots in Uganda, using an augmented row-column design. Clone roots were further evaluated in three rounds of a no-choice feeding laboratory bioassay. Significant GCA effects for parents and SCA effects for families were observed for most traits and all variance components were highly significant (p ≤ 0.001). Narrow-sense heritability estimates for weevil severity, storage root yield, and dry matter content were 0.35, 0.36, and 0.45, respectively. Parental genotypes with superior GCA for weevil resistance included “Mugande,” NASPOT 5, “Dimbuka- bukulula,” and “Wagabolige.” On the other hand, families that displayed the highest levels of resistance to weevils included “Wagabolige” × NASPOT 10 O, NASPOT 5 × “Dimbuka-bukulula,” “Mugande” × “Dimbuka-bukulula,” and NASPOT 11 × NASPOT 7. The moderate levels of narrow-sense heritability observed for the traits, coupled with the significant GCA and SCA effects, suggest that there is potential for their improvement through conventional breeding via hybridization and progeny selection and advancement. Although selection for weevil resistance may, to some extent, be challenging for breeders, efforts could be boosted through applying genomics-assisted breeding. Superior parents and families identified through this study could be deployed in further research involving the genetic improvement of these traits.
End-user preferences to enhance prospects for varietal acceptance and adoption in potato breeding in Uganda
(Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture, 2023-09-15) Judith Ssali Nantongo; Samuel Edgar Tinyiro; Mariam Nakitto; Edwin Serunkuma; Prossy Namugga; Oluwatoyin Ayetigbo; Sarah Mayanja; Mukani Moyo; Reuben Ssali; Thiago Mendes
BACKGROUND: Potato varieties have diverse biophysical characteristics, so it is important for breeders to have the capacity to choose those that meet the preferences of end users, such as mealiness, firmness, and taste, among others. Combining user preferences with descriptive information regarding the sensory characteristics of boiled potatoes can contribute to the improvement of consumer-driven varieties. This study aimed to factor in the preferences of end users to improve the prospects for varietal acceptance, adoption, and discrimination among genotypes in potato breeding. RESULTS: The priority quality traits (traits that play the most significant roles in acceptance and adoption) of the boiled potatoes were determined by evaluating gender and livelihood using the G+ tool. The G+ tool is designed to assess gender impact on roots, tubers and bananas (RTB) traits by serving as a validation check to reflect on important gender-based issues in agri- cultural food systems in order to reduce harm and promote positive impact. Potato genotypes were differentiated by penetration (textural parameters as measured by standard texture probe) and the procedure was repeatable, as there was no significant difference between the cooking replicates at 40 min of cooking. Instrument-based texture parameters, such as penetration peak force (hardness/firmness) and area (area under the curve, which represents energy needed to penetrate) of boiled potato tubers were significantly associated with sensory attributes such as fracturability and hardness in the mouth. An attempt to differentiate genotypes using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) revealed that the average results observed for the calibration for yellow color (r2 = 0.70), homogeneity of color (r2 = 0.48), moisture in mass (r2 = 0.40), and uniformity of texture (r2 = 0.56) suggested that these parameters could be used for initial breeding screening purposes. CONCLUSIONS: The preferred traits of the boiled potato can be integrated into the potato-breeding program/product profile. Near-infrared spectroscopy shows strong potential to predict potato color and the ability of NIRS models to predict some texture attributes is also promising. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
Targeting market segment needs with public-good crop breeding investments: A case study with potato and sweetpotato focused on poverty alleviation, nutrition and gender
(Frontiers in Plant Science, 2023-03-15) Sylvester Okoth Ojwang; Julius Juma Okello; David Jakinda Otieno; Janet Mwende Mutiso; Hannele Lindqvist-Kreuze; Peter Coaldrake; Thiago Mendes; Maria Andrade; Neeraj Sharma; Wolfgang Gruneberg; Godwill Makunde; Reuben Ssali; Benard Yada; Sarah Mayanja; Vivian Polar; Bonny Oloka; Doreen M. Chelangat; Jacqueline Ashby; Guy Hareau; Hugo Campos
Crop breeding programs have often focused on the release of new varieties that target yield improvement to achieve food security and reduce poverty. While continued investments in this objective are justified, there is a need for breeding programs to be increasingly more demand-driven and responsive to the changing customer preferences and population dynamics. This paper analyses the responsiveness of global potato and sweetpotato breeding programs pursued by the International Potato Center (CIP) and its partners to three major development indicators: poverty, malnutrition and gender. The study followed a seed product market segmentation blueprint developed by the Excellence in Breeding platform (EiB) to identify, describe, and estimate the sizes of the market segments at subregional levels. We then estimated the potential poverty and nutrition impacts of investments in the respective market segments. Further, we employed the G+ tools involving multidisciplinary workshops to evaluate the gender-responsiveness of the breeding programs. Our analysis reveals that future investments in breeding programs will achieve greater impacts by developing varieties for market segments and pipelines that have more poor rural people, high stunting rates among children, anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age, and where there is high vitamin A deficiency. In addition, breeding strategies that reduce gender inequality and enhance appropriate change of gender roles (hence gender transformative) are also required.