Official name: “Enhancing the nutrient-rich Yam Bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) to improve food quality and availability and sustainability of farming systems in Central- and West Africa” What is Ahipa? – It’s a legume root crop

•  “Ahipa” is the name the Incas have given to the yam bean – Ahipa is one yam bean •  Most often yam bean is known as “Jicama” – a type used as a fruit root vegetable in Central America and Asia •  Chuin is a type with very high root dry matter – an attribute very interesting for processing •  There are perhaps 27 names or more for yam beans – these are all one species easy to cross •  The yam bean is a close relatives of the soy bean – with higher biomass and seed yields, but seeds can not be eaten (toxic) – rotenone & related comp. there is one mutation found by UCL (non-toxic)

A farmer displays and is excited by the gift of yam bean root / Abuket village, Kyere Sub-county, Serere , Uganda (Silver Tumwegamire 2012)

“The AHIPA Project”

UCLUniversitéCatholiquede Louvain

BELGIUM

Yam bean seed production (Chuin) at San Ramon / Peru about 800 m.a.s.l. – photo Bettina Heider 2011.

World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops Nanning, Guangxi, China, January 18-22, 2016

What is the yam bean? The yam bean Pachyrhizus spp is a wide adapted high yielding legume root crop.

Sankeh alu at Orissa / India photo taken by Gordon Prain 2013

We need to distinguish: 1) Yam bean with low storage root dry mater content (traditional farmer variety except “Chuin” farmer varieties 2) Yam Bean with high storage root dry matter content (breeding populations & lines developed on basis of high dry matter attribute from the “Chuin” 3) There is still a unlocked food potential in the yam bean and that is to remove toxic components in the seed to make yam bean seed available for human consumption – note yam bean is a close relative of the soy bean but needs much less water and has high yields

There are many names in use for yam bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) – which might reflect the wide adaptation of the crop - but these are nearly exclusively low dry matter yam beans except the Chuin – high dry matter yam beans are still not much recognized Ahipa, Ajipa, Ashipa (S. Am.); Bangkoewang (Indon.); Bunga (Philipp.); Carota de caballo (Venez.); Chopsui potato (Haw.); Chuin (Peru, but only in use for high dry matter P. tuberosus types); Dolique bulbeux (Fr.); Fan-ko (China); Frijol de jicama (Salv.); Frijol ïname (Philipp.); Jicama, Jiquima (Mex., Peru); Mishrikand (Ind.); Nupe(ra) (Venez.); Patate-cochon (Ant.); Pois cachou, Pois manioc (Guin.); Poroto batata (Arg.); Ram-kaseru, Sankalu, Sankeh alu (Ind.); Sengkuang (Mal.); Sincamas (Philipp.); Ubi sengkuang (Mal.); (W)yaka (Asia); Yuco de bejuco (Venez.).

Jiquima or Ijcama at Celaya / Mexico 1996

The root and tuber crops produced by legumes have long been recognized as important, and the FAO (1979) recommends them as a source of human

nutrition. Despite this, however, the crop group is still underused including the yam bean because it is not

much known to markets and research.

FAO. 1979. Review on agriculture and development: Conventional crops imperil good protein. Ceres 12 (68): 4-5. NRC 1979. Tropical Legumes. Resources for the Future. National Academy of Science, Washington, DC, USA, NRC National Research Council.

Ahipa at Independencia / Bolivia 1994 about 2400 m.a.s.l.

Chuin high dry matter yam bean accessions at Iquitos / Peru 1999 about 300 m.a.s.l.

For further reading for making more informed estimates about the yam bean impact potential the reader is referred to: Grüneberg, W.J., et al. 1999. Characterization of yam bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) seeds as potential sources of high palmitic acid oil. JAOCS 76: 1309–1312. Lautié, E., et al. 2013. Fast method for the simultaneous quantification of toxic polyphenols applied to the selection of genotypes of yam bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) seeds. Talanta 117: 94–101. Muhangi, J. 2013. “Cost Benefit Analysis of Processing Yam Bean into Flour used to make ATAP/ Ugali Food Products in Serere and Luwero Districts.” B.Sc. Thesis in Agriculture Economics, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Padonou, S.W., et al. 2013. Yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus) tuber processing in Benin: production and evaluation of the quality of yam bean-gari and yam bean fortified gari. Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. 791: 247–259. Rodríguez-Navarro, D.N., et al. 2009. Assessment of nitrogen fixation potential in Ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa) and its effect on root and seed yield. Expl Agric. 45: 177–188. Woomer, P.L. 1979. “Root Tuberization and Nitrogen Fixation by Pachyrhizus erosus (L).” M.Sc. thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI. Zanklan, A.S., et al. 2007. Evaluation of the Storage-Root-Forming Legume Yam bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) under West African Conditions. Crop Sci. 47: 1934–1946.

