Orphan Crops: A Best Fit for Dietary Enrichment and Diversification in Highly Deteriorated Marginal Environments.

ABSTRACT: Orphan crops are indigenous and invariably grown by small and marginal farmers under subsistence farming systems. These crops, which are common and widely accepted by local farmers, are highly rich in nutritional profile, good for medicinal purposes, and well adapted to suboptimal growing conditions. However, these crops have suffered neglect and abandonment from the scientific community because of very low or no investments in research and genetic improvement. A plausible reason for this is that these crops are not traded internationally at a rate comparable to that of the major food crops such as wheat, rice, and maize. Furthermore, marginal environments have poor soils and are characterized by extreme weather conditions such as heat, erratic rainfall, water deficit, and soil and water s

SUBMITTER: Talabi AO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8908242 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature