The review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines and searched Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar for studies published from 1 January 2015 through 30 April 2026, the search cut-off. The search identified 1,200 records. After removal of 200 duplicates, researchers screened 1,000 titles and abstracts, assessed 425 articles in full text and retained 190 studies that met the eligibility criteria. The evidence was organized into 12 thematic areas: drought physiology, molecular genetics and genomics, quantitative trait locus mapping and genome-wide association studies, photosynthesis and reactive oxygen species regulation, marker-assisted selection, climate adaptation, agronomy and crop management, genomic selection, biochemical and omics research, root architecture, high-throughput phenotyping and artificial intelligence, and seed systems and socioeconomic dimensions.

The evidence base was concentrated on biological discovery. Thirty-four studies addressed drought physiology, while 29 examined molecular genetics and genomics. Far fewer investigated the practical links between breeding and adoption: 10 studies addressed root architecture, nine examined high-throughput phenotyping and artificial intelligence, and eight considered seed systems and socioeconomic dimensions. The authors classified evidence as moderate across most themes and preliminary to moderate for advanced phenotyping and deployment research. Because the included studies differed in drought intensity, timing, duration, experimental design, genetic background, phenotyping method and outcome, the team used thematic comparison, study-frequency counts and assessment of convergence rather than a formal quantitative meta-analysis.

Drought affects soybean through several connected processes. Water deficit impairs photosynthesis, transpiration, nutrient uptake and growth, while reproductive stress can restrict flowering, pod formation, seed number, seed weight and biological nitrogen fixation. Individual studies in the review reported yield losses approaching 50% when severe drought coincided with reproductive development, although losses varied substantially with stress intensity, duration, developmental stage, genotype and environment. Physiological responses included a higher root-to-shoot ratio, reduced leaf area, stomatal closure, lower gas exchange and chlorophyll loss. Plants also accumulated proline and soluble sugars and increased the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidases, while abscisic acid, ethylene and jasmonic acid participated in stress signalling. Some responses can be partly reversed after rehydration, but prolonged drought can leave persistent reductions in shoot growth and metabolism.

This complexity makes single traits unreliable as universal predictors of drought performance. Root depth may improve water acquisition in some soils, canopy wilting can indicate delayed dehydration in some genetic backgrounds, and osmotic adjustment may help maintain cellular function, but each effect depends on genotype and environmental conditions. The review also distinguished biological activity from breeding value. Candidate genes and genomic regions linked to DREB, WRKY, MYB, NF-YA and LEA regulatory networks, as well as abscisic-acid signalling, antioxidant protection, root growth and photosynthesis, were identified in molecular or transgenic studies. Yet the presence of a drought-responsive signal does not demonstrate that it will improve field yield or remain predictive across genetic backgrounds, locations and seasons. These findings therefore remain candidates requiring functional confirmation and field validation.

Breeding technologies have distinct and complementary roles. Conventional selection remains a feasible foundation for programmes with limited infrastructure because it can exploit natural variation and generate populations adapted to local conditions. Marker-assisted selection can accelerate the introduction of a major gene or a validated quantitative trait locus, but is less effective when drought adaptation is governed by many genes of small effect. Genome-wide association studies can locate trait-associated regions at high resolution, although they require large, diverse populations, dense marker coverage, precise phenotyping and multi-environment validation. Genomic selection is suited to complex polygenic traits, but prediction accuracy depends on sufficiently large and representative phenotypic and marker datasets, appropriate training populations, repeated phenotyping and computational capacity. The review treated these comparisons as contextual assessments of field reliability, genetic-gain potential, cost and infrastructure needs, not as a quantitative head-to-head performance test.

The practical consequence is a validation-first strategy rather than immediate adoption of imported genes, markers or advanced technologies. Globally, drought-adapted donors include Brazilian, North American, Indian, Chinese and African lines with variation in rooting, canopy wilting, nitrogen fixation, water-use efficiency and pod development. The African genotype TGX 1835-10E provides field-based evidence from Nigeria and Cameroon. Such materials offer useful pre-breeding diversity, but performance in one production system cannot be assumed to carry over to Tanzania. Candidates should be crossed with locally adapted, high-yielding parents and assessed for reproductive stability, yield potential and adaptive traits across contrasting moisture regimes. Trials spanning drought-prone and favourable environments over multiple seasons are needed to distinguish broadly adapted genotypes from those with narrow, site-specific advantages.

Environmental measurement must also become more precise. The Standardized Precipitation Index characterizes rainfall departures from a historical mean and is relatively simple to apply where precipitation records are limited. The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index additionally incorporates atmospheric water demand, while soil-water indices and remote-sensing indicators provide other views of crop water stress. None measures soybean drought resilience on its own. The review supports combining meteorological and hydrological indices with root-zone soil moisture, canopy temperature, evapotranspiration, physiological measurements and yield. Such characterization helps define target environments, establish when and how drought occurred, and determine whether a genotype maintained performance under genuine water limitation. It also prevents crop-centred, physiological and environmental measures from being treated as interchangeable.

Promising agronomic measures remain complements rather than substitutes for adapted genetics. Mulching and reduced tillage may conserve soil moisture, while irrigation scheduling and soil-moisture monitoring can align water availability with crop demand, including during flowering and seed filling. The magnitude of these benefits varies with soil, climate, management intensity and genotype. The review found moderate support for combining drought-adapted varieties with climate-smart practices, but limited direct evidence that the components consistently produce synergistic gains. A defensible breeding pipeline would therefore measure yield, physiology, agronomy, economics and farmer preferences together rather than allowing one laboratory score or one controlled stress treatment to determine selection. Post-drought recovery may also merit assessment, because some genotypes regain leaf area, chlorophyll, root development or photosynthetic performance after rehydration, although recovery is trait- and genotype-dependent.

Seed delivery, extension and breeding infrastructure are also necessary if genetic gains are to reach farmers. Informal farmer-saved and grain-market systems supply an estimated 95–98% of legume seed in Sub-Saharan Africa, while certified seed remains limited. Extension-to-farmer ratios commonly range from about 1:2,500 to 1:5,000 across the region, and effective advisory coverage in Tanzania reaches only 10–30% of farming households, according to evidence synthesized in the review. Improved varieties therefore need multiplication, quality assurance, accessible markets and sustained advisory support if they are to affect productivity. Tanzanian soybean production, about 99% rainfed, has expanded in response to demand for feed, edible oil and industrial products, yet average yields remain far below global levels. The review’s central conclusion is that a resilient soybean variety is not merely a genotype with a promising drought trait; it is a genotype whose performance survives local conditions and reaches farmers through a functioning innovation system.

Subject of Research: A systematic review of biological, breeding and socioeconomic strategies for drought-resilient soybean production in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa

Article Title: Toward drought-resilient soybean genotypes integrating global socioeconomic constraints genetic mechanisms and breeding priorities

Article References: Reuben, F. M., Dottey, C. M., Kudra, A. B., & Tryphone, G. M. (2026). Toward drought-resilient soybean genotypes integrating global socioeconomic constraints genetic mechanisms and breeding priorities. Discover Agriculture, 4(1), Article 318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44279-026-00799-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44279-026-00799-7

Keywords: soybean, drought resilience, systematic review, plant breeding, genomic selection, phenotyping, multi-environment trials, Tanzania, Sub-Saharan Africa, seed systems, Toward, drought-resilient

The core problem the review identifies is what researchers call the breeder’s dilemma. Conventional forage breeding has historically prioritized yield, stress tolerance, and pest resistance, while traits that matter enormously to ruminant nutrition, such as digestibility, crude protein content, and the reduction of anti-nutritional compounds, have received far less attention. The result is a generation of improved cultivars that perform beautifully in agronomic trials yet fail to deliver meaningful gains in animal productivity. Improved cereal and forage varieties often produce more biomass but retain high lignin or phytate levels that limit how much energy and protein livestock can actually extract from them.

The consequences of this mismatch are most visible during the dry season. Studies from Tanzania and Ethiopia cited in the review show that crude protein and metabolizable energy levels in available forages can drop by 20 to 28 percent when the rains fail, driving milk production down by as much as 40 percent. In Nigeria, ruminant systems face acute forage scarcity during dry months, forcing farmers to rely on low-nutrient crop residues or expensive commercial supplements. These seasonal feed gaps are compounded by drought-induced pasture loss, livestock mortality, and declining soil fertility, undermining household food security and the long-term viability of mixed farms across the tropics.

Forages are not a minor input in these systems. Grasses and legumes supply more than 90 percent of the feed energy consumed by herbivorous livestock worldwide, effectively converting non-human-edible biomass into high-quality animal protein. The review catalogs the workhorses of tropical pasture science: Brachiaria grasses such as the Marandu, Piata, and Xaraes cultivars, prized for drought tolerance and persistence; Guinea grass, which offers high biomass but demands fertile soils; and Napier grass, a staple of cut-and-carry systems despite its vulnerability to stunt and smut diseases. On the legume side, species like Stylosanthes, Leucaena leucocephala, Desmodium, and Lablab purpureus boost crude protein in forage mixtures and fix nitrogen biologically, enriching the soil in the process.

The nutritional chemistry of these plants tells a striking story. Many tropical grasses, including Urochloa brizantha and the Urochloa hybrid Cayman, deliver crude protein concentrations of just 68 to 77 grams per kilogram of dry matter, below the threshold needed for efficient rumen microbial function. Legumes such as Leucaena diversifolia and Canavalia brasiliensis reach 195 to 256 grams per kilogram, while also contributing more metabolizable energy and lowering neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin, both of which improve digestibility. Mineral deficits in calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium are common in dry-season tropical grasses and must be corrected through supplementation or by integrating mineral-rich legumes into pastures.

But legumes come with their own chemical complications. Leucaena diversifolia can carry condensed tannin concentrations of up to 47 grams per kilogram of dry matter, along with phenolics that bind proteins and reduce digestibility. The review notes that moderate tannin levels can actually be beneficial, slowing ruminal protein degradation and reducing nitrogen losses, but excessive amounts depress intake and nutrient absorption. Palatability adds another layer of complexity: birdsfoot trefoil, for example, is often less palatable than lucerne or white clover, and rapidly degradable legume proteins can cause ruminal ammonia accumulation and environmental nitrogen losses if not balanced with sufficient dietary energy.

On the resilience side, the review details the physiological traits that separate drought survivors from casualties. Deep and dense root systems allow plants like cocksfoot and tall fescue to tap subsoil moisture; deep-rooting tall fescue cultivars such as Flecha and Centurion demonstrate improved survival by accessing deeper water reserves. Osmotic adjustment, the accumulation of compatible solutes like proline, glycine betaine, and trehalose, maintains cell turgor and stabilizes membranes and proteins during water stress. Transpiration efficiency matters too, and C4 grasses including several Brachiaria cultivars hold an inherent advantage thanks to their photosynthetic pathway and reduced stomatal conductance. The cocksfoot cultivar Kasbah takes an even more dramatic approach, entering complete summer dormancy to survive prolonged drought, though at the cost of relatively low water-use efficiency during active growth.

The breeding toolkit itself is evolving, though unevenly. Conventional methods remain the cornerstone: mass selection, recurrent selection, and hybridization have produced landmark cultivars such as Marandu in Brazil, which combined high biomass yield with adaptation to acidic soils. Yet these approaches are slow, typically requiring 10 to 15 years to release a new cultivar, and apomictic grasses that propagate clonally through seeds complicate genetic recombination. Modern molecular tools promise acceleration but face real barriers. Marker-assisted selection has underperformed in forages because traits like digestibility and drought tolerance are polygenic and expensive to screen for. Genomic selection and genome-wide association studies have transformed maize, wheat, and dairy cattle breeding but lag in forage crops, where large training populations are required and commercial investment is thin. CRISPR gene editing offers tantalizing prospects for tailoring lignin and tannin levels, but regulatory restrictions and public acceptance remain significant hurdles.

Perhaps the most compelling section of the review addresses what happens when the two disciplines genuinely collaborate. Australia’s EverCrop initiative provides a working model, integrating crop improvement with animal performance trials from the design stage of breeding programs. Feed evaluation trials, including in vitro digestibility assays and animal model studies measuring intake, growth, reproduction, and feed efficiency, should become integral to selection pipelines rather than afterthoughts. Case examples show the payoff: forage sorghum delivers both biomass and energy density for dry-season feeding, while Desmodium intortum grown with Napier grass and Brachiaria improves crude protein, metabolizable energy, feed intake, and animal productivity while simultaneously enriching soil through nitrogen fixation. Trials with different ryegrass cultivars similarly demonstrate that evaluating plant and animal outcomes together identifies genuinely superior forages.

