RTBfoods & AfricaYam Training on Yam Quality Evaluation

Abstract

Given adequate disease resistance and production yields, many studies show that varietal adoption of new yam genotypes depends mainly on organoleptic quality and their suitability for processing into ready-to-eat foods. The AfricaYam project is mainly focused on varietal creation, and the RTBfoods project on the quality of RTB-based processed foods. The two projects, funded mainly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), decided to set up a training course on the perception and evaluation of yam quality corresponding to the preferences of boiled and pounded yam consumers. A fruitful exchange between the breeders of the AfricaYam program and the socio-economists and technologists of the RTBfoods program was made possible by the organization of a seminar at the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (FSA) of the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin, in November 2021.

The yam quality evaluation workshop provided an opportunity to compare yam breeders’ practices with the methodologies developed by the RTBfoods project to evaluate yam quality in relation to consumer perception. It included presentations on both field studies to capture priority traits from consumers and stakeholders, and on implementing new medium- or high-throughput laboratory analyses to assess these quality traits and participatory evaluations with consumers, in order to validate the new laboratory analyses. Practical workshops for trainees on sensory analysis, textural measurements of boiled yam, and spectral and image analysis were also conducted. The training was greatly appreciated by all participants and allowed for extensive discussions with the breeders for the implementation of new analyses within the yam breeding pipeline. Selection based on yam (and other RTB) cultivar qualities for processing and consumption allows for significantly greater varietal adoption by producers, in addition to reducing the number of elite clones needing to be evaluated in participatory approaches.