She received her secondary education in Sterkspruit, where she matriculated at the Tlokweng Senior Secondary School in 2009. She obtained her BSc (Biochemistry) in 2014, BSsHons in Agriculture (Plant Breeding) in 2015, MSc in Agriculture (Plant Breeding) with distinction (together with a prize for the best MSc in Agriculture Plant breeding) in 2017, and PhD Plant Breeding in 2019, at the University of the Free State. Her BSsHons in Agriculture (Plant Breeding), MSc in Agriculture (Plant Breeding), and PhD in Plant Breeding degrees were funded by the South African Sugarcane Research Institute. Her PhD research project was titled “Evaluating families and breeding values of parental populations in sugarcane breeding”, the project aimed at increasing crossing and selection efficiency in sugarcane breeding programmes.

During her post-graduate studies, she received several awards for the best oral presentation at several conferences: 1) Prize winner in SASTA Congress 2017: SASTA Student Award: Agriculture Section: for the best paper oral presentation “Identifying elite families for the Midlands sugarcane breeding programmes in South Africa”. 2) Prize winner in SAPBA conference 2018: SAPBA Student Award: for the best oral presentation “Estimating breeding values of parental genotypes for sugarcane yield using best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP)”. 3) Prize winner in SASTA Congress 2018: SASTA Student Award: Agriculture Section: for the best paper oral presentation “Evaluating breeding values of genotypes in sugarcane breeding using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP)”. 4) Prize winner in University of Johannesburg botany and biotechnology symposium 2019: for the best paper oral presentation.

In 2019, she was appointed as a lecturer in Plant Breeding at the University of the Free State. Her research focus on development of improved cowpea genotypes based on grain yield and nutritional value in collaboration with one of the South African private seed company. She gives lectures to undergraduate and post graduate students. She also supervises BSc Honours, MSc, and PhD students in Plant breeding.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2016). Family versus individual genotype selection for sugarcane yield in Midlands breeding populations of South Africa. Oral presentation and Proceedings of the South African Sugarcane Technologists’ Association. 89:229-233.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2017). Identifying elite families for the Midlands sugarcane breeding programmes in South Africa. Oral presentation and proceedings at the 89th Annual Congress of the South African Sugarcane Technologists’ Association 90:147-150.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2017). Identifying elite families and determining optimum family selection rates in sugarcane breeding. Crop Science 57:2525-2537.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2018). Evaluating breeding values of genotypes in sugarcane breeding using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP). Oral presentation and proceedings at the 89th Annual Congress of the South African Sugarcane Technologists’ Association 91:169-172.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2019). Determining the breeding values of parental genotypes of sugarcane for biomass yield. Proceedings of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, volume 41: 74–78.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2019). Evaluating parents for cane yield in sugarcane breeding using best linear unbiased prediction analysis of progeny data derived from family plots. South African Journal of Plant and Soil 36 (1): 21 – 28.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2019). Comparing family with individual genotype breeding parameters for cane yield in sugarcane populations. South African Journal of Plant and Soil 36 (1): 11 – 19.

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2019). Family by environment interaction for cane yield and its components in South Africa. Crop Science. 60 (3). DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20025

Mbuma NW, Zhou MM, van der Merwe R (2019). Estimating breeding values of genotypes for sugarcane yield using data from unselected progeny populations. Euphytica. DOI: 10.1080/02571862.2018.1465136

Mbuma NW, Gerrano AS, Lebaka N, Mofokeng A, Labuschagne M (2020). The evaluation of a Southern African cowpea germplasm collection for seed yield and yield components. Crop Science. Accepted.

Her research focus on development of improved cowpea genotypes based on grain yield and nutritional value in collaboration with one of the South African private seed company.

Her research interests include optimization of conventional plant breeding, crop breeding and selection process, early generation and family evaluation of sugarcane and vegetable crops, parent evaluation using breeding values, nutritional value of vegetable crops.

PLT3714 – SELECTION METHODS AND QUANTITATVE GENETICS

IN PLANT BREEDING

PLTB4814 - ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE GENETICS (4th years)

PLTB6814 - ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE GENETICS (post-graduates)

PLTB 8900 – MSc students` supervision

PLTB 9100 – PhD students` supervision