Assessing Suitability of Sorghum to Alleviate Sub-Saharan Nutritional Deficiencies through the Nutritional Water Productivity Index in Semi-Arid Regions.

Sandile T Hadebe,Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi,Albert T Modi

doi:10.3390/foods10020385

Sandile T Hadebe, Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020385

Copy DOI

Abstract

Lack of cereal nutritional water productivity (NWP) information disadvantages linkages of nutrition to water–food nexus as staple food crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study determined the suitability of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) genotypes to alleviate protein, Zn and Fe deficiency under water-scarce dryland conditions through evaluation of NWP. Sorghum genotypes (Macia, Ujiba, PAN8816, IsiZulu) NWP was quantified from three planting seasons for various sorghum seed nutrients under dryland semi-arid conditions. Seasons by genotypes interaction highly and significantly affected NWPStarch, Ca, Cu, Fe, and significantly affected NWPMg, K, Na, P, Zn. Genotypic variations highly and significantly affected sorghum NWPProtein, Mn. Macia exhibited statistically superior NWPprotein (13.2–14.6 kg·m−3) and NWPZn (2.0–2.6 g·m−3) compared to other tested genotypes, while Macia NWPFe (2.6–2.7 g·m−3) was considerably inferior to that of Ujiba and IsiZulu landraces under increased water scarcity. Excellent overall NWPprotein, Fe and Zn under water scarcity make Macia a well-rounded genotype suitable to alleviating food and nutritional insecurity challenges in semi-arid SSA; however, landraces are viable alternatives with limited NWPprotein and Zn penalty under water-limited conditions. These results underline genotype selection as a vital tool in improving “nutrition per drop” in semi-arid regions.

Highlights

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces twin challenges of food and nutritional insecurity [1], which are higher in rural, resource-poor households [2] where approximately 85% of the population depends on small-scale, rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods [3]
Iron nutrient density was considerably higher in IsiZulu and Ujiba landraces (462–707 mg·kg−1) under water scarcity, whereas iron density was maintained for improved PAN8816 and Macia genotypes under water scarcity
Ujiba and IsiZulu water productivity were higher under severe water scarcity in the third season (0.84–0.97 kg·m−3) compared to other higher rainfall planting seasons (Table 3), even though the highlighted improvement was not statistically significant

Summary

Introduction

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces twin challenges of food and nutritional insecurity [1], which are higher in rural, resource-poor households [2] where approximately 85% of the population depends on small-scale, rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods [3]. To simultaneously address quantity (food produced per unit of water used) and quality (nutrition per drop) components of food security [9] under water scarcity in SSA, an index that combines crop yields, water availability, and crop nutrition is fitting [10]. Under water-scarce conditions, crop and irrigation experts have historically focused on producing “more crop per unit of water used” (water productivity), whereas nutritionist research has focused on meeting the daily recommended human nutrition requirements [12]. This has led to a lack of attention to the inter-linkages between food/crop production, human health and nutrition. The lack of linkages between food production and human nutrition has often led to agricultural interventions being disconnected from issues of human health and nutrition [11]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion