1.National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State Nigeria. FARMERS’ PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF PRO-VITAMIN A CASSAVA CULTIVARS IN NIGERIA By Onwuka1, Samuel; Egesi1, Chiedozie1 N.; Kulakow2, Peter; Ekwe1, Kenneth C.; and Olasanmi1, Bunmi 1.National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State Nigeria. 2.International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Introduction   In most developing countries children under five years account for a large share of the total disease burden attributable to Vitamin-A Deficiency (VAD). The primary cause of VAD is inadequate dietary intake. The World Health Organization(WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) recommended four main strategies for improving dietary intakes

Nutritional education STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING DIETARY INTAKE Biofortification Supplementation Nutritional education Disease control measures

Scientist decided to enrich Cassava with beta-Carotene (pre-cursor) to vitamin A through breeding and selection. The result of this was the emergence of several new cassava varieties with enhanced levels of the micronutrient. Conventional breeding as applied to many organizations are purely researcher- oriented without reference to end – users. The missing link ….

Fig:1THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND THE END-USERS OF TECHNOLOGY PARTICIPATORY BREEDING RSEARCHERS END-USERS (FARMERS) THERE IS THEREFORE STRONG NEED FOR PARTICIPATORY BREEDING

The result of this approach will be; All the Stakeholders will be involved in crop improvement decisions, i.e. on the kind or quality of improved crops that are introduced into the food or Agricultural System. that plant varieties that are well tailored to poor farmers’ needs are developed in short time and adoption enhanced. the question of acceptability of the yellow root colour of high pro-vitamin A cassava (pVAC) varieties in Nigeria would have been answered.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this work therefore was: to assess farmers’ preference statuses on the morphology of selected yellow root cultivars. to evaluate the sensory attributes of dry and pounded gari products of the cassava cultivars.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: This experiment was conducted at NRCRI, Umudike, to evaluate 26 pVAC varieties A white root genotype NR 8082 was used as the control. Field days were conducted first in 2009 and repeated in 2010. SAMPLING PROCEDURE; Eleven farmers were purposively sampled from 3 major cassava producing communities in the study area. DATA COLLECTION: Data was generated through a well structured questionnaire.

The 26 pVAC varieties were evaluated for tuberous root yield and beta-carotene content as well as farmers’ and consumers’ preferences THE YELLOW CASSAVA VARIETIES EVALUATED INCLUDES; 05/1658, 05/0100, 05/1601, 05/0127, 05/0251, 05/0303, 05/1626, 05/0473, 05/1652, 05/1631, 05/1632, 05/1599, 91/02324,05/0327,05/1662, NR8082, 05/1646, 05/1653, 05/1600, 05/1654, 05/0186, 05/1636, 05/1625, and then 01/1368, 01/1371, 01/1412 varieties which were not initially evaluated in 2009. The white variety NR8082 was used in the evaluation as control.

Field Assessment of Yellow Cassava Variety Farmers were taken to representative plots of the 26 cassava varieties for preference scoring of the morphology of each cultivar Morphological Attributes: Plant size Branching pattern Root structure Root pulp colour Root water content (visual) Bulking pattern

Fig 2:Field Assessment of Yellow Cassava Variety INDIGENEOUS WAY OF ASSESSING THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE YELLOW ROOT CASSAVA CULTIVARS

SENSORY EVALUATION OF THE PROCESSED CASSAVA PRODUCT (GARI) Sampled roots from each of the 26 cultivars were processed into both toasted form called gari and the steeped/pounded form. SENSORY ATTRIBUTES: Colour of dry (toasted) gari, Colour of steeped/pounded gari Smell Taste Texture Fibre content (visual) Starchiness (sensory)

SENSORY EVALUATION OF THE PROCESSED CASSAVA PRODUCT (GARI) FARMERS INDIGENOUS WAY OF SENSORY EVALUATION OF TOASTED CASSAVA CULTIVARS

Summarized Preference Assessment of the Cultivars Based on the Morphological Attributes Analysis of the panelists' preference rating, which classified the cultivars into three (3) groups 1, 2 & 3, on the basis of their mean scores revealed that: Group 1(10) were most preferred by respondents, Group 2(10) were moderately preferred, Group 3(6) contains the least preferred cultivars

(moderately preferred) Group 3 (Least Preferred) Table 1: Farmers Preference Classification of the yellow Cassava Cultivars based on their Morphological Attributes (2009&2010) S/n Group1 (most preferred) Group 2 (moderately preferred) Group 3 (Least Preferred) 1 NR 8082 (3.75) 05/1654 (3.09) 91/02324 (2.63) 2 05/1631 (3.42) 05/1652 (2.63) 05/1600 (2.54) 3 05/1653 (3.42) 05/0251 (3.00) 05/0473 (2.54) 4 05/0303 (3.35) 05/1625 (2.85) 05/1658 (2.36) 5 05/1599 (3.23) 05/1626 (2.81) 05/0186 (2.54) 6 05/0127 (3.23) 01/1371(2.81) 05/1636 (2.00) 7 05/1646 (3.22) 05/1601 (2.81) 8 05/0100 (3.14) 05/1662 (2.76) 9 05/0327(3.14) 10 01/1412 (3.80) 01/1368(2.72)

Farmers Morphological Preference Classification of the Yellow Cassava Cultivars (2009&2010)

Summarized Preference Assessment of the Cultivars Based on the Sensory Attributes The analysis revealed that 11 cultivars including the control finally emerged as most preferred varieties. Also two of the cultivars (01/1371 and 01/1412) introduced in 2010 were rated among the most preferred. Other moderately (10) and least(5) preferred cultivars respectively were identified.

(moderately preferred) Group 3 (Least Preferred) Table 2: Farmers Sensory Preference Classification of the Yellow Cassava Cultivars (2009&2010) S/n Group1 (most preferred) Group 2 (moderately preferred) Group 3 (Least Preferred) 1 05/1646(3.57) 05/0186 (3.04) 05/1636(2.52) 2 05/0100(3.47) 91/02324 (2.95) 05/1625(2.52) 3 05/0127(3.42) 05/0251 (2.90) 05/1658(2.47) 4 05/0303(3.38) 05/1601 (2.90) 05/1653(2.42) 5 05/1599(3.19) 05/1662 (2.85) 05/1626(2.42) 6 NR 8082(3.19) 05/50473(2.80) 7 05/1654(3.14) 05/1652 (2.76), 8 05/1631(3.14) 05/1632(2.76) 9 05/0327(3.14) 05/1600(2.61) 10 01/1371(3.36) 02/11368(2.72) 11 01/1412(3.18)

Farmers Sensory Preference Classification of the Yellow Cassava Cultivars(2009&2010)

Conclusion In consideration of the 2 years summarized results of the preference assessment of the 26 cultivars based on the morphological and sensory attributes, it could be deduced that: Cultivars like 01/1412, NR8082,05/0303, 05/1559, 05/0127, 05/032, 05/1631, 05/1646 consistently emerged as the most preferred cultivars. Interestingly also, 8 of the yellow cassava cultivars competed favorably with the control (NR 8082) which is one of the popular cassava varieties currently with the farmers in the study area.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT HarvestPlus Challenge Programme. NRCRI, UNUDIKE NIGERIA. IITA

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING