Public sector soybean (Glycine max) breeding: Advances in cultivar development in the African tropics
Summary
Formal public sector soybean breeding in Africa spans four decades, and it was initiated by the International Institute of Tropical Agricultural (IITA). As the demand for soybean continues to outstrip production, strategic projects such as Tropical Legumes (TL) were initiated, in which the main goal was to enhance the productivity of soybean in farmers’ fields in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the strategies to enhance the productivity of soybean in farmers’ fields is through developing and deploying improved soybean varieties in the target countries. Through the TLI and TLII projects, a number of varieties were released in the target countries of Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, and Mozambique by employing participatory variety selection (PVS). This review provides highlights of the achievements made by IITA’s breeding program and insights into what needs to be done to enhance yield improvement for soybean in Africa using demand-driven breeding approaches.
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