The importance of international exchanges of plant genetic resources for national crop improvement in Burkina Faso

One of the main considerations underlying the establishment of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and its Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing is the recognition of countries’ high interdependence on the genetic resources of the crops and forages which they depend upon for their food security. A continued appreciation of how countries have benefited from facilitated exchange of germplasm in the past and are likely to continue doing so in the future is needed, in order to move forward the implementation of the Multilateral System and creating a truly global pool of genetic resources for countries’ agricultural development and adaptation to climate change. Using Burkina Faso as a case and millet, rice and maize as key crops, the paper presents a picture of the dynamics of their genetic resources, both inside and outside of the country, over past years and into the future. It illustrates the extent to which Burkina Faso is dependent upon germplasm from other countries for its food security, and how, in a complementary manner, other countries rely upon germplasm from Burkina Faso. It is hoped that the information presented here may encourage and facilitate the implementation of the International Treaty and its Multilateral System in the country

International Conference Enhanced Genepool Utilization - Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 16-20 June 2014. Book of Abstracts

This conference presents the culmination of the PGR Secure project (www.pgrsecure.org) – a collaborative project involving eleven partners funded under the EU Seventh Framework Programme, THEME KBBE.2010.1.1-03, 'Characterization of biodiversity resources for wild crop relatives to improve crops by breeding', Grant agreement no. 266394. It is jointly organized with the section on genetic resources of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA). This international conference showcases innovative and potential novel characterization techniques and conservation strategies to identify and safeguard crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) genetic diversity to increase potential options for crop improvement as a means of underpinning food security in the face of climate change. The conference brings together a wide range of biodiversity expertise from the international community to debate current and future enhanced conservation and utilization of CWR and LR diversity for improving agricultural production, increasing food security and sustaining the environment for better livelihoods. The conference represents a landmark in the plant genetic resources science arena, highlighting exotic plant germplasm as a potentially critical but neglected resource for crop improvement. Part 1 of the book of abstracts contains the abstracts of the oral presentations and Part 2, those of the posters. They are organized under the four conference themes, viz. characterization techniques, conservation strategies, facilitating CWR and LR use and informatics development. The oral presentations will be the subject of a book entitled “Enhancing Crop Genepool Use: Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement” that will be published by CABI as the conference proceedings. All duly registered participants will be receiving a copy of the book when it is published

Epidemiology and management of rice tungro disease

Since the mid 1960s, rice tungro virus disease has had a serious economic impact on rice production in South-East Asia. Although the frequency and intensity of outbreaks have declined since their peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, occasional major epidemics do sill occur, often associated with changes in agronomic practices. Epidemiology and Management of Rice Tungro Disease is the outcome of a workshop held in Malaysia where researchers including representatives from five major rice producing countries met to discuss the present status of the disease and the progress of research into its management. The publication outlines current options for integrated management of tungro and critically reassesses vector control strategies. The book will be of interest to scientists and officials from national agricultural departments who have to make decisions on the management of this important disease

Genetic diversity of Oryza species in Niger ; screening and breeding for resistance to rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV)

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.Rice is a staple food in many West African countries, including Niger. However, both regional and national rice production have failed to meet demand due to several constraints, among which is the Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV). Moreover, attempted intensification of rice cultivation and the introduction of modern cultivars are encouraging farmers towards abandoning local landraces for high yielding, but often susceptible varieties. The study was primarily oriented towards rice pre-breeding, and identifying priorities for rice breeding in Niger in relation to farmers' preferences and their environment. A secondary aim was the development and evaluation (for release at the regional level) of new breeding lines with resistance to RYMV. This study aimed to: 1) Establish farmers' perception of rice varieties as well as the main constraints on rice production in Niger and particularly those posed by RYMV; 2) Create a collection of rice species from Niger for ex- situ conservation, and to determine the phenotypic variability within this collection; 3) Determine the genetic diversity and population structure of the collection; 4) Screen the collection for resistance to RYMV, so that new sources of resistance could be detected; 5) Improve five elite varieties from West Africa for resistance to RYMV using marker-assisted selection (MAS). The germplasm collection and PRA of this study were conducted in 2008 and 2009 in Niger, while the field and the laboratory researches were conducted in 2008 and 2009 at the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in Benin. For the PRA, data was obtained from a semi-structured group discussion carried out in 14 villages, individual questioning of 153 farmers and visits to farmers' field and storage facilities. The local farmers' union was the only formal seed dissemination system. Seed exchanges between farmers and the use of seeds from previous harvests were important. The RYMV and the bacterial leaf blight (BLB) were cited as the prevalent biotic stresses in the irrigated agrosystem, where the varieties IR1529-680-3 and Waihidjo were found to be the most popular. Flood, birds and hippopotamus were the most damaging agents in the lowland cropping system, and the landrace Degaulle/ D5237 was the preferred variety. Apart from the yield, farmers preferred varieties with good grain quality (milling quality and good taste), high market value, stress tolerance (drought, flood, disease, birds, rodents), and those recommended by the local farmers' association. These findings should be included in breeding goals, seed production and dissemination systems. During collection, a total of 270 rice accessions were assembled, comprising the two cultivated rice species Oryza sativa L. and O. glaberrima Steud. and its two wild relatives Oryza barthii A. Chev. and O. longistaminata Chev. et Roehr. The region of the Niger River and its tributary (the Dallol Maouri) provided the majority (80.7%) of the accessions. Apart from a few wild O. barthii accessions, the accessions found around Lake Chad and the Komadougou river (South-East) were also collected in the Niger River area. Farmers' naming and ecological classification of rice varieties was generally consistent. Three major phenotypic groups were found during the field trials, and the overall phenotypic variability of the collection (as measured by the Shannon-Weaver Diversity Index) was relatively high. There was no significant difference in diversity between the main eco-geographical zones of collection, as well as between the identified phenotypic groups, suggesting a high level of germplasm exchange between the regions in Niger. From the collection, 264 accessions were genotyped from the collection using 18 well distributed SSR markers and two main genetic compartments were detected, comprising O. sativa subsp. indica varieties and O. glaberrima and its wild relative O. barthii and O. longistaminata. The O. sativa group in Niger was divided into irrigated and floating rice, bound by lowland rice. The wild progenitor O. barthii was widespread but without any clear genetic differentiation from O. glaberrima, probably due to the presence of admixtures within the collected samples of O. barthii. Allelic diversity was relatively high, despite the geographical distance from the centre of domestication of African rice, and the points of entry of Asian rice to Africa. The findings reflect the underuse of Niger's rice landraces genetic potential for rice breeding, given that all the "improved" varieties released during the last 25 years in Niger were clustered together on the dendrogram. The response of a set of the rice collected from Niger and some accessions from Mali to inoculation by RYMV was evaluated using five different virus isolates from Niger (3), Benin (1) and Burkina Faso (1). All rice varieties were susceptible to the disease. However, depending on the virus strain, a few O. glaberrima accessions displayed partial resistance, similar to the highly resistant TOG5681. Allelic research based on primers derived from the RYMV1 gene revealed one accession with allele rymv1-3, and two accessions with allele rymv1-4, and one accession with a different resistance gene. The implications of the finding were discussed and a strategy proposed for breeding varieties with a comprehensive resistance to RYMV. After three generations of backcrossing, the major resistance gene of the variety Gigante was successfully introgressed into five elite rice varieties of West Africa by Marker-Assisted Backcross (MABC). The newly developed BC3F3 progenies were screened for resistance to RYMV in farmers' fields in Guinea and Mali and also under controlled conditions in a screenhouse in Benin. As shown by low virus content and level of disease incidence, low tiller number and plant height reduction, the transferred gene was fully functional in the new genetic background. Moreover, some lines also displayed a high level of resistance to rice blast (Pyricularia oryzae) and stem borer infestation in Guinea. Four of those lines are in the second year of multi-location trial in seven West African countries. Therefore, effective deployment of the newly developed varieties, coupled with good cultural practices, should reduce the damaging effects of RYMV in lowland and irrigated rice cropping systems and thereby increase the income of small scale farmers from rice cultivation

Sustainable agriculture through perennial grains: wheat, rice, maize, and other species. A review

Grain crops are an important part of the human diet, accounting for a third of the consumed calories. Throughout human history, annual grain crops with high yields have been obtained through domestication. However, the “annual” characteristic brings associated a series of economic and environmental disadvantages, such as soil erosion or low soil resources use, that can be solved if the agriculture of annual varieties evolves towards perenniality. For this reason, there are numerous research groups dedicated to study and obtain perennial varieties of the most cultivated grain crops. In this review article, we have summarized the most important advances related to the subject, focusing on the domestication and hybridization of the most productive grains globally: wheat, rice, maize, rye and sorghum. We highlight their benefits for sustainable agriculture worldwide due to perennial grains may contribute to reducing erosion, acting avoiding carbon losses, reducing nutrient losses to waters or capturing nutrients deeper in soil when they are scarce, reducing farm costs and thus, increasing the effectiveness of agricultural grain crops. Despite perennial grain crops having disadvantages, they possess outstanding characteristics which make them resilient crops to deal with the imminent climate change. However, maintaining the perenniality trait without reducing genetic biodiversity is a great challenge of current scientific importance that must be deeply considered.Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. FJC2019-039176-IXunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481D-2021/01

