Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 43

Irwin Goldman

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119616733
• eBook ISBN: 9781119616771
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Botany
• Index: Biological Sciences

Contents

1.Maria Isabel Andrade: Sweetpotato Breeder, Technology Transfer Specialist, and Advocate 1

2.Development of Cold Climate Grapes in the Upper Midwestern U.S.: The Pioneering Work of Elmer Swenson 31

3. Candidate Genes to Extend Fleshy Fruit Shelf Life 61

4.Breeding Naked Barley for Food, Feed, and Malt 95

5.The Foundations, Continuing Evolution, and Outcomes from the Application of Intellectual Property Protection in Plant Breeding and Agriculture 121

6. The Use of Endosperm Genes for Sweet Corn Improvement: A review of developments in endosperm genes in sweet corn since the seminal publication in Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 1, by Charles Boyer and Jack Shannon (1984) 215

7.Gender and Farmer Preferences for Varietal Traits: Evidence and Issues for Crop Improvement 243

8.Domestication, Genetics, and Genomics of the American Cranberry 279

9.Images and Descriptions of Cucurbita maxima in Western Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 317

1
Maria Isabel Andrade: Sweetpotato Breeder, Technology Transfer Specialist, and Advocate

Jan W. Low

Principal Scientist and Co‐leader of the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative, International Potato Center, Nairobi, Kenya

Edward Carey

Sweetpotato Breeder, International Potato Center, Kumasi, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Dr. Maria Isabel Andrade has not followed the more typical path of being a breeder in an academic institution or a private company. She developed a passion for a crop long neglected by the world, sweetpotato, in large part because it is a crop of the poor, predominantly cultivated by women in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Hence, to be able to breed, she had to become on advocate for the crop, demonstrating its practical potential to not only address food insecurity but that the orange types, largely unknown in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), could also effectively tackle vitamin A deficiency. Most of her career has been spent in Mozambique, where her tireless efforts to develop and deliver improved drought‐tolerant orange‐fleshed sweetpotato varieties have been a model for others to emulate. Her ability to recognize the importance of collaborating with nutritionists and agricultural economists to develop innovative mechanisms to ensure that the improved orange‐fleshed varieties could make a difference to human health and wealth has resulted in growing awareness and recognition of the concept of biofortification, that is breeding for enhance micronutrient quality in staple crops. As a collaborative member of the breeding team at the International Potato Center, she has demonstrated that an innovative accelerated breeding scheme could effectively deliver quality varieties. Over the years, she has mentored hundreds of staff members and students, helping to build a community of practice that recognizes that for scientists to make a difference in SSA, they must stretch their mandate and engage in delivery and often advocacy. This chapter describes the evolution of this unique career of a most amazing woman driven by her faith in god and the power of agriculture to improve nutrition among those most in need.

Keywords: sweetpotato, Africa, Mozambique, breeding, accelerated breeding, drought tolerance, orange‐fleshed, vitamin A, advocacy

Maria Andrade in an Exhibition Booth on Sweetpotato Research in Mozambique at the Conference held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2015

(credit: J. Low).

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1. EARLY YEARS
2. RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT
   1. Technology Transfer in the First Decade
   2. Building the Evidence Base Through Collaborative Research
   3. Breeding in Africa for Africa
3. THE ADVOCATE AND TEAM PLAYER
4. THE MENTOR AT WORK AND IN HER COMMUNITY
5. AWARDS AND SERVICE
   1. Awards
   2. Boards and Other Representation

• LITERATURE CITED
• PUBLICATIONS
  1. Articles and Chapters
  2. Papers at Workshops
  3. Project Reports

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ABBREVIATIONS

ABS

Accelerated Breeding Scheme

AGRA

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

AVRDC

World Vegetable Center

CGIAR

Referred to just by its acronym since 2010, but formerly meant Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research

CIAT

Centro International de Agricultura Tropical: International Center for Tropical Agriculture

CIP

International Potato Center

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization (United Nations)

IDRC

International Development Research Center

IIAM

Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique: National Agrarian Research Institute (2004 to date)

INIA

Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agronómica, National Institute of Agronomic Research, Mozambique

