Potato is an important cash and food crop, a source of income to many small scale farmers in Eritrea. In the long tradition of potato cultivation farmers have adopted a number of landraces. However, very little is kno...Potato is an important cash and food crop, a source of income to many small scale farmers in Eritrea. In the long tradition of potato cultivation farmers have adopted a number of landraces. However, very little is known about their genetic diversity which limits further breeding programs to improve productivity. The objective of the study was to characterize potato accessions grown in Eritrea. A total of 21 accessions collected from farmers and NARI were used in this study for characterization employing 33 phenotypic descriptors. Single linkage (nearest neighbor) clustering method using UPGMA employing Euclidean test was used to yield a dendrogram. The clustering generated three main clusters with further sub clusters. The clustering helped to identify accessions that shared the same characteristics and/or that were closely related and vice versa. It was noted that there was no distinct relationship between the clusters groups and geographic sources of accession. Yet, accessions sharing the same name may not necessarily share the same genetic content. Mean deviation of variables for each group from the total mean indicated that Group III followed by group I showed negative deviation in most of the recorded yield related traits. Group I was particularly affected by the presence of two inferior accessions in the group. On the other hand, Group II accessions showed relatively maximum deviation from the total mean and could be recommended for use as parent for any breeding program in Eritrea.展开更多
Potato is an important vegetable crop in Eritrea contributing significantly to food security. Despite its importance, however, production and thus supply of the crop in the market are limited. The current study is des...Potato is an important vegetable crop in Eritrea contributing significantly to food security. Despite its importance, however, production and thus supply of the crop in the market are limited. The current study is designed to understand the seed supply system, marketing out lets and major production constraints. The survey was conducted in the two main potato producing Zobas of the country (Zoba Maekel and Zoba Debub). Qualitative and quantitative data was generated using focus group discussion (PRA) and semi structured questionnaire, respectively. A total of 20 villages were visited and 138 farmers were interviewed. The finding revealed that there is no standard seed supply system thus majority (91.3%) of the growers purchase seed from open market with a limited supply from the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, about 63% of the farmers from Zoba Maekel reserve their own seed for the next cycle compared to 53.6% from Zoba Debub. It was noted that the Tsaeda embaba variety grows predominantly in the country owing to its yield and resistance. Majority of the growers rely on tuber colour and shape for variety identification, thus over 76% prefer the round shaped and white coloured variety. The potential marketing outlets include wholesale, retailer and direct to consumers. Majority (78.3%) of the interviewed growers indicated that large portion of their produce is marketed via wholesaler followed by retailers (27.5%). Main production limiting constraints are identified as low input supplies, availability and cost of clean seeds, pest pressure while huge market demand and access to transportation are considered as potentials encouraging grower. It is, therefore, recommended that an immediate action to establish sustainable seed supply system is taken into consideration in line with a regular extension service to provide technical advice to growers.展开更多
文摘Potato is an important cash and food crop, a source of income to many small scale farmers in Eritrea. In the long tradition of potato cultivation farmers have adopted a number of landraces. However, very little is known about their genetic diversity which limits further breeding programs to improve productivity. The objective of the study was to characterize potato accessions grown in Eritrea. A total of 21 accessions collected from farmers and NARI were used in this study for characterization employing 33 phenotypic descriptors. Single linkage (nearest neighbor) clustering method using UPGMA employing Euclidean test was used to yield a dendrogram. The clustering generated three main clusters with further sub clusters. The clustering helped to identify accessions that shared the same characteristics and/or that were closely related and vice versa. It was noted that there was no distinct relationship between the clusters groups and geographic sources of accession. Yet, accessions sharing the same name may not necessarily share the same genetic content. Mean deviation of variables for each group from the total mean indicated that Group III followed by group I showed negative deviation in most of the recorded yield related traits. Group I was particularly affected by the presence of two inferior accessions in the group. On the other hand, Group II accessions showed relatively maximum deviation from the total mean and could be recommended for use as parent for any breeding program in Eritrea.
文摘Potato is an important vegetable crop in Eritrea contributing significantly to food security. Despite its importance, however, production and thus supply of the crop in the market are limited. The current study is designed to understand the seed supply system, marketing out lets and major production constraints. The survey was conducted in the two main potato producing Zobas of the country (Zoba Maekel and Zoba Debub). Qualitative and quantitative data was generated using focus group discussion (PRA) and semi structured questionnaire, respectively. A total of 20 villages were visited and 138 farmers were interviewed. The finding revealed that there is no standard seed supply system thus majority (91.3%) of the growers purchase seed from open market with a limited supply from the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, about 63% of the farmers from Zoba Maekel reserve their own seed for the next cycle compared to 53.6% from Zoba Debub. It was noted that the Tsaeda embaba variety grows predominantly in the country owing to its yield and resistance. Majority of the growers rely on tuber colour and shape for variety identification, thus over 76% prefer the round shaped and white coloured variety. The potential marketing outlets include wholesale, retailer and direct to consumers. Majority (78.3%) of the interviewed growers indicated that large portion of their produce is marketed via wholesaler followed by retailers (27.5%). Main production limiting constraints are identified as low input supplies, availability and cost of clean seeds, pest pressure while huge market demand and access to transportation are considered as potentials encouraging grower. It is, therefore, recommended that an immediate action to establish sustainable seed supply system is taken into consideration in line with a regular extension service to provide technical advice to growers.
