Bottle Gourd Landraces and Its Potential Contribution to Food Security

Abstract

Issues surrounding water scarcity and malnutrition in the rural household of sub-Saharan Africa continue to be a problem and pose threat to food security. In such cases, traditional and underutilized crops have been proposed because of their likely suitability in these marginal areas of crop production characterized by abiotic (drought and heat) and biotic environmental stresses (pest and diseases). Bottle gourd is one such crop with multipurpose use and a huge potential to contribute to food security. The crop is grown for its leaves, fruits, and seeds from landraces providing important nutrition for both humans and livestock. A lot has been documented about its medical properties. The crop exhibits wide genetic variation for qualitative and quantitative traits, which can be used for cultivar development. The objective of this review was to provide information on why bottle gourd is an important food security crop in sub-Saharan Africa. The first section of the paper presents water scarcity, food production, and climate change. This is followed by the section on the neglected underutilized crops species. Then the section of drought tolerance of the crop is presented, and lastly, the section on potential contribution of the crop to food security is presented.