Plant Sciences

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Browsing Plant Sciences by Advisor "Benesi, Ibrahim R. M."

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    Genetic diversity analysis and nutritional assessment of cocoyam genotypes in Malawi
    (University of the Free State, 2009-11) Mwenye, Obed John; Labuschagne, Maryke T.; Herselman, Liezel; Benesi, Ibrahim R. M.
    English: Cocoyam (C. esculenta (L.) Schott and X. sagittifolium (L.) Schott) belongs to the family Araceae. Cocoyam has the potential to contribute significantly to world agriculture in terms of food, nutrition and crop diversification. Despite this the crop remains neglected in terms of research focus. Limited or no information exists on the prevalence, preference and utilisation as well as the pattern and level of diversity that exists in cocoyam germplasm found in Malawi. This study determined the level and pattern of genetic diversity of cocoyam from Malawi using ethno-botany, morphological characters and AFLP markers. Mineral composition of selected genotypes was also determined. The ethno-botanical survey showed that farmers in Malawi maintain a large amount of cocoyam germplasm. These farmers have rich ethno-botanical and ecological knowledge of the cocoyam cultivars they conserve. Farmer’s preferences regarding cocoyam cultivars included uses of plant parts, adaptation and eating quality. Morphological characters showed high levels of variation among accessions. Two main species of cocoyam, Colocasia and Xanthosoma were identified based on leaf base shapes (petiole attachment). AFLP markers showed low levels of genetic diversity between accessions as opposed to the high morphological diversity. A combined (morphological characters and AFLP data) analysis using UPGMA clustering, PCA and AMOVA further alluded to the presence of the two cocoyam species within the germplasm. High levels of variation were detected between the two species and low levels of variation were observed within each of the two species (Colocasia and Xanthosoma). The PCA exhibited a better representation of the genetic diversity pattern than the hierarchical clustering. Accessions showed high levels of mineral composition. Potassium was identified as the major mineral component. Accessions also exhibited high levels of essential minerals (Ca, Fe and Zn). Incorporating cocoyam into the diet of the resource poor farmers could help in the fight of the most prevalent micro-nutrient deficiencies. A study on morphological and genetic diversity as well full nutritional assessment of the tubers and leaves of cocoyam from the whole country is recommended. In order to broaden the narrow genetic base observed importation of foreign material is recommended.
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    Quantification of cassava mosaic geminiviruses and cassava brown streak viruses
    (University of the Free State, 2016-01) Musopole, Hastings Twalie; Labuschagne, Maryke T.; Gowda, Maruthi M.N.; Benesi, Ibrahim R. M.; Minnaar-Ontong, Adré
    English: Cassava (Manihot esculanta Crantz) is a perennial woody plant which is cultivated in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is tolerant to drought and grows in poor soils. It is a source of carbohydrates, vitamins and small quantities of proteins. In Malawi, it is the most important root crop and it is grown across the country. It is consumed as a staple food by 30% of the people living along the central and northern part of Lake Malawi. Its production is constrained by among others, diseases CMD and CBSD. These two diseases are known to spread through white flies. The magnitude of attack by the two diseases depends on the genotype and the environment. No released genotypes in Malawi have ever been evaluated in seed transmission of viruses’ studies. The experiment on the quantification of F1 cassava progenies from open pollinated F1 progeny crosses revealed that genotypes which show high severity of CMD are likely to allow rapid multiplication of EACMMV and SACMV. However, it has been proven that this might not always be the case as some genotypes may have higher virus quantities while showing slightly less severe symptoms. Genotypes which succumb to high disease symptom severity are likely to have high incidence of the disease. CMD symptom severity and incidence were positively correlated. The experiment on determination of virus quantities in different tissues has provided information that virus quantities in particular tissues depend on the cultivar used. The viruses can spread to all the tissues analysed in this research. It was shown that root parenchyma and leaf tissues accommodated most of CBSV and UCBSV in the cultivars used. When there was co-infection, CBSV and UCBSV were positively correlated. EACMMV and SACMV quantity can vary in cassava tissues depending on the cultivar. Leaves have shown to contain a relatively high quantity of the viruses. CBSV, UCBSV, EACMMV and SACMV symptoms were not observed in seedlings grown from seeds which were obtained from diseased plants. The virus species were also not detected using Real-time PCR. This suggests that these virus species are not transmitted from diseased plants through seeds.