Cereals constitute a food staple in the African bread (Ugali) form. Overdependence on maize as a predominant staple is partly blamed on the constricting indigenous cereal phyto-diversity. Strategies rekindling interest in their restoration remain few and disconnected. Thus, the objectives were to: (1) search for micronutrient density information among accessions of sorghum, finger millet, pearl millet and maize on the basis of 'where-they-were-as they-were' (free-call diversity); (2) determine micronutrient densities linked to eco-nutrametric variation for distinguishing differences among accessions. The accessions were collected in 2003/04 from the Bungoma-Maseno-Kibwezi (BMK) phyto-regions and subjected to Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis. A nested design was used for sampling in which the cereal species were nested within sites and sites nested within phyto-regions. For each accession with its soil, a gamut of element concentrations was XRF-generated. The data were subjected to a Clustered Bar Graphing (CBG) test for identifying variation-picking element(s). By CBG test, a given element's concentration data range was placed along the X-axis upon which species/accessions' density categories along the Y-axis were graphed as series in rows giving way to density variation comparisons. Where no such density variations were visible, the element was disregarded as non-variation-picking. The CBG test revealed that all accessions were 'imperfect' in that none of them had the gamut elements (density as subject score) inall-top or in-all-low density, i.e. none of the accessions scored high 'As' or low 'Cs' in every elemental density case. This implied that a phenotypic characterization as a whole would have required describing an accession in as different (number of) ways as the number of the variation-picking elements included. A soil-to-plant mineral flow (elemental uptake-ability or EU) was further calculated as a single value [plant ppm]/[soil] x 100. In sorghum the EUs were as follows: 2.4% for Fe (in accession tC74), 211% for Zn (in tC65), 332% for Cu (in tC36) and 408% for K in (tC70). The CBG test among the cereal accessions is invaluable for distinguishing within and between accessions in respect of their single element uptake-ability. A single nutrametric value (NMV) or grade, on the other hand, appears useful in describing a nutrametric phenotypic variant as it bypasses the genotype-environment interaction dilemma. Its robustness is its ability to distinguish various phenotypic mineral micronutrient diversity grading and offers opportunities for mineral micronutrient mapping across phyto-regions.
In Africa staple cereal foods are often eaten along with the African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) rendering meals rich in micronutrients. To increase the mineral micronutrient value, it is imperative to intensify their cultivation given their under-utilized diversity, neglect until needed, slow rate of incorporation into crop value chains for lack clear micronutrient nutrition driven agenda.As a way of focusing on their ionomic nutraceutic attribute potential, the first objective was to investigate accession ionome differentials on the basis a soil mineral criterion.The second objective was to determine a method for variation assessment of ionomic micronutrient dense variants in key Kenyan local vegetables. Four ALVs species constituting 25 accessions were collected in short season rains of 2003 from north and southern stretch of western Kenya and in early Long rains of 2004 from south eastern Kenya. A stratified sampling design had three collection points per farm; on three farms per site; and at three sites per phyto-region. ALV samples together with accompanying soils were Energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysed.The data were used, first, for ionomically differentiating populations by way of singling out respective element influenced accession differentials (SELIACDs).Second, elements were jointly resolved into multi-element influenced accession differentials (MELIACDs). Agro-edaphic effects on population ionome niching were assessed using analysis of variance and graphical aids. Geometric means were generated and awarded nutrametric merit scores to allow for nutrametric grading of accessions.Results suggest a great deal of ionomic phenotypic plasticity among the local vegetable accessions as a function at scale of farm, site and/or region soils.The SELIACD method was useful for piecemeal separation of accession on a single element basis but which method would require the development of a selection index with a certainty of a significant genetic gain at the onset.The joint MELIACD and the nutrametric grading methods are proposed as a promising basis for prebreeding tool prioritization given the XRF-analytic novelty and the emerging interest in ALV nutraceutical cropping.
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