The review is candid about the obstacles that go beyond the laboratory. Adoption of improved forages in sub-Saharan Africa has been hampered by weak seed markets, high establishment costs, and limited extension services, in sharp contrast to Brazil, where strong seed systems and government-private sector partnerships enabled large-scale uptake of Brachiaria cultivars and measurable gains in beef productivity. Genetic trade-offs also persist: breeding for drought tolerance often raises lignin content or delays maturity, both of which reduce digestibility, while selecting for high protein or reduced fiber can compromise persistence and pest resistance. The authors call for holistic breeding programs with embedded nutritional testing, integrated forage innovation hubs connecting research institutions, seed companies, and extension networks, and policies that fund integrative research and guarantee seed availability. They also acknowledge the limitations of their own evidence base, noting that most cultivar evaluations remain confined to controlled experiments and that socioeconomic factors such as labor availability, gender roles, and market incentives are poorly integrated into breeding priorities. The message is clear: resilient, nutritious forages exist on the drawing board, but turning them into farm-level transformation will require sustained investment, participatory research, and delivery systems that finally connect plant science to the animals and farmers who depend on it.

Subject of Research: Integrating plant breeding and animal nutrition to develop drought-tolerant, high-nutrient forage grasses and legumes for sustainable ruminant livestock production

Article Title: Synergizing plant breeding and animal nutrition: A review on the development of drought-tolerant and high-nutrient forage grasses and legumes

Article References: Adepoju, S. A., & Faniyi, T. O. (2025). Synergizing plant breeding and animal nutrition: A review on the development of drought-tolerant and high-nutrient forage grasses and legumes. Innovations in Agriculture, 8, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3897/ia.2025.163461

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/ia.2025.163461

Keywords: forage breeding, drought tolerance, ruminant nutrition, forage legumes, forage grasses, crude protein, digestibility, sub-Saharan Africa, livestock productivity, seed systems, genomic selection, climate resilience

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop globally, after maize, rice, wheat, and barley, and it occupies a special position in sub-Saharan Africa as a food-security anchor in semi-arid environments. Thanks to its genetic makeup, biochemical profile, and photosynthetic efficiency, sorghum tolerates drought better than most staples, which is why researchers describe it as a climate-smart crop. In Ethiopia it is the second most important staple after maize, cultivated on approximately 1.8 million hectares. In the Amhara region, sorghum covers about 14 percent of the four million hectares planted with field crops, some 650,000 hectares contributing roughly 16 percent of regional cereal production.

Yet productivity has lagged far behind potential. National average yields were only 1.3 tons per hectare in the late 1990s, and although they have since risen to around 2.3 tons per hectare, eastern Amhara’s sorghum fields remain dominated by local landraces grown with few recommended agronomic practices. The region’s lowlands, including the Yeju-Kewet sorghum cluster stretching from the Kobo-Alamata plain to Kewet, are chronically food insecure; 77 percent of the Amhara region’s safety-net users come from these eastern areas. Recurrent drought, low soil fertility, Striga infestation, pests, and erratic rainfall marked by late onset and early termination all conspire against farmers, and late-maturing local varieties that need seven to eight months in the field are becoming untenable as the climate shifts.

Recognizing these constraints, regional and federal research institutes had already released improved early-maturing varieties, and on-farm demonstrations suggested yield advantages of 70 to 90 percent over farmers’ practices. But adoption stalled. Improved seed was scarce, extension linkages were weak, awareness was limited, and gender-related barriers restricted access to new technologies. The new study, published in Innovations in Agriculture, set out to break that logjam by pre-scaling Girana-1 and Melkam with their full agronomic packages, aiming to create demand, stimulate seed multiplication, and strengthen the web of stakeholders who must cooperate for technology to spread.

The intervention covered Kobo, Habru, Kalu, and Dawa Chefa districts in the North Wollo, South Wollo, and Oromia Special Zones, each characterized by lowland agro-ecologies where the rains rarely last more than three months from late June to early September. Using a multi-stage purposive selection, the researchers enrolled 273 farmers, including 50 female-headed households, who cultivated a total of 80 hectares of adjacent, clustered farms across seven kebeles. Clustering was a deliberate design choice: contiguous plots made monitoring easier, improved weed and pest management, reduced damage from wild animals, and helped build market linkages within the production areas.

The technology package was agronomically precise. Farmers planted at a seed rate of 12 kilograms per hectare, applied 100 kilograms per hectare of NPS fertilizer and 50 kilograms per hectare of urea, with 39 kilograms of that urea side-dressed at the knee-height stage, spaced rows 75 centimeters apart and plants 15 centimeters apart, thinned 20 days after planting, and constructed tie-ridges to conserve moisture. Dissemination followed a structured sequence: a launch workshop and memorandum of understanding among stakeholders, two-day training combining theory and practice for farmers and extension agents, printed materials in Amharic and English, field days, and joint monitoring at key crop growth stages. Field days alone drew 338 participants, 78 of them women, who evaluated earliness, seed color and size, uniformity, threshability, and suitability for intercropping.

The yield results provide the strongest evidence yet for scaling. Girana-1 delivered mean grain yields of 4.57, 3.50, and 3.65 tons per hectare at Raya Kobo, Habru, and Dawa Chefa respectively, corresponding to advantages of 43.45, 27.27, and 73.8 percent over local varieties. Melkam performed even more dramatically, averaging 3.98 tons per hectare at Kobo, 4.80 at Habru, 4.15 at Kalu, and 3.80 at Dawa Chefa, with yield advantages of 59.2, 74.54, 88.63, and 73.37 percent. The exceptional result in Kalu suggests the variety is particularly well matched to that district’s soil moisture and management conditions, consistent with earlier findings identifying Melkam as a high-yielding, stable, widely adaptable option for drylands.

