Addae-Frimpomaah Francisca, Amenorpe Godwin, Denwar Nicholas Ninju, Amiteye Samuel, Adazebra Gloria Anyesom, Sossah Frederick Leo, Akaba Selorm, Issah Abdul Rashid, Amoatey Harry Mensah
Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Nyankpala, Ghana.
Heliyon. 2022 May 18;8(5):e09497. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09497. eCollection 2022 May.
Soybean production is concentrated in the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana. However, its cultivation is plagued with a number of constraints leading to low yields. A participatory approach was, therefore, used to identify farmers' and processors' preferred soybean traits and production constraints, climate change effects and strategies employed for mitigating these effects in three districts within the soybean growing areas in Northern Ghana. The study revealed that 72.0 % and 68.8 % of farmers in the Tolon and Savelugu districts, respectively, used improved soybean seeds for planting their fields. Over 13.0 % of farmers indicated late maturity as the most important constraint, followed by manual threshing difficulty and terminal drought which results in low grain yield and poor quality. About 70.0 % of farmers opined that climate change effects are causing obvious shifts in the rainfall pattern. Majority of the farmers (94.6 %) indicated that the onset of peak rainfall has changed in the past decade. Almost 44.0% of farmers also indicated that severe drought has affected pods filling in the past. A third (33.3%) of farmers indicated that drought usually sets in at pod initiation. The farmers enumerated some of the effects of early cessation of the rainfall in soybean production as drying up of immature and green seed (28.3%), low grain yield (27.1%) and poor seed quality (22.1%). Some of the mitigation strategies employed by the farmers include early planting (40.0%) and mulching (25.0%) to retain soil moisture for enhanced growth of crops. The order of farmers' preferences new soybean varieties were shattering resistance (16.0%), high grain yield (14.0%), large seeds size (13.1%), and early maturity (11.8%), whereas processors preferred varieties with large seed size (30.6%), high protein content (28.7%), pest resistance (15.9%) and short cooking duration (12.7%). Both the farmers and processors indicated their willingness to pay more for seeds with the desired traits. These findings will aid soybean breeders in developing new varieties that possess desired traits preferred by both farmers and processors for increased soybean cultivation and utilization.
大豆生产集中在加纳的几内亚草原农业生态区。然而，其种植受到诸多限制，导致产量低下。因此，采用了参与式方法，以确定加纳北部大豆种植区三个地区的农民和加工商对大豆的偏好性状、生产限制因素、气候变化影响以及为减轻这些影响所采用的策略。研究表明，托隆区和萨韦卢古区分别有72.0%和68.8%的农民使用改良大豆种子种植田地。超过13.0%的农民表示，成熟延迟是最重要的限制因素，其次是人工脱粒困难和终期干旱，这导致谷物产量低和质量差。约70.0%的农民认为，气候变化影响正在使降雨模式发生明显变化。大多数农民（94.6%）表示，过去十年降雨高峰期的开始时间已经改变。近44.0%的农民还表示，过去严重干旱影响了豆荚灌浆。三分之一（33.3%）的农民表示，干旱通常在结荚期开始。农民列举了降雨提前结束对大豆生产的一些影响，如未成熟和绿色种子干枯（28.3%）、谷物产量低（27.1%）和种子质量差（22.1%）。农民采用的一些缓解策略包括早播（40.0%）和覆盖（25.0%），以保持土壤水分，促进作物生长。农民对新大豆品种的偏好顺序依次为抗裂荚（16.0%）、高产（14.0%）、大种子尺寸（13.1%）和早熟（11.8%），而加工商则更喜欢大种子尺寸（30.6%）、高蛋白含量（28.7%）、抗虫害（15.9%）和短烹饪时间（12.7%）的品种。农民和加工商都表示愿意为具有所需性状的种子支付更高价格。这些研究结果将有助于大豆育种者培育出具有农民和加工商都喜欢的所需性状的新品种，以增加大豆种植和利用。
