Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection

In the dry areas of Nicaragua, white-grain sorghum is an important subsistence crop for resource-poor farmers. From 2002 to 2007, participatory varietal selection (PVS) was implemented in three regions with the aim of identifying new varieties matching small farmers' needs. This paper describes the...

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Autores principales: Trouche, G., Brocke, Kirsten vom, Aguirre Acuña, S., Chow, Z
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42510
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author Trouche, G.
Brocke, Kirsten vom
Aguirre Acuña, S.
Chow, Z
author_browse Aguirre Acuña, S.
Brocke, Kirsten vom
Chow, Z
Trouche, G.
author_facet Trouche, G.
Brocke, Kirsten vom
Aguirre Acuña, S.
Chow, Z
author_sort Trouche, G.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In the dry areas of Nicaragua, white-grain sorghum is an important subsistence crop for resource-poor farmers. From 2002 to 2007, participatory varietal selection (PVS) was implemented in three regions with the aim of identifying new varieties matching small farmers' needs. This paper describes the general approach, the partnership and the methods used to identify farmers' selection criteria (FSC), as well as the evaluation of new germplasm using the scoring method. Data analysis involved relating farmers' evaluation data to agronomic data and farmers' selection decisions (FSD), using Spearman correlations and the chi-square test. In the three regions, higher grain yield and good grain quality for making tortillas were identified as the two main FSCs for both the ‘tortillero’ and ‘millón’ sorghum types; the ranking of the other important FSC differed between the sites and the sorghum types. Our data shows that farmers' scores for earliness were highly correlated with breeder's observations while farmers' assessments of grain yield were correlated with measured yield in half the cases, depending on their knowledge of the crop. The study shows that in evaluating grain quality the farmers used several specific traits which were not considered by breeders. Overall appreciation, grain yield and grain quality were the key farmers' criteria that contributed to FSD. The PVS work enabled breeders to obtain a better understanding of farmers' criteria as well as identifying new progenitors, which should be useful for the sorghum breeding schemes in Central America in the future. Furthermore, by exploring wide genetic diversity, it was possible to release several farmer-preferred and high-performing varieties within a fairly short period.
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spelling CGSpace425102024-11-15T08:52:53Z Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection Trouche, G. Brocke, Kirsten vom Aguirre Acuña, S. Chow, Z sorghum varieties selection farmer participation variedades selección participación de agricultores In the dry areas of Nicaragua, white-grain sorghum is an important subsistence crop for resource-poor farmers. From 2002 to 2007, participatory varietal selection (PVS) was implemented in three regions with the aim of identifying new varieties matching small farmers' needs. This paper describes the general approach, the partnership and the methods used to identify farmers' selection criteria (FSC), as well as the evaluation of new germplasm using the scoring method. Data analysis involved relating farmers' evaluation data to agronomic data and farmers' selection decisions (FSD), using Spearman correlations and the chi-square test. In the three regions, higher grain yield and good grain quality for making tortillas were identified as the two main FSCs for both the ‘tortillero’ and ‘millón’ sorghum types; the ranking of the other important FSC differed between the sites and the sorghum types. Our data shows that farmers' scores for earliness were highly correlated with breeder's observations while farmers' assessments of grain yield were correlated with measured yield in half the cases, depending on their knowledge of the crop. The study shows that in evaluating grain quality the farmers used several specific traits which were not considered by breeders. Overall appreciation, grain yield and grain quality were the key farmers' criteria that contributed to FSD. The PVS work enabled breeders to obtain a better understanding of farmers' criteria as well as identifying new progenitors, which should be useful for the sorghum breeding schemes in Central America in the future. Furthermore, by exploring wide genetic diversity, it was possible to release several farmer-preferred and high-performing varieties within a fairly short period. 2009-10 2014-09-24T07:58:05Z 2014-09-24T07:58:05Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42510 en Limited Access Cambridge University Press Trouche, G, Vom Brocke, K, Aguirre Acuna, S, Chow, Z. Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection. Experimental Agriculture (2009) 45(04), 451-467
spellingShingle sorghum
varieties
selection
farmer participation
variedades
selección
participación de agricultores
Trouche, G.
Brocke, Kirsten vom
Aguirre Acuña, S.
Chow, Z
Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title_full Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title_fullStr Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title_full_unstemmed Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title_short Giving new sorghum variety options to resource-poor farmers in Nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
title_sort giving new sorghum variety options to resource poor farmers in nicaragua through participatory varietal selection
topic sorghum
varieties
selection
farmer participation
variedades
selección
participación de agricultores
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42510
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