First report of aeroponically grown Bambara groundnut, an African indigenous hypogeal legume: Implications for climate adaptation

Mosima Mamoyahabo Mabitsela; Hamond Motsi; Keegan Jarryd Hull; Dawid Pierre Labuschagne; Marthinus Johannes Booysen; Sydney Mavengahama; Ethel Emmarantia Phiri

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14675

First report of aeroponically grown Bambara groundnut, an African indigenous hypogeal legume: Implications for climate adaptation

Heliyon. 2023 Mar 21;9(3):e14675. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14675. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Mosima Mamoyahabo Mabitsela¹, Hamond Motsi¹, Keegan Jarryd Hull², Dawid Pierre Labuschagne², Marthinus Johannes Booysen², Sydney Mavengahama³, Ethel Emmarantia Phiri⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agronomy, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.
² Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.
³ Food and Safety Focus Area, North-West University, Mmabatho, 2735, South Africa.
⁴ Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.

Abstract

Global agricultural production is currently limited by negative climate-related hazards such as drought, uneven rainfall and rising temperatures. Many efforts have been put in place by government and non-government agencies to mitigate the challenges of climate change in the sector. However, the approaches do not seem feasible due to the growing demand for food. With these challenges, climate-smart agricultural technologies such as aeroponics and underutilised crops have been projected as the future of agriculture in developing African countries to reduce the risk of food insecurity. In this paper, we present the cultivation of an underutilised indigenous African legume crop, Bambara groundnut, in an aeroponics system. Seventy Bambara groundnut landraces were cultivated in a low-cost climate-smart aeroponics system and in sawdust media. The results showed that Bambara groundnut landraces cultivated in aeroponics performed better than those cultivated in a traditional hydroponics (sawdust/drip irrigation) technique in terms of plant height and chlorophyll content, where the landraces cultivated in sawdust had a higher number of leaves than those cultivated in aeroponics. This study also demonstrated the feasibility of introducing a generic Internet of Things platform for climate-smart agriculture in developing countries. The proof-of-concept and the successful cultivation of a hypogeal crop in aeroponics can be useful for cost-effective adaptation and mitigation plans for climate change, particularly for food security in rural African agricultural sectors.

Keywords: Aeroponics; Climate change; Climate-smart agriculture; Internet of things; Underutilised crops; Vigna subterranea.