A presentation given by Bioversity International's Beatrice Ekesa at the International Horticultural Congress, Brisbane, August 2014.
Beatrice Ekesa is a post-doctoral research fellow at Bioversity International, working on Diet Diversity for Nutrition and Health. Beatrice currently leads two research initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa looking at using agricultural diversity in diets to help prevent micronutrient deficiencies, particularly in women and children. Beatrice focuses her work in populations where banana forms an important part of the diet.
Read more about this work here:
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/news/detail/reducing-micronutrient-deficiencies-with-vitamin-a-rich-bananas-in-rural-eastern-africa/
Pests of castor_Binomics_Identification_Dr.UPR.pdf
Sensory evaluation of Vitamin-A rich Banana cultivars
1. Sensory evaluation of Vitamin-A rich Banana cultivars on trial in
Burundi and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Beatrice Ekesa, Deborah Nabuuma, Inge Van den Bergh
19 August 2014, International Horticultural Congress, Brisbane
2. Goal
• Improve the micronutrient status of vulnerable populations
in Sub-Saharan Africa, through banana-based food
systems - Vitamin A
3. Introduction
• Vitamin A deficiency is a public
health problem in Sub-Saharan
Africa
• In East and Central Africa the
prevalence of VAD >40% WHO
threshold of 15%
• Bananas are a major staple in
the region
• Also a good source of
micronutrients
4. Trial cultivars and reference local cultivars
Accession name Genome Subgroup Type Country of origin
Apantu AAB Plantain Cooking Ghana
Pelipita ABB Pelipita Cooking Philippines
Bira AAB Pacific Plantain Cooking PNG
Lahi AAB Pacific Plantain Cooking Hawaii
Sepi AA nd Cooking PNG
Hung Tu AA nd Dessert PNG
To'o AA nd Dessert PNG
Laï AAA Red Dessert Thailand
Accession local name Genome Subgroup Type Country localised
Muzuzu Plantain Cooking Burundi
Gisahira AAA-EA EAHB Cooking Burundi
Kamaramasenge AAB Kamaramasenge Dessert Burundi & North Kivu
Poyo Dessert Dessert Burundi
Musilongo AAB Plantain (French Horn) Cooking North Kivu-DRC
Vulambya AAA-EA Lujugira-Kitika Cooking North Kivu-DRC
Kitika Sukari Dessert Dessert North Kivu-DRC
Musheba AAB Plantain (French) Cooking South Kivu-DRC
Barhebesha AAA-EA Lujugira-Kitika Cooking South Kivu-DRC
Gros Michel Dessert Dessert South Kivu-DRC
5. Methodology
• 3 sites:
Burundi (2 sub-sites)
South Kivu, DRC (3 sub-sites)
North Kivu, DRC (3 sub-sites)
• Dessert cultivars:
Tested when ripe and served raw
• Cooking cultivars:
Boiled with/ without peel
Roasted with/ without peel
Pan fried
6. Methodology cont…
• Ranking based on a five-point hedonic scale:
1 - Very bad 2 – Bad 3 - Fair
4 - Good 5 – Very good
Attributes:
Appearance (Peel and pulp)
Peeling ease
Aroma
Texture (in hand and mouth)
Taste
Overall evaluation
Panel-local informally trained farmers
120-150/region (50/50 men/women)
13. Conclusion
Cultivars most preferred (>50% (scored good and very good) and compared
well against local cultivars were
Burundi: Apantu, Bira, Pelipita and Lai
South Kivu: Apantu, Bira, Lahi and Lai
North Kivu: Apantu, Bira, Lahi and Lai
• Preference with regards to sensory attributes showed no difference between
men and women
• Tested cultivars have high possibility of adoption within existing farming
systems and diets
If you need a specific CRP logo, replace the general CGIAR logo at the upper right.
The prevalence in East and central African exceeds the 15% WHO threshhold
The first table (on top) represents the cultivars on trial while the lower table represents the reference local varieties. The cultivars selected for trial are those with more than average levels of pVACs (RAE >333 µg/100gdw), when grown in their countries of origin
The cooking varieties compared well with the local varieties, the local dessert Gros michel was prefered more as compared to the two desserts Lai and To’o.
Plantain Apantu was not significantly different the local Musheba after boiling, roasting and pan frying.
When boiled, Lahi (cooking) was not significantly different from the plantains: Apantu, Bira and Musheba.
The mean scores for the dessert cultivars Lai (3.7) and To’o (3.0) rated as fair were significantly different from the local cultivar Gros Michel (4.6
The cooking varieties compared so well with the local varieties
Plantain cultivars: local Musilongo had significantly higher means than Apantu & Bira after all the 3 cooking methods: boiling, roasting & panfrying
Cooking cultivars: no difference between the mean scores of Lahi and local Vulambya when roasted with peel
Musilongo, Apantu and Lahi were the most appreciated cultivars by the panelists with > 80% rating good and very good when roasted without peel and pan fried
Lai was the best performing trial dessert cultivar with a mean score of 4.26 ± 0.59
No significant difference between its overall evaluation mean score and that of the local Kitika Sukari.
Pan fried cultivars were preferred in the order Gisahira > Muzuzu > Bira > Apantu > Pelipita > Lahi.
However, local Gisahira was only significanlty higher mean for only one attribute: overall evalaution
There was no significant difference between the scores of the plantain cultivars Apantu, Bira and Muzuzu for aroma, texture in hand, texture in the mouth, and overall evaluation.
Bira was also similar to Gisahira for the attributes: appearance, aroma and texture in the hand.
Gisahira, Apantu, Muzuzu and Bira were the most appreciated by 85 – 93%.
While Pelipita and Lahi were acceptable to 61% and 57% respectively.
No significant difference was observed between the mean scores by the male and female participants after pan frying Muzuzu, Lahi, and Gisahira. The males gave significantly higher scores for the aroma of Bira; aroma dn texture in the hand of Apantu. Pelipita was the exception as the females had significantly higher scores for the texture in the hand.
Apantu was best performing plantain, No significant difference with local Muzuzu after boiling, roasting and panfrying
Following pan frying no significant difference between apantu, Bira and Muzuzu
For cooking cultivars, the local Gisahira was preferred to Lahi and Pelipita after all 3 cooking methods
No significant differences between Lahi and Pelipita after roasting and pan frying
The local dessert cultivars Kamaramasenge and Poyo (mean of 4.4) were preferred to To’o and Lai (means of 3.6-3.8)
I would like to acknowledge the famers who took part in this study, I alo acknowledge Bioversity international especially the A4NH and RTB program, Harvestplus and CIALCA.