Despite soybean’s high protein and oil content and its potential to boost food security on the continent, Africa produces less than 1% of the world’s soybean crop. Production lags, in part, because most soybean cultivars are bred for North and South American conditions that don’t match African environments.
Despite soybean’s high protein and oil content and its potential to boost food security on the continent, Africa produces less than 1% of the world’s soybean crop. Production lags, in part, because most soybean cultivars are bred for North and South American conditions that don’t match African environments.
Researchers from the Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL), a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded project led by the University of Illinois, are working to change that. In a new study, published in Agronomy, they have developed methods to help breeders improve soybean cultivars specifically for African environments, with the intention of creating fast-maturing lines that will bolster harvests and profits for smallholder farmers.
“It is important for producers and breeders to know when a cultivar is going to mature: that moment when a plant is at full capacity and performing its best. We were motivated to fill in gaps of knowledge around maturity timing in Africa,” says Guillermo Marcillo, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Crop Sciences at U of I, and first author on the new study.
Read more at: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Photo Credit: jcesar via Pixabay