One trade-off emerged: Melkam’s shorter stalks reduce total biomass compared with local varieties, although farmers found its stalks more palatable as livestock feed. Because sorghum grain feeds people while stalks feed animals and fuel household fires, this dual-purpose dimension matters greatly to farmer preference. Farmers reported that Melkam’s shorter height actually improves tolerance to wind damage, and that both varieties thresh easily and are free from a local health concern known as qinqn, simplifying post-harvest handling. Many participants said they intend to intercrop the new varieties with mung bean, haricot bean, and forage species to offset any feed shortfall.

Farmers’ preferences, measured with a Relative Importance Index, revealed complementary strengths. Melkam topped nearly every trait evaluated, with a uniform crop stand, early maturity, and intercropping suitability, though its white seed and short stalk make it more vulnerable to bird damage. Girana-1 scored well on grain color and size, stalk palatability, marketability, and livestock feed value. Sensory evaluations of food quality added another layer of nuance: Melkam was preferred for porridge, injera taste, and injera color, while Girana-1 excelled in fermentation-related traits such as local beer quality, injera baking quality, lusciousness, and flour water-holding capacity. The two varieties thus serve complementary roles in Ethiopian kitchens as well as fields.

A total of 1,230 kilograms of seed, 825 kilograms of Girana-1 and 405 kilograms of Melkam, was distributed, with initial seed revolving to reach additional farmers through a farmer-to-farmer exchange mechanism designed to keep seed affordable, high in quality, and locally available. The researchers conclude that a coordinated multi-stakeholder approach, spanning research centers, agricultural offices, cooperatives, unions, seed enterprises, NGOs, and the Bureau of Agriculture, is essential to sustain community-based seed systems and market linkages. They also call for further research into fall armyworm, stalk borer, and emerging pests, along with food-science assessments along the value chain. If the momentum holds, the humble early-maturing sorghum plant may become one of eastern Africa’s most powerful tools against climate-driven hunger.

Subject of Research: Pre-scaling up of improved early-maturing sorghum varieties in moisture-deficient eastern Amhara, Ethiopia

Article Title: Pre-scaling up of early maturing sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.) technologies in moisture-deficient areas of eastern Amhara, Ethiopia

Article References: Haile, A., Siyum, N., Bahta, M., & Assefa, M. (2026). Pre-scaling up of early maturing sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) technologies in moisture-deficient areas of eastern Amhara, Ethiopia. Innovations in Agriculture, 9, Article e180604. https://doi.org/10.3897/ia.2026.180604

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/ia.2026.180604

Keywords: sorghum, Ethiopia, drought tolerance, early maturity, food security, yield advantage, seed systems, agricultural extension, climate-smart agriculture, Girana-1, Melkam, Amhara region

The scale of Kenya’s varietal stagnation is striking. On-farm, the area-weighted average age of maize hybrids stands at 18 years; at the point of sale, it is 20 years. Some hybrids have remained in cultivation for 15, 20, even 30 years, even though roughly 16 new hybrids are licensed annually through Kenya’s National Performance Trials and about 25 hybrids released within the past decade are available through agro-dealers. Newer varieties, bred for shifting rainfall patterns, more frequent drought, and emerging pests and diseases, have shown higher yields both in trials and in farmers’ own fields, with recent evidence indicating newer hybrids out-yield older ones by up to 147 kilograms per hectare in the long rains season.

Why do farmers stick with the familiar? The researchers emphasize that the preference is not irrational. Older hybrids often carry traits farmers genuinely value, including preferred grain taste and texture, better storability for household food security, and stover quality for livestock. Risk aversion, long-standing beliefs, liquidity pressures, and seed availability constraints all reinforce the status quo. But the team identified one binding constraint that has received little empirical attention: the near-total absence of independent, credible, up-to-date information on how commercially available hybrids actually perform under real farming conditions. Unlike in many high-income countries, where publicly funded variety trials guide seed selection, no equivalent system exists in most of Africa, leaving seed companies to market their products largely unchallenged. Popular varieties persist as cash cows, dominating market share for decades because companies need to recoup investments, not because they outperform.

To test whether credible data could break this pattern, the researchers intercepted 1,194 farmers, 46 percent of them women, at 36 agro-dealer shops in five towns just before the 2024 long rains planting season. Only farmers intending to buy at least two 2-kilogram bags of certified seed were enrolled, a threshold designed to exclude opportunistic free-riders while retaining genuine smallholder buyers. All participants received a voucher for a free 2-kilogram bag of maize seed, redeemable only at that shop, along with a message encouraging experimentation on a small portion of their land. The voucher covered roughly 40 percent of the seed farmers planned to plant that season.

The randomization was deliberately simple: predefined serial numbers fed into handheld tablets assigned farmers alternately to treatment and comparison groups. Both groups then received a placebo-style engagement, but for the treatment group this was replaced with a laminated chart showing farmer-reported yields for ten commercially available hybrids grown in their county during the 2023 long rains. The chart listed four columns: product name, years since release, county average yield, and the average yield of the top 25 percent of farmers. Enumerators reviewed the charts with farmers but did not let them take copies home, minimizing spillovers. Crucially, the data was brand-agnostic and promotional in no way; farmers were simply shown how products already on the market had performed for their neighbors.

The effects on stated intentions were dramatic. Only 7 percent of comparison farmers said they intended to use their voucher on one of the top two performers, compared with 25 percent of treatment farmers, an increase of 19 percentage points, or 271 percent above the baseline. Purchase uncertainty also fell sharply: while 5 percent of comparison farmers did not know what to buy, only 2 percent of treatment farmers were undecided. Overall, 62 percent of comparison farmers intended to buy a listed product versus 76 percent of treatment farmers. Demand for unlisted products fell correspondingly, from 35 percent among comparison farmers to 20 percent among treatment farmers.

Actual purchases told a slightly attenuated but still powerful story. Voucher redemption was nearly universal, with only about 2 percent of farmers in either group failing to buy seed, mostly because their desired variety was out of stock. Among those who redeemed, 5 percent of comparison farmers bought a top-two product compared with 11 percent of treatment farmers, a 135 percent increase over baseline. Stockouts clearly constrained the full effect: 25 percent of treatment farmers had intended to buy a top performer, but only 11 percent managed to do so. Comparison farmers, by contrast, shifted upward from their stated intentions inside the shop, likely steered by agro-dealer recommendations, while treatment farmers held closer to their informed choices.

Two additional findings strengthen the case. First, the information genuinely pushed farmers toward experimentation rather than simply subsidizing familiar choices. While 24 percent of comparison farmers intended to use the voucher on a product outside their original purchasing plan, 40 percent of treatment farmers did so, and virtually no comparison farmers planned to use the voucher on a variety different from their general seed purchases, compared with 11 percent of treatment farmers. Second, and unexpectedly, the effect spilled over into unassisted purchasing: treatment farmers were significantly more likely to buy a top-two hybrid with their own money for their main seed needs, rising from 6 to about 9 percent, and were more likely to switch from their original plans to top performers. The researchers caution that this exploratory result warrants further study, but it suggests performance information may reshape preferences more broadly than subsidized experimentation alone.

Farmers themselves rated the information highly. Ninety-five percent found it easy to understand, 91 percent considered it trustworthy, and 99 percent called it useful for seed selection. Half of treatment farmers singled out the top-25-percent yield column as the most meaningful, while 40 percent valued the county average and only 10 percent prioritized product age. Challenges were modest: 13 percent found it hard to differentiate between products and 9 percent struggled to choose from the list, hinting that clearer visual aids or more tailored presentation could help a minority of users. Notably, treatment farmers cited agro-dealer influence less often than comparison farmers, suggesting the data reduced reliance on shop-floor persuasion.

The authors are careful about the limits of their findings. Because both groups received the voucher, the results capture the marginal effect of information conditional on partial liquidity relief, not the effect of information alone. The sample comprised farmers buying certified seed from formal agro-dealers, so conclusions may not extend to the informal and intermediate seed systems where many smallholders operate. Agro-dealer interactions with comparison farmers and stockouts likely compressed the measured gaps, meaning the estimates are conservative lower bounds on the true informational effect. Still, the policy implications are clear: an independent, sustained system for evaluating and disseminating varietal performance could shift seed markets from branding-driven to quality-driven competition, provided testing reflects real smallholder conditions, data covers farmer-relevant traits such as drought tolerance and maturity, and supply chains can actually stock the varieties farmers come asking for. The question, the study concludes, is no longer whether farmers can use performance information to choose better seed, but whether the institutional infrastructure to deliver that information at scale can be built and sustained.

Subject of Research: The effect of independent varietal performance information on maize seed choices among smallholder farmers in Kenya

Article Title: Does varietal performance information drive better seed choices? Experimental evidence from Kenya

Article References: Ndegwa, M. K., Bulinda, C. M., Kariuki, S., Donovan, J., Rutsaert, P., & Jaleta, M. (2026). Does varietal performance information drive better seed choices? Experimental evidence from Kenya. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 31, Article 103334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2026.103334

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.jafr.2026.103334

Keywords: maize, seed choice, varietal turnover, Kenya, randomized controlled trial, yield performance data, smallholder farmers, agro-dealers, seed systems, information intervention, hybrid varieties, agricultural economics

The study, conducted in the Tolon, Mion, Nanumba North, and Gushegu districts, targeted communities in the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone, where a single rainy season runs from April or May through October. Working from a sampling frame of 900 pigeon pea-growing households compiled with the help of agricultural extension agents from Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the researchers used proportional allocation and simple random sampling to select 60 households in Tolon, 63 in Bimbilla, 54 in Mion, and 95 in Gushegu. Structured questionnaires, pre-tested with 15 farmers outside the study area and administered in Dagbani or English, captured socio-economic profiles, cropping practices, trait preferences, and production constraints. The team analyzed the responses with IBM SPSS software, using frequencies, cross-tabulations, Chi-square tests, and Pearson correlation analyses to tease out patterns in the data.

The demographic picture that emerged is one familiar across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly four in five respondents were men, and the dominant age group was 40 to 49 years, followed by those aged 30 to 39. Formal education was scarce: almost two-thirds of farmers had never attended school, and only 7.4 percent had completed secondary education. Crop production was the primary occupation for 82.7 percent of respondents, and 77.2 percent were married. These characteristics matter for breeding programs, the authors argue, because low educational attainment can slow the adoption of new technologies, and because women, though less involved in field production, dominate postharvest activities such as threshing, winnowing, and marketing. Any strategy to lift pigeon pea productivity, the study implies, must account for who actually handles the crop at each stage of the value chain.

The most striking agronomic finding was the near-universality of intercropping. Ninety-six percent of surveyed farmers grew pigeon pea alongside other crops, with maize the most common companion at 45.2 percent, followed by groundnut at 19.8 percent, yam at 13.9 percent, and sorghum at 13.2 percent. Only 4 percent practiced sole cropping. The researchers found a statistically significant association between land ownership and cropping system, with farmers on family land forming the overwhelming majority of intercroppers, 144 out of 150. This suggests that deeply rooted, multi-generational land arrangements reinforce traditional mixed-cropping patterns. The ecological logic is compelling: pigeon pea’s nitrogen fixation reduces dependence on inorganic fertilizer for companion cereals, and intercropping with yam even provides stakes that help curb deforestation.

When asked what they wanted in a new variety, farmers delivered a remarkably consistent verdict. Early maturity topped the list at 91.91 percent, a preference shaped by the short rainy season of the northern savannah and the benefits of rapid returns, drought escape, and compatibility with companion crops. High yield came second at 72.79 percent, followed by disease resistance at 57.35 percent, pest resistance at 55.15 percent, and drought tolerance at 50.37 percent. Improving soil fertility appealed to 30.88 percent, fitting into existing cropping systems to 22.79 percent, and high biomass to 17.65 percent. For consumption, taste dominated at 55.2 percent, ahead of storage durability at 36 percent and short cooking time at 8.9 percent. In the market, 75 percent of farmers prioritized varieties that fetch higher prices, with larger grain size a distant second at 19.9 percent.

The correlation analysis added a layer of technical nuance that could reshape how breeders think about the crop. Pest and disease resistance were strongly and positively correlated (r = 0.76), indicating that farmers perceive these biotic threats as intertwined and that genetic gains against one may reinforce the other. High yield correlated positively with early maturity (r = 0.45), pest resistance (r = 0.30), and disease resistance (r = 0.34), painting a picture of a compatible suite of traits that farmers favor together. Soil fertility improvement tracked closely with high biomass (r = 0.48), underscoring demand for dual-purpose varieties that deliver both grain and ecosystem services. But the analysis also exposed a genuine trade-off: fit into existing cropping systems was negatively correlated with early maturity (r = -0.39) and drought tolerance (r = -0.32), hinting that current intercropping arrangements may depend on longer-duration varieties and that introducing shorter, hardier types could require adjustments in agronomic practice.

Perhaps the study’s most consequential insight concerns the trait of cropping-system fit itself. While farmers across the board prioritized early maturity and yield, the emphasis on fitting into existing systems split sharply along practice lines: not a single sole-cropping farmer prioritized it, whereas a significant proportion of intercroppers did. In a region where 96 percent of growers intercrop, the authors conclude, compatibility with cereal-legume systems is a non-negotiable prerequisite for adoption. A new variety must not merely perform well in isolation; it must possess a non-competitive growth habit and phenology that synchronizes with staple cereals like maize so that the productivity of companion crops is not disrupted. The researchers recommend that breeding programs establish dedicated selection environments that mimic farmers’ actual intercropped fields, treating system compatibility as a primary selection criterion rather than an afterthought.

The constraint rankings told an equally pointed story. The single greatest barrier reported by farmers was the lack of improved varieties, cited by 39.7 percent of respondents, followed by low yield at 21.3 percent and poor seed quality at 11.4 percent. Storage pest susceptibility accounted for 8.5 percent, late maturity for 7.0 percent, high input costs for 5.5 percent, poor taste for 4.0 percent, and poor fodder quality for 2.9 percent. The dominance of the seed-access problem points to a systemic failure in the variety dissemination pipeline rather than a purely technical one. Previous research from northern Ghana has similarly flagged the unavailability of improved cultivars, the long maturity of local landraces, flower drop, and weak organoleptic qualities as chronic limitations, and the new survey confirms that the bottleneck persists.

The authors translate these findings into a multi-level roadmap. For national breeders and institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the data define a core trait package of early maturity, high yield, and intercropping compatibility for demand-driven variety development. For policymakers and development partners, the results justify investment in participatory breeding, ‘mother-baby’ trials, and decentralized, farmer-led seed multiplication to attack the seed shortage directly. For extension agents, the evidence supports promoting adopted varieties alongside best-practice advice on intercropping mixes, with messaging that highlights the dual grain-and-soil benefits farmers already value. The study’s limitations are acknowledged: the four districts, while capturing meaningful agro-ecological variation, may not represent all pigeon pea-growing areas, and self-reported survey data carry recall and social desirability risks that the team mitigated through pre-testing and skilled local enumerators.

What makes this research resonate beyond Ghana is its demonstration that adoption is decided in the field, not the greenhouse. Pigeon pea’s credentials as a climate-resilient, protein-rich, soil-building crop are well established, from its methionine, lysine, and tryptophan content to its roles as forage, fuelwood, and green manure. But the study shows that even the most agronomically impressive variety will fail if it matures too late for the savannah rains, competes with the maize it is meant to nourish, or lacks the taste and shelf life that keep it moving through local markets. As breeding programs across Africa grapple with climate stress and food insecurity, the Ghanaian survey offers a deceptively simple formula: breed for the system, not just the plant, and let the farmers who will sow the seed define success.

Subject of Research: Farmer-driven trait prioritisation and production constraints in pigeon pea cropping systems in northern Ghana

Article Title: Pigeon pea production in northern Ghana: farmer perspectives on cropping practices, trait prioritisation, and constraints for guiding breeding programs

Article References: Imoro, B. S., Koasi, B. E., Addae-Frimpomaah, F., Ahiakpa, J. K., & Karikari, B. (2026). Pigeon pea production in northern Ghana: farmer perspectives on cropping practices, trait prioritisation, and constraints for guiding breeding programs. BMC Agriculture, 2(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44399-025-00023-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44399-025-00023-9

Keywords: pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan, northern Ghana, intercropping, plant breeding, trait preferences, smallholder farmers, seed systems, nitrogen fixation, food security, participatory breeding, Guinea Savannah

The research, conducted by Ibrahim L. Kadigi of Mbeya University of Science and Technology, draws on microdata from the 2019/20 National Sample Census of Agriculture, a comprehensive survey covering more than 5,000 rice-growing households across Mainland Tanzania, with the earlier 2007/08 census used to normalize and stabilize yield comparisons. Rather than relying on simple averages or regression models, the study deployed a nonparametric stochastic simulation framework. Using Latin Hypercube Sampling and a Multivariate Empirical distribution, the analysis generated 500 simulated yield draws for each of 22 unique combinations of seed type and agroecological zone, producing 11,000 simulated yields in total. This Monte Carlo approach captures the full probability distribution of farm yields, including variance, skewness, and extreme outcomes, offering a far richer picture of production risk than conventional mean-based comparisons.

The methodological core of the study is the so-called stoplight analysis, which ranks the probability that farms exceed, fall between, or drop below defined productivity thresholds. Under Scenario A, the researchers set a lower cut-off of 1.5 tonnes per hectare and an upper benchmark of 3.0 tonnes per hectare, roughly the national target range. Under Scenario B, aligned with global standards, the thresholds rise to 2.0 and 4.5 tonnes per hectare. Because average rice yields in Tanzania hover around 2.4 tonnes per hectare, well below the global average of about 4.7 tonnes and far short of the 5 to 7 tonnes achievable with better management, these thresholds effectively frame the gap between ordinary and exceptional performance.

The results are unambiguous. At the national level, 29 percent of farms using improved seeds exceeded the 3.0 tonnes per hectare benchmark, compared with only 20 percent of local-seed farms, a 45 percent increase in the likelihood of high yields. Meanwhile, the share of farms falling below the 1.5 tonnes per hectare floor dropped from 38 percent among local-seed users to 30 percent among improved-seed users. On the mainland, the advantage widened further: 36 percent of improved-seed farms surpassed 3.0 tonnes per hectare versus just 21 percent of local-seed farms, a 71 percent relative improvement, and the proportion of very low-yielding farms fell from 36 percent to 23 percent. In Zanzibar, where overall productivity is lower, improved seeds still nearly doubled the probability of exceeding the benchmark, from 11 percent to 19 percent, and cut the low-yield share from 52 percent to 41 percent.

When the more demanding global thresholds were applied, the absolute probabilities of top-tier performance shrank, but the relative advantage of improved seeds grew even more pronounced. Nationally, the share of farms exceeding 4.5 tonnes per hectare doubled from 6 percent among local-seed users to 12 percent among improved-seed users, while the proportion of farms yielding less than 2.0 tonnes per hectare fell from 61 percent to 50 percent. On the mainland, 15 percent of improved-seed farms cleared the 4.5 tonnes per hectare bar, more than double the 6 percent of local-seed farms, and the low-yield share collapsed from 60 percent to 41 percent. In Zanzibar, improved-seed users were more than three times as likely as local-seed users to reach the global benchmark, and the share of extremely low-yielding farms declined from 79 percent to 64 percent. The pattern, the study emphasizes, is that improved seeds shift the entire yield distribution upward rather than simply nudging averages.

The agroecological breakdown adds crucial nuance. Tanzania’s rice landscapes span nine distinct zones, from the semi-arid Central Zone with erratic rainfall of 400 to 700 millimeters, to the fertile, well-watered Southern Highlands receiving 900 to 1,400 millimeters annually. In the Northern Highlands, improved seeds raised the probability of exceeding 3.0 tonnes per hectare from 50 to 55 percent and essentially eliminated the risk of yields below 1.5 tonnes per hectare, dropping it from 4 percent to zero. In the Southern Highlands, high-yield probabilities climbed from 34 to 52 percent while low-yield risk was nearly halved from 28 to 15 percent. Even in structurally disadvantaged zones, improved seeds delivered measurable gains: in the Southern Zone, the share of farms exceeding the benchmark rose from a dismal 2 percent to 20 percent, and in the Eastern Zone, high-yield probabilities increased from 14 to 27 percent while low-yield risk fell from 32 to 21 percent.

Yet the study is candid about limits. In the Southern and Western zones, more than half of farms remained in the low-productivity band even with improved seeds, and under the higher global thresholds, low-yield probabilities in some zones climbed to 68 to 79 percent despite adoption. The Western Zone even showed a slightly higher probability of very poor yields among improved-seed users under the strictest scenario, at 79 percent versus 73 percent for local seeds. These findings signal that seed quality alone cannot overcome deeper constraints such as soil acidity, poor drainage, limited irrigation, and inadequate extension coverage. The authors argue that seed subsidies and input programs should therefore not be applied uniformly nationwide but calibrated to zone-specific bottlenecks, pairing improved seeds with irrigation expansion, water harvesting, soil fertility restoration, lime subsidies, and drainage improvement where those constraints dominate.

The adoption picture itself reveals a stark institutional divide. While fewer than 5 percent of mainland farmers use improved rice seeds, adoption in Zanzibar reaches nearly 30 percent, a difference the study attributes partly to targeted seed subsidy schemes, strengthened last-mile distribution through shehia-level cooperatives, and public-sector seed multiplication programs on the islands. The low mainland uptake reflects weak seed systems, high transaction costs, market inefficiencies, limited extension services, and affordability barriers, compounded by the fact that many smallholders rely on informal, recycled seeds with declining genetic purity and germination performance. The census data also cannot distinguish certified improved seeds from quality-declared or farmer-saved improved varieties, a limitation the author notes may cause the estimated productivity differences to understate or overstate the true performance of certified material.

Validation of the simulation framework was rigorous. Observed and simulated yield distributions overlapped closely across all four major farmer groups, with means, standard deviations, coefficients of variation, and distribution shapes aligning almost perfectly. For instance, mainland improved-seed farms showed an observed and simulated mean of 2.77 tonnes per hectare with identical standard deviations of 1.39 and coefficients of variation of roughly 50 percent. No outliers were removed, since rare high-yield observations plausibly reflect practices such as the System of Rice Intensification, and the nonparametric framework deliberately retains tail outcomes to represent the full spectrum of production risk. The close correspondence reflects correct model specification rather than overfitting, the study explains, because simulated draws are generated directly from empirical distributions.

The policy implications extend well beyond Tanzania’s borders. Rice consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa has surged from roughly 13 kilograms per capita annually in the 1970s to more than 30 kilograms today, and Africa imported over 16 million metric tonnes of rice valued at more than USD 6 billion in 2022 alone. Tanzania, despite cultivating more than 1.1 million hectares, still imports between 70,000 and 120,000 metric tonnes annually. By quantifying where improved seeds most effectively lift yield distributions and where complementary investments are essential, the study offers actionable evidence for the Agricultural Sector Development Programme II, the National Rice Development Strategy II, and the Tanzania Seed Sector Development Strategy 2030, while supporting progress toward Sustainable Development Goals on poverty, hunger, and climate action. In high-potential zones, the priority is scaling, mechanization, and market integration; in marginal zones, seeds must ride alongside water, soil, and knowledge investments. Improved seeds, the evidence shows, are a necessary lever for Tanzania’s rice transformation, but never a sufficient one on their own.

Subject of Research: The effect of improved rice seed adoption on rice productivity and production risk across agroecological zones in Tanzania, using national census microdata and nonparametric stochastic simulation.

Article Title: Improved seeds and rice productivity in Tanzania: policy insights from national sample census data

Article References: Kadigi, I. L. (2026). Improved seeds and rice productivity in Tanzania: policy insights from national sample census data. BMC Agriculture, 2(1), Article 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44399-026-00042-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44399-026-00042-0

Keywords: improved seeds, rice productivity, Tanzania, agroecological zones, stochastic simulation, National Sample Census of Agriculture, food security, smallholder farmers, yield thresholds, seed systems, ASDP-II, NRDS-II

The problem the study addresses is structural rather than purely biological. Since the Green Revolution of the 1960s, plant breeding in Europe has been increasingly dominated by private companies that invest where markets are large and returns predictable. Grain legumes such as white lupin occupy only about 2.4 percent of German arable land, and the licence-fee revenue generated from such small acreages rarely covers the substantial research and development costs of a breeding programme. Economists describe the resulting dynamic as a lock-in situation: farmers grow few legumes because improved varieties are scarce, and breeders avoid legumes because demand is weak. The study asks what conditions allowed one partnership to break through this deadlock in a crop that had been nearly abandoned.

