Harnessing the Hidden Treasures in African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa), an Underutilized Grain Legume with Food Security Potentials

Ojuederie, Omena Bernard; Popoola, Jacob O.; Aremu, Charity; Babalola, Olubukola Oluranti

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50672-8_1

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Plant breeders are currently studying how the entire genome sequence of some species such as AYB and BG can hasten their genetic improvement and, hence, better utilization. The genomes of some of these legumes are currently being sequenced by the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC), which seeks to assemble and annotate the genomes of 101 traditional African food crops to improve their nutritional content ( Ojuederie et al, 2021 ). Regardless of the ongoing efforts to see to the complete success of orphan legumes in the global food basket, the need for more crop improvement strategies is demanding, not just from conventional plant breeders alone, but biochemists, plant geneticists, botanists, technology providers, the government, and the traditional farmers.…”

Section: Global Research Efforts and Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Exploitation of Orphan Legumes for Food, Income, and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2022

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Poverty, food, and nutrition insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have become major concerns in recent times. The effects of climate change, drought, and unpredictable rainfall patterns threaten food production and sustainable agriculture. More so, insurgency, youth restiveness, and politico-economic instability amidst a burgeoning population requiring a sufficient and healthy diet remain front-burner issues in the region. Overdependence on only a few major staple crops is increasingly promoting the near extinction of many crops, especially orphan legumes, which possess immense potentials as protein and nutritional security crops. The major staple crops are declining in yield partly to their inability to adapt to the continuously changing climatic conditions. Remarkably, the orphan legumes are climate-smart crops with enormous agronomic features which foster sustainable livelihood. Research efforts on these crops have not attained a reasonable comparative status with most commercial crops. Though many research organizations and scientists have made efforts to promote the improvement and utilization of these orphan legumes, there is still more to be done. These legumes’ vast genetic resources and economic utility are grossly under-exploited, but their values and promising impacts are immeasurable. Given the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) of zero hunger, improved nutrition, health, and sustainable agriculture, the need to introduce these crops into food systems in SSA and other poverty-prone regions of the world is now more compelling than ever. This review unveils inherent values in orphan legumes needing focus for exploitation viz-a-viz cultivation, commercialization, and social acceptance. More so, this article discusses some of the nutraceutical potentials of the orphan legumes, their global adaptability, and modern plant breeding strategies that could be deployed to develop superior phenotypes to enrich the landraces. Advanced omics technologies, speed breeding, as well as the application of genome editing techniques, could significantly enhance the genetic improvement of these useful but underutilized legumes. Efforts made in this regard and the challenges of these approaches were also discussed.

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Section: Global Research Efforts and Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Exploitation of Orphan Legumes for Food, Income, and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2022

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“…Nutritionally, the seeds of the selected NULs are rich in proteins, carbohydrates, minerals (calcium, manganese, phosphorus amongst others), and a wide range of vitamins (Table 2). Nutritional information on the tubers is scanty and has not been studied in detail compared to the seeds (Ojuederie and Balogun, 2019;Tripathi et al, 2020). Nevertheless, a few reports on AYB, Zombi pea, and winged beans indicate that the tubers are nutritionally rich with varied carbohydrates, proteins, ash, dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamin contents when compared to those of cassava, potato, and yam (Adegboyega et al, 2019;Konyeme et al, 2020;Ojuederie et al, 2020;Tripathi et al, 2020).…”

Section: Nutritional Properties Of Nulsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tuberous underutilized legumes are gradually gaining recognition. These include the African yam bean (AYB) (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) cultivated in West Africa for the seeds and in East and Central Africa for the tubers (Adewale and Nnamani, 2022); winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), grown and cultivated in Papua New Guinea Highland, northern Ghana, and Burma; the Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum) cultivated in the Southern Africa regions of Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, and in northern South Africa (Abberton et al, 2020a;Abberton et al, 2020b;Ojuederie et al, 2021;Sriwichai et al, 2021); Mexican yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus); Zombi pea (Vigna vexillata) an underutilized legume with a pantropical distribution; hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus) grown in North Africa; as well as Tala (Neoapaloxylon tuberosum) cultivated in Madagascar (Von Wettberg et al, 2021). Different tuber shapes and sizes of some tuberous underutilized legumes are presented in Figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) is a crop that is extensively grown for its seeds in certain regions of West and Southern Africa. Nigeria has been reported to be the largest producer of this crop (Ojuederie et al, 2021;Popoola et al, 2022b;Arise et al, 2022). Tubers of Zombi peas are crispy, rich in protein (15%) and can be consumed raw (Tripathi et al, 2020;Von Wettberg et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The seeds and tubers of many of the NULs are also rich in protein. For instance, AYB seeds contain 19.5% protein, while the tubers hold about 15.5% protein (Ojuederie and Balogun, 2017;Ojuederie and Balogun, 2019;Abberton et al, 2020a). In winged bean, the protein content of the seeds and tubers are 29.8% to 42.5% and 20% respectively (Abberton et al, 2020b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutritional, functional, and bioactive properties of african underutilized legumes

et al. 2023

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Globally, legumes are vital constituents of diet and perform critical roles in maintaining well-being owing to the dense nutritional contents and functional properties of their seeds. While much emphasis has been placed on the major grain legumes over the years, the neglected and underutilized legumes (NULs) are gaining significant recognition as probable crops to alleviate malnutrition and give a boost to food security in Africa. Consumption of these underutilized legumes has been associated with several health-promoting benefits and can be utilized as functional foods due to their rich dietary fibers, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), proteins/essential amino acids, micro-nutrients, and bioactive compounds. Despite the plethora of nutritional benefits, the underutilized legumes have not received much research attention compared to common mainstream grain legumes, thus hindering their adoption and utilization. Consequently, research efforts geared toward improvement, utilization, and incorporation into mainstream agriculture in Africa are more convincing than ever. This work reviews some selected NULs of Africa (Adzuki beans (Vigna angularis), African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa), Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea), Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis), Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum), Mung bean, (Vigna radiata), Rice bean (Vigna Umbellata), and Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)), and their nutritional, and functional properties. Furthermore, we highlight the prospects and current challenges associated with the utilization of the NULs and discusses the strategies to facilitate their exploitation as not only sources of vital nutrients, but also their integration for the development of cheap and accessible functional foods.

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Morphological, pathological and phylogenetic analyses identify a diverse group ofColletotrichumspp. causing leaf, pod, and flower diseases on the orphan legume African yam bean

Ogunsanya,

Adebisi,

Popoola

et al. 2024

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African yam bean (AYB;Sphenostylis stenocarpaHochst. Ex A. Rich.) is an underutilized legume indigenous to Africa. The crop has great potential as it can enhance food security and its chemical composition offers nutritional and medicinal opportunities. However, the low grain yield caused by fungal diseases, including pod blight and leaf tip dieback, deters farmers from large-scale cultivation. The causal agents of pod and leaf tip dieback on AYB are largely uncharacterized. To determine the prevalence of fungal diseases affecting leaves, pods, and flowers of AYB, a survey was conducted in 2018 and 2019 in major AYB-growing areas in Nigeria. Leaf tip dieback, flower bud rot, and pod blight were the most common symptoms. Morphological and molecular assays were conducted to identify the causal agents of the observed diseases. In all the samples examined, fungi from eight genera were isolated from leaves and pods showing disease symptoms. However, Koch’s postulates were fulfilled only for fungi belonging to theColletotrichumgenus. Fungi from the other seven genera did not produce disease symptoms in healthy AYB tissues. SeveralColletotrichumisolates were characterized by sequencing the ITS, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, calmodulin, and ApMAT loci. A combined phylogenetic analysis revealed fourColletotrichumspecies:C. siamense,C. theobromicola,andC. fructicola, which were recovered from the diseased leaves, andC. truncatum, which was recovered from diseased pods and buds. Our results are useful to gear efforts to develop integrated management strategies to control diseases affecting AYB in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. The availability of such strategies may stimulate greater cultivation of AYB to contribute to diet diversification, which has been repeatedly advocated by a range of stakeholders to increase food security and the prosperity of smallholder farmers.

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Harnessing the Hidden Treasures in African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa), an Underutilized Grain Legume with Food Security Potentials

Cited by 6 publications

References 46 publications

The Exploitation of Orphan Legumes for Food, Income, and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Exploitation of Orphan Legumes for Food, Income, and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nutritional, functional, and bioactive properties of african underutilized legumes

Morphological, pathological and phylogenetic analyses identify a diverse group ofColletotrichumspp. causing leaf, pod, and flower diseases on the orphan legume African yam bean

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