Recent research papers published by AVRDC authors
Peas (Pisum sativum L.) and other grain legumes or rapeseed meal (Brassica napus L. subsp. oliefera) are potential sources of protein. These are also good rotation crops. For farmers, protein and yield are key traits. In this study, a dataset containing 37 descriptors and 1222 accessions from a germplasm collection of P. sativum was analyzed.
The World Vegetable Center South Asia is exploring physiology based screening approaches for identifying elite mungbean accessions for high temperature tolerance under field and controlled growth conditions. Promising selections have been subjected to elevated CO2 environments to determine their physiological responses, growth and yield abilities to help select lines with greater adaptability to the likely climates of the future.
Of the various environmental stresses that a plant can experience, temperature has the widest and most far-reaching effects on legumes. Efforts are being made to develop temperature tolerant plant varieties via conventional breeding methods as well as more recent molecular breeding techniques. This paper describes the adverse effects of abnormal temperatures on various growth stages in legumes and proposes appropriate strategies to resolve these effects.
An important challenge threatening agriculture in Africa is the difficulty in collecting timely data on disease spread and effectiveness of on-farm control methods. This study served as a case study for assessing the viability of a participatory GIS (Geographic Information System) to enable a plant diagnostics network with fieldworkers.
Despite 90 years of awareness, indigenous vegetables are poorly represented in the global conservation system. The authors argue for the importance of safeguarding agrobiodiversity in its centers of diversity, using tropical Asia and Myannar as a case study.
Promoting the production and consumption of traditional vegetables is expected to enhance household nutrition among urban and rural households. The Good Seed Initiative (GSI) program promoted production and consumption of nutrient-dense traditional African vegetables in Tanzania to reduce malnutrition. We estimated the impact of promotion activities on dietary diversity for households, women, and children.
Resilience thinking, as an approach to agriculture development, focuses on enhancing the capacity of both the human and ecological systems inter alia. In this paper, the concept of resilience is approached from the perspective of socioecological systems dynamics.
Bitter gourd, bottle gourd, wax gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd, and ridge gourd are cultivated and marketed by smallholder farmers, and are important crops in home gardens throughout southern and southeastern Asia.
Onion is perceived to be a “man’s crop” in the study region with only 22 percent of onion producers being women. Women mentioned difficulties in acquiring land and storage facilities as the main constraints to successful onion production.
After reviewing the main causes and effects of land degradation and erosion in the uplands of mainland Southeast Asia, this chapter presents several case studies of recent land-use changes governed by economic, political and institutional transitions, the expansion of teak and rubber tree plantations in northern Laos and southwest China, respectively, and of monocropping coffee in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam.