Exploration of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.), an Underutilized Crop, to Aid Global Food Security: Varietal Improvement, Genetic Diversity and Processing

Abstract

Currently, the global agricultural system is focused on a limited number of crop species, thereby presenting a threat to food security and supply, especially with predicted global climate change conditions. The importance of ‘underutilized’ crop species in meeting the world’s demand for food has been duly recognized by research communities, governments and policy makers worldwide. The development of underutilized crops, with their vast genetic resources and beneficial traits, may be a useful step towards solving food security challenges by offering a multifaceted agricultural system that includes additional important food resources. Bambara groundnut is among the beneficial underutilized crop species that may have a positive impact on global food security through organized and well-coordinated multidimensional breeding programs. The excessive degrees of allelic difference in Bambara groundnut germplasm could be exploited in breeding activities to develop new varieties. It is important to match recognized breeding objectives with documented diversity in order to significantly improve breeding. This review assesses the genetic diversity of Bambara groundnut, as well as important factors involved in realizing and harnessing the potential of this crop.

Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc): A Crop for the New Millennium, Its Genetic Diversity, and Improvements to Mitigate Future Food and Nutritional Challenges

“…The combined activities of a genetics board take this selection to the next level, with identical genetic materials being evaluated in various climate conditions and promising lines being provided to global farmers and research organizations. Cross sign (x) notes the unnamed quantity of genotype; adopted from FAO [54] and Muhammad et al [93].…”

Genetic analysis of microsatellites associated with resistance against bacterial leaf blight and blast diseases of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

“…Figure 4 shows the percentage polymorphism of 472 screened background SSR markers. Suitable marker selection is vital in a markerassisted backcross breeding for selection of target genes while avoiding linkage drag [29][30][31][32]. It also facilitates the recurrent parent genome recovery.…”

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrenea L) landraces using DArT SNP markers

“…Hence, unavailability of good quality seeds of the improved varieties, limited awareness about the importance of the crop among the growers, and lack of introduction of high yielding genotypes in areas of its cultivation are among the major reasons for its low production and productivity [9]. Furthermore, inadequate knowledge on the taxonomy, reproductive biology coupled with the genetics of agronomic and quality traits, pest and diseases [10], lack of genetic improvement and adaptation to particular agro-ecological zones [11] are some of the constraints for developments. This has led to underutilization of the crop resulting in weak or no genetic improvement effort, lower crop yield and quality.…”

“…This has led to underutilization of the crop resulting in weak or no genetic improvement effort, lower crop yield and quality. Bambara groundnut landraces conserved ex-situ in international and regional gene bank is about 6,145 with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA, Ibadan) conserving the largest germplasm [11] collected from 25 African countries with highest number of accessions from the Western Africa region [4].…”

“…However, considering the large genetic resource of the crop globally [11], only less than 35% of these accessions have been evaluated using molecular markers. There is paucity of report on genetic diversity and population structure with SSR, AFLP, RAPD and silcoDArT using molecular markers in bambara groundnut, when compared with other major crops like soybean, rice, and wheat.…”