ROTATES - Minor ROot and Tuber crops fostering AgrobiodiversiTy and Ecosystem Services
Published February 26, 2026 | Version v1
Journal article Open

YamHub as an international platform for yam research and breeding based in Guadeloupe

Authors/Creators

  • 1. EDMO icon French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development
  • 2. EDMO icon National Research Institute For Agriculture, Food And Environment
  • 3. Institut Technique Tropical Guadeloupe

Description

📄 The article, published in Nature Genetics, presents YamHub, an international platform dedicated to research and breeding on yam. The study was led by Komivi Dossa, Gemma Arnau, Erick Malédon, and HANA CHAIR (CIRAD), coordinator of the ROTATES project, with contributions from an international team of collaborators.

🔗Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-026-02520-2
🔗YamHub platform: https://www.yamhub.fr

🌍 Yams are a staple food for more than 500 million people worldwide. Yet despite their importance for food security and rural livelihoods, yam breeding has long lagged behind other major crops. Long growth cycles, irregular flowering and complex genetics make genetic improvement particularly challenging. To address these constraints, CIRAD has been developing YamHub since 2010. Located in Guadeloupe, the platform combines tropical agroecological conditions ideal for yam cultivation with the institutional stability and research networks of the European Union. This unique position allows YamHub to connect European research with partners across Africa, the Caribbean and other tropical regions where yams are central to farming systems and diets.

🔬 YamHub integrates field, laboratory and data infrastructures dedicated to yam improvement. The platform maintains a living collection of around 250 accessions from 30 countries, covering seven cultivated yam species and providing a key resource for studying genetic diversity and agronomic traits. It also brings together advanced research tools, including field trials, high-throughput phenotyping using drone imaging and environmental sensors, genomics and genome sequencing, plant health laboratories and food quality analysis. Together, these activities support the development of improved yam varieties that are productive, resilient and adapted to farmers’ needs.

🌱 Within the ROTATES project, YamHub is one of four EU Breeding Hubs dedicated to root and tuber crops. Together, these hubs are working to design breeding strategies that deliver crop varieties adapted to agroecological farming practices.

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
ROTATES - Minor ROot and Tuber crops fostering AgrobiodiversiTy and Ecosystem Services 101181532