African Yam Bean: An Under-Utilized Legume with Potential as a Tuber and Pulse Crop

Abstract

African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) is a legume that provides nutritionally rich seeds, tubers and leaves for human consumption. Production relies upon the cultivation of landraces and, to some extent, the collection of material from the wild. Currently, breeding programs do not exist to improve the genetic composition of this plant. There is an urgent requirement to instigate organized crop management programs, coupled with the genetic improvement of the crop through sexual hybridization. Additionally, in vitro genetic manipulation procedures and characterization of germplasms by molecular technologies will provide important adjuncts to conventional breeding approaches.