White lupin’s troubles were not only economic. The crop was devastated across Europe and globally by anthracnose, a fungal disease caused by Colletotrichum lupini, which made cultivation so unreliable that the species had been of almost no commercial importance since the 1990s. In 2008, LLA intensified research into white lupin with funding from the Bavarian state government, explicitly searching for ways to make the crop attractive again. Breeding lines with improved anthracnose tolerance emerged from that work, and it was this germplasm that caught the attention of DSV, an internationally active seed company founded in 1923 with operations across Europe, North America and beyond.

The resulting cooperation followed a clear division of labour grounded in complementary capabilities. LLA, which maintains experimental field infrastructure and breeding expertise, carried out the upstream stages: evaluating genetic resources, creating new variation through crossing, and conducting selection in early generations. As one DSV informant explained in the expert interview at the heart of the study, there was a very clear work-sharing arrangement in which LLA delivered experimental germplasm and performed early-generation selection before the partners moved to a joint testing approach in later generations. DSV, in turn, contributed trial plots, equipment, breeding and marketing expertise, and eventually the full commercial machinery of variety registration, seed multiplication, quality assurance and distribution.

The outputs of this alliance were the white lupin varieties Frieda and Celina, both characterised by high tolerance to anthracnose. After several years of value for cultivation and use testing administered by the Federal Plant Variety Office, the two varieties received national registration in Germany in 2019. Because the varieties originated from LLA’s research, the public institution owns the intellectual property rights, with DSV acting as licensee and paying royalty fees for production and sales rights under an agreement granting DSV a first right of refusal on promising variety candidates. This arrangement transformed what had begun as an informal, largely trust-based collaboration into an institutionally managed partnership with defined financial flows.

The commercial results have been striking for a crop of this size. DSV estimates that roughly 60 percent of the approximately 25,000 hectares of white lupin grown in Germany in 2023 were planted with varieties from the DSV–LLA cooperation, out of a total sweet lupin area of about 28,000 hectares. The company reports that royalty income covered its cumulative investments in field trials, variety applications and marketing within just a few years of registration, reaching break-even remarkably quickly. Alongside seed sales, DSV has built service offerings such as an alkaloid monitoring system, in which farmers can submit samples for third-party laboratory analysis, reflecting the fact that alkaloid content is a sensitive quality trait that must be actively managed.

That sensitivity centres on quinolizidine alkaloids such as lupinine and lupanine, bitter secondary metabolites that protect the plant against pests and stress but can cause poisoning in humans and animals at excessive doses, affecting the nervous and digestive systems. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has set reference values of 500 milligrams per kilogram for animal feed and 200 milligrams per kilogram for food, and EU rules require allergen labelling for lupin in food products because lupin protein can trigger allergic reactions and cross-reactions with other legumes. Even sweet lupin varieties can occasionally show elevated alkaloid levels due to environmental influences or uncontrolled cross-breeding, which is why systematic quality control and strict selection for low alkaloid content are core elements of both maintenance breeding and new variety development. Current German research projects, including the BitterSweet initiative, are working to identify the gene loci responsible for alkaloid production and develop molecular markers to support marker-assisted selection.

To assess the broader environment shaping the crop’s future, the researchers applied a PESTEL analysis covering political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. The political picture is favourable: the European Green Deal and its farm to fork strategy, together with the German Arable Farming Strategy 2035, call for expanding legume cultivation from its current 2.4 percent share of arable land toward 10 percent, which would give grain legumes an importance comparable to rapeseed. The ecological case is similarly strong, since lupins fix nitrogen, leave residual nutrients in the topsoil, interrupt disease cycles in cereal rotations and can be grown on sites unsuitable for soybean, making them attractive for sustainable agriculture, carbon farming and soil health systems. The booming market for plant-based meat and milk alternatives offers a promising new outlet, as lupin protein’s mild flavour, techno-functional properties and protein-to-carbohydrate ratio suit beverage and meat-substitute applications, and its protein digestibility reaches roughly 90 percent of the value of egg protein.

The economic obstacles, however, remain formidable. Yield fluctuations from year to year raise cultivation risk relative to other crops, and marketing infrastructure is thin: as of May 2024, Germany had just over 70 collection points for sweet lupins compared with more than 250 for conventional peas, and the legume market has been characterised as a demand oligopoly in which information asymmetries allow buyers to suppress producer prices. Imported soybean meal is often cheaper and available in consistent quantity and quality, undercutting the domestic protein crop despite European ambitions to reduce import dependency. Recent findings that quinolizidine alkaloids can transfer into milk from dairy cows fed white lupin, and into veal, add a further regulatory watchpoint for ruminant feeding, although breeding and technical solutions for reducing alkaloid levels continue to advance.

The authors conclude that the DSV–LLA case demonstrates how private companies can use public–private partnerships strategically: the private partner gains access to germplasm, expertise and pre-breeding results that would otherwise require years of high-risk investment, while the public institution fulfils its research mandate, benefits from public funding and sees its breeding lines translated into registered, cultivated varieties. The researchers argue that the case verifies calls in the literature for stronger public investment in grain legume breeding, showing how such investment can make minor crops attractive to private breeders, and they recommend greater public sector involvement going forward. At the same time, they caution that the partnership depends on public research capacity being available in the first place, on trust and transparent intellectual property arrangements, and on whether the wider legume lock-in can be eased through demand-led cooperation between breeders, processors and other value chain stakeholders. If those conditions hold, white lupin’s rediscovery in German agriculture may prove less an exception and more a template.

Subject of Research: Public–private partnership in white lupin variety breeding and market establishment in Germany

Article Title: A case study on variety development and institutional conditions in white lupin breeding in Germany

Article References: Wernze, L., Stelling, D., Heinz, M., & Mergenthaler, M. (2026). A case study on variety development and institutional conditions in white lupin breeding in Germany. Discover Agriculture, 4(1), Article 281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44279-026-00764-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44279-026-00764-4

Keywords: white lupin, plant breeding, public–private partnership, grain legumes, anthracnose resistance, alkaloids, variety registration, PESTEL analysis, crop diversification, plant-based protein, Germany, seed systems