Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat

Smallholder farming communities face highly variable climatic conditions that threaten locally adapted, low-input agriculture. The benefits of modern crop breeding may fail to reach their fields when broadly adapted genetic materials do not address local requirements. To date, participatory methods...

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Autores principales: Mancini, C., Mengistu, D.K., Pè, M.E., Fadda, Carlo, Dell'Acqua, M., Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community, Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/83491
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author Mancini, C.
Mengistu, D.K.
Pè, M.E.
Fadda, Carlo
Dell'Acqua, M.
Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community
Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat
author_browse Dell'Acqua, M.
Fadda, Carlo
Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat
Mancini, C.
Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community
Mengistu, D.K.
Pè, M.E.
author_facet Mancini, C.
Mengistu, D.K.
Pè, M.E.
Fadda, Carlo
Dell'Acqua, M.
Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community
Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat
author_sort Mancini, C.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Smallholder farming communities face highly variable climatic conditions that threaten locally adapted, low-input agriculture. The benefits of modern crop breeding may fail to reach their fields when broadly adapted genetic materials do not address local requirements. To date, participatory methods only scratched the surface of the exploitability of farmers’ traditional knowledge in breeding. In this study, 30 smallholder farmers in each of two locations in Ethiopia provided quantitative evaluations of earliness, spike morphology, tillering capacity and overall quality on 400 wheat genotypes, mostly traditional varieties, yielding altogether 192,000 data points. Metric measurements of ten agronomic traits were simultaneously collected, allowing to systematically break down farmers’ preferences on quantitative phenotypes. Results showed that the relative importance of wheat traits differed by gender and location. Farmer traits were variously contributed by metric traits, and could only partially be explained by them. Eventually, farmer trait values were used to produce a ranking of the 400 wheat varieties identifying the trait combinations most desired by farmers. The study scale and methods lead to a better understanding of the quantitative basis of Ethiopian smallholder farmer preference in wheat, broadening the discussion for the future of local, sustainable breeding efforts accommodating farmers’ knowledge.
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spelling CGSpace834912025-11-12T05:38:36Z Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat Mancini, C. Mengistu, D.K. Pè, M.E. Fadda, Carlo Dell'Acqua, M. Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat smallholders climate change participatory approaches wheat indigenous knowledge plant breeding plant genetics Smallholder farming communities face highly variable climatic conditions that threaten locally adapted, low-input agriculture. The benefits of modern crop breeding may fail to reach their fields when broadly adapted genetic materials do not address local requirements. To date, participatory methods only scratched the surface of the exploitability of farmers’ traditional knowledge in breeding. In this study, 30 smallholder farmers in each of two locations in Ethiopia provided quantitative evaluations of earliness, spike morphology, tillering capacity and overall quality on 400 wheat genotypes, mostly traditional varieties, yielding altogether 192,000 data points. Metric measurements of ten agronomic traits were simultaneously collected, allowing to systematically break down farmers’ preferences on quantitative phenotypes. Results showed that the relative importance of wheat traits differed by gender and location. Farmer traits were variously contributed by metric traits, and could only partially be explained by them. Eventually, farmer trait values were used to produce a ranking of the 400 wheat varieties identifying the trait combinations most desired by farmers. The study scale and methods lead to a better understanding of the quantitative basis of Ethiopian smallholder farmer preference in wheat, broadening the discussion for the future of local, sustainable breeding efforts accommodating farmers’ knowledge. 2017 2017-09-13T07:50:35Z 2017-09-13T07:50:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/83491 en Open Access application/pdf Springer Mancini, C.; Kidane, Y.G.; Mengistu, D.K.; Pè, M.E.; Fadda, C.; Dell’Acqua, M.; Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community (2017) Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 9120 ISSN: 2045-2322
spellingShingle smallholders
climate change
participatory approaches
wheat
indigenous knowledge
plant breeding
plant genetics
Mancini, C.
Mengistu, D.K.
Pè, M.E.
Fadda, Carlo
Dell'Acqua, M.
Melfa and Workaye Farmer Community
Kidane, Yosef Gebrehawaryat
Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title_full Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title_fullStr Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title_full_unstemmed Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title_short Joining smallholder farmers’ traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of Ethiopian wheat
title_sort joining smallholder farmers traditional knowledge with metric traits to select better varieties of ethiopian wheat
topic smallholders
climate change
participatory approaches
wheat
indigenous knowledge
plant breeding
plant genetics
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/83491
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