Species Protein in % DM

Cultivar Found in Bottleneck

Psophocarpus tetragonolobus

20 Yes – mainly grain legume Papua New Guinea, Burma

Adaptation range – high rainfall, temperature, NR / germplasm availability

Sphenostylis stenocarpa

15 Yes – mainly grain legume in West Africa

West Africa Yields with respect to seed & roots, NR / germplasm availability

Pachyrhizus spp. 8 Yes – exclusively root legume South America Markets, low dry matter resolved, seed use unlocked, NR resolved

Vigna vexiallata 15 No / Yes – nearly exclusively wild - cultivars reported from India & Indonesia

Africa, Australia, South-Asia, South America

Yields – mainly wild / not cultivar

Psoralea esculenta 10 No – exclusively wild North America Yields – wild / not cultivar

P. cinerea, P. patens 6 No – exclusively wild

Australia Yields – wild / not cultivar

Apios americana 18 No – exclusively wild

North America wild / not cultivar, NR / germplasm availability

Tylosema esculentum

9 No – exclusively wild

South Africa wild / not cultivar, NR / germplasm availability

Pueraria tuberosa 12 No – exclusively wild

India Yields – wild / not cultivar

Flemingia vestita 9 No – exclusively wild

Himalaya Yields –wild / not cultivar

Overview on legume root crops (NCR 1979 & current status)

Pachyrhizus spp.

Cultivated:

•  P. ahipa – Andean highlands

•  P. erosus – Central America & Asia

•  P. tuberosus – Amazonian lowlands

• Wild relatives:

•  P. ferrugineus & P. panamensis Taxonomically placed in the same subtribe as soybean - intriguing seed yields & water use efficiency compared to soybean

P. ahipa – Andean Root & Tuber Crop

(ARC) & mandate crop at CIP

Chuin seed aet at San Ramon / Peru about 800 m.a.s.l. – photo Bettina Heider 2011.

Critical Key-Traits in Pachyrhizus spp. to become more important

- High Yields – excellent - Wide Adaptation – excellent - Germplasm availability – good & NR

(national rights limitations resolved) -  Usually very low storage root dry matter –

this bottleneck has been loosened, but most high dry matter lines at early breeding stages

-  Usually not processed – this bottleneck has been loosened many products can be developed - often locally known food products

-  Toxic compounds – problem (rotenone & derivatives) in seeds, but not in storage roots the harvest product

-  Current major limitation – awareness to markets and consumers, although strong local markets exits (i.e. the US, MEX, ID)

The rotenone molecule Ahipa Seed Luribay / Bolivia 1994

The high dry matter Chuin type at Iquitos / Peru 1999

Yam Bean – Yields & other agronomic traits West Africa (from Zanklan et al. 2007)

Benin – 2000 / 2001 Yam bean Germplasm Evaluation Without prunning (root & seed production) 34 accessions, 2 locations, 2 replications Storage roots yields 5.6 to 35.2 t /ha + Seed yields 1.1 to 5.7 t/ha WUE (water use efficiency) P. erosus requires 850 liter of water for 1 kg of seed production + 0.56 kg of storage root yield (dry) yield production (calculated across 16 accession)

The Project Objectives of “Enhancing the nutrient-rich Yam Bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) to improve food quality and availability and sustainability of farming systems in Central- and West Africa: 1) Improve the availability of yam bean germplasm => (100% achieved) 2) Identify adapted high yielding yam beans for Central Africa => (100% achieved) 3) Develop yam bean storage root products for Central Africa => (100% achieved) 4) Develop marketing strategies for yam bean products and promote yam bean use in West Africa => (achieved to 60-80%), however, strong product development & awareness campaigns among farmers (if this results a market remains to be seen) 5) Provide new diversity to use yam bean seed for human consumption => (not achieved; better knowledge what makes the yam bean seed toxic, fast through put methods partially developed; perhaps 1 accession found not toxic but no proof by animal studies; however, one accession is not a genepool for yam bean seed use for human consumption; many mutagenic M2 lines in M3 developed but not screened), 6) Make available evidence of livelihood impacts associated with increasing yam bean production in Central and West Africa (unclear process at CIP)

Project Locations / Activities

Contributions to the project form Peru Objective 1: Availability of Yambean

Germplasm / solving national rights limitations & broading high dry matter genepool

The genetic base of yam bean germplasm was broadened by

(i) germplasm acquisition / distribution => appox. 120 accessions / 74 accessions for international distribution

(ii) Intra & interspecific hybridizations / 18 inter-specific high dry matter populations (F1) 27 intraspecific cross population

Germplasm distribution in 2012 # Acccesion Columber Rwanda Uganda Ghana Benin Cameroon Nigeria Germany CIP 209004 AC 524 150 CIP 209007 AC 525 150 CIP 209016 EC 041 50 25 200 CIP 209018 EC 533 50 25 CIP 209019 EC Kew 25 200 CIP 209023 AC 102 153 50 150 50 50 CIP 209028 AC 524 164 50 150 50 50 CIP 209031 AC 525 170 50 150 50 50

High Dry matter species Chuin

CIP 209013 TC 354 50 150 50 50 25 250 CIP 209014 TC 355 50 150 50 50 25 CIP 209015 TC 361 50 150 50 50 25 250

Hybrids with one Chuin parent deriving from previous breeding efforts

CIP 209037 AC 102 153 x TC 353 50 75 25 25 25 25 25

CIP 209038 AC 102 153 x TC 355 50 75 25 25 25

CIP 209039 AC 102 153 x TC 361 50 75 25 25 25 25 25

CIP 209040 AC 524 164 x TC 353 50 75 25 25 25

CIP 209041 AC 524 164 x TC 355 50 75 25 25 25

CIP 209042 AC 524 164 x TC 361 50 75 25 25 25

CIP 209044 AC 525 170 x TC 355 50 75 25 25 25

CIP 209045 AC 525 170 x TC 361 50 75 25 25 25

Interspecific Crossings (Results with Taxonomic relevance) Number of flowers crossed, number of pods obtained and success rate in % for six cross combinations

Chi Square Test of Independence: H0: The six populations have the same success rate. H1: The success rate is different in at least one of the populations. X-squared = 356.32, df = 5, (p > 0.05), p-value < 2.2e-16 (first experiment) X-squared = 3009.655, df = 5, p-value < 2.2e-16 (second experiment)

Groups Cross combinations# flowers crossed # pods

Success rate (%)

1st experiment 20101 AC x AC 323 26 8.02 TC x TC 389 43 11.13 AC x TC 876 72 8.24 TC x AC 410 39 9.55 auto-pollinization AC 533 128 24.06 auto-pollinization TC 284 65 22.9

2nd experiment 2011 28151 EC x EC 1710 275 16.12 TC x TC 1869 89 4.83 EC x TC 4051 250 6.24 TC x EC 1796 84 4.75 auto-pollinization EC 242 212 87.66 auto-pollinization TC 253 210 83.0

Characterizations of F1 interspecifc hybrids

Characterization of morphological traits (quatitative traits): • Length of terminal leaflet • Width of terminal leaflet • Number of leaves per plant • Inflorescence/peduncle length • Number of pods per plant • Pod length (including beak) • Width of pod • Pod height • Seed length • Seed width • Root yields (kg per plant) • Root dry matter content (%)

Characterization of morphological traits (quantitative traits): Extreme hybrid vigor – only partially measured (seed yields) - but very obvious in most interspecific hybrid crosses

6 Yambean accessions were obtained from 2 locations - Oxapampa and San Ramon (with two plot replicates)

Plant Material:

Contributions to the project from Peru- Objective 3 & 4 Elaboration of Gari from Yambean (especially Fe & Zn)

Treatment 6

Dry freezer 27ºC at 72hours

Grind sample

Raw tuber

Washing

Peeling

Grating

Pressing with hydraulic press. Pressure: 45psi

Time: 30 second

Grated tuber without juice

Juice

Drying in oven (14hr at 60 C)

Grind sample

Add 0% sweet potato

Gari

Sieving

Add 0% sweet

potato Gari

Rest (fiber)

Treatment 1

Treatment 2

Treatment 3 Treatment 4 Treatment 5

Add 20% sweet potato

Gari

soil

peel and roots with presence of fungal

PHASE 1

PHASE 3

water

water

PHASE 2 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Gari without sieving

Gari with sieving Fiber

Gari without sieving

Gari with sieving

Fiber

Root storage

Gari Juice PRODUCTS

P R O C E S S I N G

Iron & Zinc Results

Figure. Iron contents in raw, juice and gari processed from yam bean compared to OFSP.

Figure. Zinc contents in raw, juice and gari processed from yam bean compared to OFSP.

Iron intake by 250g Yam Bean (raw), 333g juice (1 bottle), and 200g yam bean gari Recommened daily intake (highest in children) 10 mg / day

P. erosus (low dry matter yam bean) 250g raw: 0.55 mg iron 333g juice: 0.59 mg iron 200g gari / porridge: 4.79 mg iron Total: 5.93 mg iron P. tuberosus (Chuin) (high dry matter yam bean) 250g raw: 3.27 mg iron 333g juice: 3.07 mg iron 200g gari (porridge): 4.63 mg iron Total: 10.97 mg iron Note 1: bioavailability of iron in these products currently in progress at Cornell

Note 2: Recommened daily intake (highest in children) 10 mg / day

Overall Project Management I

• UCL / Belgium: 1 LOU + 4 LOU Modifications • INRAB: 1 LOU + 4 LOU Modifications • RAB: 1 LOU + 3 LOU Modifications • ISABU: 1 LOU + 3 LOU Modifications • INERA: 1 LOU + 4 LOU Modifications

• MAK University 1 LOU + 1 LOU Modifications • NGO Børnefonden: 1 LOU + 1 LOU Modifications • Consultant Contracts: 2 contracts

In total 29 contracts and contract modifications were made

Steps into the Future I – Maintained

Demonstration Trials – 9 Accessions 1. CIP 209013 – P. tuberous Chuin – high dry matter, 55 ppm Fe dwb, storage root taste was so close to cassava 2. CIP 209017 – P. erosus - high yields across many countries, very low dry matter, raw consumption, & good porridge quality UG 3. CIP 209018 – P. erosus - high yields across many countries, very low dry matter, 45 ppm Fe dwb, & good porridge quality UG 4. CIP 209035 – P. ahipa – good yields in East-DRC, low dry matter & good porridge quality DRC 5. CIP 209036 – P. ahipa – good yields in East-DRC, low dry matter & good porridge quality DRC 6. CIP 209037 – P. ahipa x P. tuberous Chuin Hybrid – good yields in Peru & Ghana, 35% DM, 32 ppm Fe dwb, offspring of high dry matter parent CIP 209008 P. tuberous Chuin 7. CIP 209039 – P. ahipa x P. tuberous Chuin Hybrid – good yields in Peru & Ghana, 32% DM, 29 ppm Fe dwb, offspring of high dry matter parent CIP 209015 P. tuberous Chuin 8. CIP 209041 – P. ahipa x P. tuberous Chuin Hybrid – good yields in Peru & Ghana, 28% DM, 29 ppm Fe dwb, offspring of high dry matter parent CIP 209014 P. tuberous Chuin 9. CIP 209054 – P. tuberosus – low dry matter – low rotenone content in seeds

Steps into the Future II - Maintain

Small Processing Units Example DANIDA – Benin 1. Uganda (Namulonge) 2. Burundi (ISABU) 3. Ghana / Kumasi (CRI) 4. Mozambique (IIAM)

Steps into the Future III

New Projects with Yam Bean 1. BMZ / GIZ Project – Kenya – with a Potato Cropping System Project 2. RAC – Mozambique – Sweetpotato Cropping System Project 3. Syngenta – at least appointment at Foundation & Syngenta itself (Central African Countries)

4. IAEA – Funds for Mutation Breeding (UCL, MAK, Univ. Gent, CIP???) 5. DANIDA – Funds for Dissemination West African Countries 6. RTB – at least for impact studies (unclear, depends perhaps on earmarked funds)

Thank you

Thank-you for your attention

Photos Silver Tumwegamire 2011 to 2013