RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: An understanding of the preferences of different stakeholders in the plantain value chain in rural and urban segments in Cameroon is important for the selection and adoption of new plantain cultivars. Boiled plantain is one of the most commonly consumed food products from this crop in Cameroon. Gendered food mapping and consumer testing with two plantain landraces (Batard and Big Ebanga) and a plantain-like hybrid (CARBAP K74) was carried out in rural and urban areas in the West and Littoral regions of Cameroon. RESULTS: Plantain users in these two regions were categorized into producers, traders, processors, and consumers. Preferences indicated that raw plantain should bear long and large fruits, with heavy bunches, and an orange pulp color, whereas boiled plantain should present with a yellow color and a soft and mealy pulp, with a good plantain aroma. Batard and Big Ebanga were liked moderately by consumers, whereas CARBAP K74 was liked slightly. CARBAP K74 was on par with Batard and Big Ebanga for some attributes, except for color and sweetness. CONCLUSION: More emphasis should be given to attributes such as color, firmness, and taste for the development of new plantain clones to be adopted by end users consuming boiled green plantain. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Inadequate consideration of textural quality in conventional breeding pipelines of plantains (from breeders to end-users) results in limited impact. Knowledge of the textural quality characteristics of boiled plantain, as preferred by end-users, could help improve the adoption of new clones when these traits are selected for breeding. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between instrumental and sensory texture attributes of boiled plantain genotypes. Consumer testing (Just About Right and Check All That Apply tests), sensory quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA), instrumental texture profile analysis (TPA) and penetrometry were conducted with nine accessions: three landraces and six plantain-like bred hybrids. RESULTS: Landraces were considered just-about-right by more than 45% of people for all the sensory attributes (humidity, sweetness, color and firmness), described by characteristics such as smooth on sight, attractive, mealy, firm, plantain taste and yellow. Color and firmness were the most highly scored attributes by panelists for the landraces. Penetrometry discriminated among genotypes better than TPA. Hardness, gumminess, resilience and chewiness were the most discriminatory attributes for TPA, whereas hardness and area under the curve were the most discriminatory attributes for penetrometry. No correlation was found between penetrometry and sensory texture of boiled plantain. For TPA, negative correlations were found between sensory humidity and hardness, as well as between sensory firmness and resilience, whereas a positive correlation was found between resilience and sensory humidity. CONCLUSION: Combining QDA and texture measurements can make the selection of plantain hybrids more effective and improve the adoption of new varieties. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: In an environment where the adoption of improved varieties resulting from plant breeding programs is limited, it is essential to identify end-user preferences beforehand. A participatory survey was conducted in eight localities in Korhogo and Bouaké regions (central and northern Cote d'Ivoire respectively) to identify producers' preferences and increase the adoption of improved varieties. The study involved 160 producers and consumers through focus group discussions and individual interviews. RESULTS: Sweetpotato is mostly grown on small plots (<1 ha) of land (89.2%), with women (66%) as the main producers. In the Bouaké region, sweetpotatoes are grown on mounds (100%), whereas in Korhogo they are grown on ridges (86.2%). The main food products or forms of preparation from roots are fries (34.7%), boiled (34.3%), mashed (12.4%), and sweetpotato stew (9.1%). Major constraints, including low price of roots (26.3%), low productivity (16.2%), and post-harvest storage issues (14.5%), were identified as affecting sweetpotato production. CONCLUSIONS: The selection of new varieties should be oriented towards high-yielding varieties with high dry matter content, deployed stems, and roots of round, oblong, or elliptical shape with good culinary characteristics (dry matter, sweet taste, dry texture, absence of fiber). Plants must be drought resistant, be tolerant to poor soil, diseases, and pests, and have a good yield. The color of skin and flesh of the sweetpotato, although constituting criteria of choice, are not essential for the acceptance or the rejection of a variety by users. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Previously, a lexicon and protocol for quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was established for the Uganda sweetpotato breeding program. The implication of QDA scores for priority sensory attributes on consumer preference should be determined to interpret results efficiently and make decisions effectively. The present study aimed to develop a gender-responsive decision tree to obtain an overall sweetpotato eating quality score to facilitate demand-led targeted breeding selection. It focused on Kamuli and Hoima districts (Uganda) and uses pre-lease advanced clones ('NKB3', 'NKB105', 'NKB135', 'D11' and 'D20'), released varieties ('NASPOT 8' and 'NAROSPOT 1') and landraces ('Muwulu-Aduduma', 'Umbrella'). RESULTS: Including boiled sweetpotato sensory characteristics, namely mealy, sweet taste, sweetpotato smell, firm and not fibrous, in breeding design would benefit end-users, especially women given their role in varietal selection, food preparation and marketing. 'D20', 'NASPOT 8' and 'NAROSPOT 1' were most liked in both districts. 