1. 10th Triennial African Potato Conference
October 9th to 13th, 2016
Uptake, adaptation and output from
accelerated breeding programs for
sweetpotato in sub-Saharan Africa
E.E. Carey, R.O.M. Mwanga, M. Andrade,
G. Makunde, J. Ricardo,M. Chiona, E. Baafi, K. Some, J.
Ndirigwe, G. Ssemakula, F. Chipungu, J.W. Low,
P.E. Abidin, W. Grüneberg
2. Reposition sweetpotato
in the Food Economies
of SSA.
Crop Improvement –
breeding backstopped
from regional support
platforms and from CIP
HQ in Lima, Peru
Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI)
Improving lives of 10 million African Households in 17 countries by 2020
3. Information excerpted from
SASHA briefs:
www.sweetpotatoknowledge.org
Work conducted under SASHA,
GT4SP, AGRA and other programs
SpeedBreeders CoP – 15th annual
meeting in 2016
4. Accelerated Breeding
Scheme (ABS)
Since 2009, 9 countries released
56 SP varieties, about 40
orange-fleshed (OFSP)
Breeders in 7 countries have
used or are using ABS to release
varieties in 4 years from cross to
release.
5. Conventional view
- From temperate
zone?
- Not under
pressure to
produce results?
- Can be speeded
up and optimized
6. Main points of the Accelerated Breeding Scheme (ABS)
1. Go to locations early
2. Increase number of evaluations per year
8. Proof of concept -
Peru (Grüneberg et
al., 2009)
- 3 environments
(San Ramon – Fert,
No Fert), Lima
Led to release of 4
varieties by INIA.
Benjamin. Dark
orange, high
yielding
9. Mozambique
Year 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 Total
No. of trials
established
82 68 4 - 154
No. of on-farm
trials
established
- - 88 - 88
No. of clones
evaluated
18,834 11,926 76 76 30,836
No. of clones for
multilocation
trials
- - - 76 76
22 varieties released –
15 in 2011 and 7 in 2016
10. Uganda •NASPOT 12 (O) + 13 (O)
•Crosses made in
2005
•SPK-004 parent
•New Dimbuka is also
preferred because it is
high yielding (>35 t/ha),
has high vine production,
is moderately resistant to
SPVD, has high dry
matter content (>32%).
11. Rwanda • Mugande - a new variety has
to be higher yielding, have
high dry matter content, have
SPVD resistance, have ability
to keep in field for longer to
allow for piece meal
harvesting, have red root skin
color.
• For OFSP. Kabode and Vita
were promoted OFSP.
Gihungamukungu which is
OFSP is preferred because it is
high yielding and processors
prefer it because it is easier
to make puree
Dual purpose types – 2010
crossing block, release 2014
‘RW11-17’, ‘RW11-1860’,
‘RW11-2419’, ‘RW11-2560’,
‘RW11-2910’, and ‘RW11-
4923’ Sweetpotato
D. Shumbusha, Jean Ndirigwe, et
al. HORTSCIENCE 49(10):1349–1352. 2014.
Parents – important vars
12. Zambia • Olimpia – 2009 cross – 2014
release.
• high yielding both in terms of storage
root and vine
• drought tolerant, early, high dry
matter
• orange fleshed. Promotional
campaigns + linkage to vine
multipliers
• Tanzania– widely important
variety
• Rise in the cost of wheat was
also a driver for adoption since
sweetpotato was a cheaper
alternative source of calories.Chiwoko
Olimpia
13. Burkina Faso + Ghana
• Fadanga is preferred because it is high yielding, drought
tolerant, has big roots, is marketable, and it is not affected by
viruses. OFSP is being promoted, linked to seed system.
Purple-fleshed was adopted automatically because of
persistence of planting material
• Apomuden is preferred OFSP in Ghana because of the strong
promotional activities it has received.
• Both Ghana and Burkina Faso – new PhDs working to get
their products out under tight AGRA time frame!
14. Continuing Needs
•Numbers game – management skills
•Skills required to breed and resources to do it
•Phenotyping – nearest neighbor designs
• Virus, weevils, fertility, drought
•Breeding-Seed system-value chain linkages
•Variety release regulations (should not be a
problem)