19 Breeding for Drought Adaptation and Fresh Seed Dormancy of Groundnut in Seneg
19 Breeding for Drought Adaptation and Fresh Seed Dormancy of Groundnut in Senegal: Advances, Challenges, and Prospects
Issa Faye, ISRA/CNRA, Senegal
Aïssatou Sambou, ISRA/CERAAS, Senegal
Gualbert Seraphin Dorego, ISRA/CNRA, Senegal
Daniel Foncéka, CIRAD & ISRA/CERAAS, Senegal
Hodo-Abalo Tossim, ISRA/CERAAS, Senegal
Amadou Ka, ISRA/CNRA, Senegal
Thierno Sarr, Gaston Berger University, Senegal
Ousmane Ndoye, CORAF, Senegal
Abstract
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a multi-purpose legume widely cultivated in the semiarid tropics. In Senegal, groundnut is historically an important crop, and it remains one of the commodities with a huge potential for exports. However, due to the country’s location in the Sahelian zone in West Africa, crop production is subject to low and erratic rainfall patterns and unpredictable end of the rainy season. Therefore, groundnut breeding programs were initiated early in the 20th century to develop and release drought-tolerant cultivars with fresh seed dormancy (to avoid rapid sprouting). This review highlights the significant advances made in these research areas to reduce yield losses and groundnut quality deterioration. Challenges concerning the effects of climate change on agricultural production, which will keep increasing over the coming decades, are also addressed herein. Finally, we provided some insights on integrating the new breeding tools and methods such as high-throughput phenotyping, marker-assisted and genomic selection to breed groundnut varieties that are more adapted to the agro-ecologies in Senegal.
Keywords: groundnut, drought, stress, seed dormancy, cultivars, Senegal
Background
In Senegal, the agricultural sector accounts for more than 9.8% of the gross domestic product (ANSD, 2022), with groundnut being the most important cash crop. Groundnut crop also plays a central role in the development of the rural economy. It employs nearly 87% of the working population, positioning Senegal among the 10 largest world producers. However, groundnut productivity in Senegal (1.46 kg ha-1) is still less than the world average yield, estimated at 1.69 kg ha-1 (FAOSTAT, 2020).
Drought stress is the foremost limiting constraint of sub-Saharan African countries’ agriculture (Burke et al., 2010; World Bank, 2015). If one were to estimate the influence of different types of deficiency on the balance of world agricultural production, lack of water would appear to be one of the most important limiting factors. This statement is particularly true in countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, there is still a dynamic increase in these countries’ populations (Guengant & May 2013) posing an additional challenge for local agriculture, which remains the main source of income for 90% of workers and provides more than 50% of export earnings. Thus, it becomes imperative to enhance crop productivity by increasing yield to provide sufficient food to that increasing population. Although investigations in water resource