'NKB3' and 'D11' were the least liked in Hoima, whereas 'Muwulu-Aduduma' was the least liked in Kamuli. There was a positive correlation between color and overall liking (r2 = 0.8) and consumers liked the color (average rating ≥ 6 on a nine-point hedonic scale) of all genotypes. Threshold values (average rating on 11-point scales) for consumer acceptability were identified (sweet taste = 6, sweetpotato aroma and flavor = 6, firmness = 3, and mealiness = 4). A regression decision tree tool was created to calculate an eating quality selection index when screening lines in breeding programs using the values. CONCLUSION: Decision trees that include consumer needs and gender considerations would facilitate demand-led breeding and make varietal selection in sweetpotato breeding programs more effective. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Yam is a major staple food that provides both energy (starch) and bioactive compounds. However, there is a lack of knowledge on its cooking quality. We have determined the cooking quality of five varieties of water yam (among those most appreciated by consumers), when they were steamed or boiled. The yams were grown in two contrasting locations with regard to pedoclimatic conditions. RESULTS: Ratio of length to mean circumference of the tuber, difficulty to peel, cooking time, color attributes, hardness of steamed pulp, and dry matter (DM) and starch contents significantly varied among varieties. Cooking time and hardness of the cooked pulp, either steamed or boiled, were higher for tubers grown at the drier location, with vertisols, than at the rainy one, with a ferralitic soil. The raw pulp was richer in starch at the rainy location. We found no correlation between either textural properties or DM and the cooking time. A slight (r = 0.44) but significant correlation was recorded between the DM of the raw pulp and the hardness of the steamed product. CONCLUSION: We propose a comprehensive multicriteria approach for determination of yam cooking quality, textural properties, color attributes and chemical composition, along with varietal and environmental influences. This approach takes into consideration the complexity of food quality, allows a better understanding of its determinants and provides a basis for useful guidelines for breeders. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Most rheological analyses in yam have been done on starch gels, which requires starch extraction from the tubers. In situ rheology bypasses the need of starch extraction and relies on the original cell structure and complex matrix organization under stress or strain. Dynamic rheological properties of tuber from 16 accessions belonging to four yam species (Dioscorea rotundata, D. alata. D. bulbifera and D. dumetorum) were investigated for potential use as a medium throughput phenotyping screening tool that can indicate the quality of yam food products or their industrial potentials. RESULTS: Rheographs of the tubers illustrated differences in the structure of D. bulbifera compared to other yam species. High initial storage modulus (G') of yam parenchyma indicated tubers with strong and rigid structure which do not lose their structural integrity easily on heating. Dioscorea rotundata and D. alata varieties exhibited a lower temperature at which gelatinization took place (Tgel ) equivalent to the irreversible transition during starch gelatinization (75.3 and 79.8 °C) and took shorter time (867 and 958 s, respectively) to reach the G' maximum, compared to other species. The stress relaxation test showed that the higher the dry matter of the tubers, the higher the work to rupture the structure. CONCLUSION: Rheological characteristics G', loss modulus (Gâ³), swelling capacity and Tgel showed potential as suitable quality indicators for yam products. In situ rheological characterization of yam tubers could be used as an instrumental screening tool to phenotype for quality in yam products. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
RESUMEN
The main propagation approach is tissue culture in blueberries, and tissue culture is an effective and low-cost method with higher economic efficiency in blueberries. However, there is a lack of stable and efficient production systems of industrialization of tissue culture in blueberries. In this study, the high-efficiency tissue culture and rapid propagation technology system were established based on blueberry leaves and stems. The optimal medium for callus induction was WPM (woody plant medium) containing 2.0 mg/L Forchlorfenuron (CPPU), 0.2 mg/L 2-isopentenyladenine (2-ip) with a 97% callus induction rate and a callus differentiation rate of 71% by using blueberry leaves as explants. The optimal secondary culture of the leaf callus medium was WPM containing 3.0 mg/L CPPU with an increment coefficient of 24%. The optimal bud growth medium was WPM containing 1.0 mg/L CPPU, 0.4 mg/L 2-ip, with which the growth of the bud was better, stronger and faster. The optimal rooting medium was 1/2 Murashige and Skoog (1/2MS) medium containing 2.0 mg/L naphthylacetic acid (NAA), with which the rooting rate was 90% with shorter rooting time and more adventitious root. In addition, we established a regeneration system based on blueberry stems. The optimal preculture medium in blueberry stem explants was MS medium containing 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid (MES) containing 0.2 mg/L indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), 0.1 mg/L CPPU, 100 mg/L NaCl, with which the germination rate of the bud was 93%. The optimal medium for fast plant growth was MS medium containing MES containing 0.4 mg/L zeatin (ZT), 1 mg/L putrescine, 1 mg/L spermidine, 1 mg/L spermidine, which had a good growth state and growth rate. The optimal cultivation for plantlet growth was MS medium containing MES containing 0.5 mg/L isopentene adenine, with which the plantlet was strong. The optimal rooting medium for the stem was 1/2MS medium containing 2.0 mg/L NAA, with which the rooting rate was 93% with a short time and more adventitious root. In conclusion, we found that stem explants had higher regeneration efficiency for a stable and efficient production system of industrialization of tissue culture. This study provides theoretical guidance and technical support in precision breeding and standardization and industrialization in the blueberry industry.