INIA

National Agriculture Research Institute, Cabo Verde

IITA

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

NIRS

Near‐Infrared Spectrometer

NGOs

Non‐governmental organizations

OFSP

Orange‐fleshed sweetpotato

SARRNET

Southern Africa Root Crop Research Network

SASHA

Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa

SETSAN

Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition in Mozambique

SPHI

Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative

SSA

Sub‐Saharan Africa

SUN

Scaling Up Nutrition

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

VAD

Vitamin A deficiency

I. EARLY YEARS

Maria Isabel Vaz de Andrade was born on July 28, 1958, to Maria Vaz Andrade, in the town of São Filipe, on the small Island of Fogo, Cape Verde. She was the seventh of 10 children to her mother and the eleventh of 14 children to her father, a man so renowned for his work ethic that there is a song about him: “If you look for someone rich, don’t go to Francisco Andrade, but if are looking for a hardworking man, go to him.” Her father was a seafarer and, later, a shop owner on Fogo, and her mother sold homemade pastries in the town. Because of her parents’ hard work, the family never went hungry, supplementing their modest incomes with maize, cassava, beans, squash, sweetpotato, and watermelon grown on a small rented plot, often re‐planting the maize due to unreliable rains in the dry climate. Maria knew early that she would go into agriculture, and at the age of five refused to go to the store to buy butter for her mother to make a cake, swearing that she was going to study coffee and leave and work in Angola to help her family and change the life of people who suffer from hunger in Africa. She did get a gentle spanking from her father for that bit of impertinence.

Maria’s parents emphasized food, nutrition, and education for their children, recognizing that education was the key to a successful future. At the local grade school, Maria learned addition and subtraction quickly, using chalk on a slate tablet. When she was 15 years old, Maria left Fogo for the first time when she moved to Santiago, the capitol, to attend high school, returning home only for summer vacations. She lived with her older brother Braz and his family, who cared for her and shared the work ethic of their father. For example, after getting 85% on a physics exam, she hurried to her brother’s workplace hoping to be rewarded for her success, but her brother was not sympathetic, asking her why she didn’t do better. As a result, she improved.

After receiving her high school diploma in 1978, Maria taught math and natural science at the high school level from 1978 to 1980, where she quickly realized that enthusiasm and commitment are key to success, inspiring students and being inspired by what they could do together. She had an opportunity to study medicine in France via Senegal, but was interested in studying in the United States, idolized as “Mecca” by most Cape Verdeans, and in 1980 received a scholarship from the African American Institute to study agronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As an undergraduate, she was fortunate to be exposed to an outstanding teacher and researcher, Dr. Albert K. Dobrenz, whom she worked for as an undergraduate, helping with drought response trials of maize, among other things. Completing her bachelor’s degree in 1984, she quickly completed her masters with a thesis on the genetics of guar under Dr. Ray at the University of Arizona, before returning to Cape Verde to a position in the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA in Portuguese), Cape Verde.

Life on a university campus in the USA in the early 1980s was an eye‐opener for Maria, but she kept her focus on working hard to make the most of her good fortune. Maria was able to enjoy the wonderful international social life, forging friendships and professional ties that would be important later in her career. Among her peers, Maria was famous for having a great time dancing, without needing to drink alcohol. While at the University of Arizona, she married her high school sweetheart, who would be the father of her two daughters.

When she returned to Cape Verde, it took some time to identify root crops as an important area where she could devote her career energies. She had wanted to work in plant pathology, but the position was already occupied. Her Director, Horacio Soares, a great supporter, assigned her to the maize program under Carlos Silva, but so...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• 1 Maria Isabel Andrade: Sweetpotato Breeder, Technology Transfer Specialist, and Advocate
• 2 Development of Cold Climate Grapes in the Upper Midwestern U.S.: The Pioneering Work of Elmer Swenson
• 3 Candidate Genes to Extend Fleshy Fruit Shelf Life
• 4 Breeding Naked Barley for Food, Feed, and Malt
• 5 The Foundations, Continuing Evolution, and Outcomes from the Application of Intellectual Property Protection in Plant Breeding and Agriculture
• 6 The Use of Endosperm Genes for Sweet Corn Improvement: A review of developments in endosperm genes in sweet corn since the seminal publication in Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 1, by Charles Boyer and Jack Shannon (1984)
• 7 Gender and Farmer Preferences for Varietal Traits: Evidence and Issues for Crop Improvement
• 8 Domestication, Genetics, and Genomics of the American Cranberry
• 9 Images and Descriptions of Cucurbita maxima in Western Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
• Cumulative Contributor Index
• Cumulative Subject Index
• End User License Agreement