Athanase Nduwumuremyi

• PhD
• Senior Scientist at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board

Abstract Purpose With the rapid adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture, monitoring ecological parameters has become increasingly important for farmers aiming to optimize crop yields. However, sensor noise often hampers the collection of accurate data. This pioneering paper addresses the gap by evaluating real-time sensor denoising...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), is an important staple crop for about 800 million people worldwide, and a key commodity for the starch industry. However, the potential cassava production is limited by several biotic constraints amongst which cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) is the most economically important disease in Africa. To date, the m...

Matching crop varieties to their target use context and user preferences is a challenge faced by many plant breeding programs serving smallholder agriculture. Numerous participatory approaches proposed by CGIAR and other research teams over the last four decades have attempted to capture farmers' priorities/preferences and crop variety field perfor...

Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD), which is caused by cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV), represents one of the most devastating threats to cassava production in Africa, including in Rwanda where a dramatic epidemic in 2014 dropped cassava yield from 3.3 million to 900,000 tonnes (1). Studying viral g...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a vital crop in Rwanda where it ranks as the third most consumed staple. However, cassava productivity remains below its yield potential due to several constraints, including important viral diseases, such as cassava brown streak disease (CBSD). Because various factors can be addressed to mitigate the impact of...

The overdependency on local cassava varieties and informal seed sources by farmers in Rwanda has contributed to the spread of cassava viral diseases. The use of improved planting materials made available through formal seed sources, that assure seed quality, is one way to prevent future disease outbreaks. In order to increase the availability of, a...

For the past 15 years, IITA and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT have worked closely together with (inter)national universities, NARS and other public and private innovation and scaling partners under the Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA - https://www.cialca.org/). CIALCA aims to accelerate the imp...

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is the most widely grown vegetable in most of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, its production is threatened by population pressure associated with land scarcity and soil degradation. The aim of this study was to determine the role of organic and mineral fertilizers in increasing soil fertility and production of vegetab...

Background: The early generation selection of cassava quantitative and qualitative traits saves breeding resources as it can shorten breeding schemes. The inheritance analysis provides important breeding information for developing new improved varieties. This study aimed at developing an F1 segregating cassava population and determining mode of ge...

Genetic diversity is essential for crop improvement and knowledge of the genetic variability within a breeding population facilitates its future exploitation. This study examined the phenotypic and genetic variability for specific cassava key traits in a collection of 30 genotypes at five environments in Rwanda. Seventy-three percent of the variati...

General and specific environmental adaptation of genotypes is the main goal of breeders. However, genotype-by-environment (G × E) interaction complicates the identification of genotypes for release. This study aimed at analyzing the effects of G × E interaction on the expression of important cassava traits using two multivariate analyses: additive...

Physiological postharvest deterioration (PPD) and late bulking are among the traits that make cassava an unattractive crop in many environments. This study aimed at assessing the main constraints of cassava production, the effects of late bulking, the losses due to PPD and the factors affecting adoption of new cultivars in Rwanda. A participatory r...

Physiological postharvest deterioration (PPD) of cassava is the main constraint affecting its nutritional and economical values. PPD is induced by wounds when detaching storage roots from mother plant during harvesting. It is accelerated by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as oxygen ion (O2) and peroxide (O2)-2. The carotenoid content and its...

Weathered soil associated with continuous farming are the main cause of soil acidity and food insecurity in many countries of sub Sahara Africa. Lime plays a great importance in improving acidic soils, reduces Al saturation and hence favours plant nutrition and boost crop production. Small and big limestones deposits were discovered in the region....

A field experiment was conducted in zonal agricultural research station, university of agricultural sciences, (UAS) GKVK Bengaluru during Kharif, 2012 to study the economics of integrated weed management in soybean. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with ten treatments, replicated thrice. At harvest, intercultiv...

Broomrapes (Orobanche sp.) are a root holoparasitic plant devoid of chlorophyll and entirely depending on the host for nutritional requirements. They cause considerable yield losses (5-100 %) in the crops, especially in the drier and warmer areas of Europe, Africa and Asia where it is reported to mainly parasitize species of leguminous, oilseeds, s...

In many agricultural areas of Africa, soil acidity is among constraints of agricultural activities. Lime plays a great role in agriculture, it is considered as important in correcting acidic soils for improved crop yields. In addition, to achieve sustainability of agricultural activities, lime is considered as the pillar for constantly production o...

Soil erosion, soil nutrient depletion and soil acidity associated to Aluminium (Al) toxicities are the main soil related constraints to agricultural development in many countries of sub-Sahara Africa. The lime plays an important role in improving soil acidity and hence favours plant nutrition. The aim of this study was to map out the available lime...

Sustainable agriculture is threatened by the widespread soil acidity in many arable lands of Rwanda. The aim of this study was to determine the quality of unburned limes and their effects on soil acidity and base cations in acidic soils of high land of Buberuka. The lime materials used were agricultural burned lime and three unburned lime materials...

Selection of parental materials and good mating designs in conventional plant breeding are the keys to the successful plant breeding programme. However, there are several factors affecting the choices of mating designs. Mating design refers to the procedure of producing the progenies, in plant breeding, plant breeders and geneticists, theoretically...

High phosphate sorption constitutes a critical impediment to agricultural use of Andosols in the volcanic highlands of Central African Great Lakes region. A laboratory experiment was conducted on soil samples collected from an Andosol amended with a factorial combination of lime and P (phosphorus) fertiliser to determine the P sorption characterist...