Multi-environmental traits selection and farmer's participatory assessment of mean performance and stability of orange-fleshed sweet potato genotypes in Benin.

Abstract

Regularly consuming orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) is widely recognised as an effective way to treat vitamin A deficiency (VAD), particularly in low-income countries. Unfortunately, cultivars of OFSP are poorly disseminated in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where VAD is a major cause of blindness. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the genotype-environment interaction (GEI) on the performance and stability of the yield components of OFSP cultivars to trigger their adoption by farmers. Nine OFSP genotypes were evaluated through a multi-environment trial (MET) carried out in 14 environments and in a complete randomised block (RCB) design to select the best genotypes based on the multi-trait mean performance and stability index (MTMPS) and participatory variety selection (PVS). The across-environment likelihood ratio test (LRT) showed significant differences across environments, genotypes, and GEIs for all traits studied, except for the number of marketable roots (NMR). Our findings revealed that genotypes ACAB, Apomuden, and BF59xCIP had satisfactory mean performances and stabilities across all evaluation environments. The PVS revealed that farmers assigned high importance to yield performance for field evaluation and root dry matter content. In addition, they prioritized many different traits, such as the attractiveness of orange flesh colour and the lower fibrousness of boiled roots. The genotypes preferred by farmers were ACAB and Apomuden, generally followed by BF59xCIP, indicating excellent concordance between the genotypes selected with the MTPMPS and those selected by farmers during the PVS. We concluded that farmers' participation in the OFSP genotype evaluation process for future dissemination is necessary to select the most suitable genotypes for production and increase the chances of adopting of these genotypes in rural areas. ACAB and Apomuden will be submitted for registration in the national catalogue.