Rice Improvement

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and consumed. Climate change continues to impose abiotic and biotic stresses that curtail rice quality and yields. Researchers have been challenged to provide innovative solutions to maintain, or even increase, rice production. Amongst them, the ‘green super rice’ breeding strategy has been successful for leading the development and release of multiple abiotic and biotic stress tolerant rice varieties. Recent advances in plant molecular biology and biotechnologies have led to the identification of stress responsive genes and signaling pathways, which open up new paradigms to augment rice productivity. Accordingly, transcription factors, protein kinases and enzymes for generating protective metabolites and proteins all contribute to an intricate network of events that guard and maintain cellular integrity. In addition, various quantitative trait loci associated with elevated stress tolerance have been cloned, resulting in the detection of novel genes for biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Mechanistic understanding of the genetic basis of traits, such as N and P use, is allowing rice researchers to engineer nutrient-efficient rice varieties, which would result in higher yields with lower inputs. Likewise, the research in micronutrients biosynthesis opens doors to genetic engineering of metabolic pathways to enhance micronutrients production. With third generation sequencing techniques on the horizon, exciting progress can be expected to vastly improve molecular markers for gene-trait associations forecast with increasing accuracy. This book emphasizes on the areas of rice science that attempt to overcome the foremost limitations in rice production. Our intention is to highlight research advances in the fields of physiology, molecular breeding and genetics, with a special focus on increasing productivity, improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and nutritional quality of rice. ; Up-to-date contributions by experts from international research centers and universities Provides practical knowledge and strong scientific foundation on rice biotechnology All-in-one resource for current advances in rice breeding Open Acces

Interspecific Hybridization in Plant Biology

Many crop gene pools are derived from a small number of founders. As a consequence of long histories of strong directional selection, crop gene pools have narrow genetic diversity available to provide inherent solutions to changing needs or challenges. Notoriously, plants can mate across taxonomically-determined species boundaries, and interspecific hybridization is widely used in plant genetics research. Interspecific hybridizations have conferred practical improvements to crops, some of which are unexpected based on the phenotypes of the parents. Genomics has provided insights into the fundamental consequences of interspecific hybridization for plant biology. Additionally, genomics has allowed the development of molecular tools for dissecting the genetic control of phenotypic variation in interspecific hybrid populations and manipulating interspecific introgressions in crop improvement. This Research Topic aims to publish peer-reviewed research to interspecific hybridization and its consequences, both fundamental and applied. While such work is prominent in plants, consideration will also be given to salient work in other taxa. A key threshold for publication will be the extent to which findings are of cross-cutting interest and importance, i.e. not only to those working on the target taxon but to a wide range of biological scientists.Peer reviewe

Rice Improvement

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and consumed. Climate change continues to impose abiotic and biotic stresses that curtail rice quality and yields. Researchers have been challenged to provide innovative solutions to maintain, or even increase, rice production. Amongst them, the ‘green super rice’ breeding strategy has been successful for leading the development and release of multiple abiotic and biotic stress tolerant rice varieties. Recent advances in plant molecular biology and biotechnologies have led to the identification of stress responsive genes and signaling pathways, which open up new paradigms to augment rice productivity. Accordingly, transcription factors, protein kinases and enzymes for generating protective metabolites and proteins all contribute to an intricate network of events that guard and maintain cellular integrity. In addition, various quantitative trait loci associated with elevated stress tolerance have been cloned, resulting in the detection of novel genes for biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Mechanistic understanding of the genetic basis of traits, such as N and P use, is allowing rice researchers to engineer nutrient-efficient rice varieties, which would result in higher yields with lower inputs. Likewise, the research in micronutrients biosynthesis opens doors to genetic engineering of metabolic pathways to enhance micronutrients production. With third generation sequencing techniques on the horizon, exciting progress can be expected to vastly improve molecular markers for gene-trait associations forecast with increasing accuracy. This book emphasizes on the areas of rice science that attempt to overcome the foremost limitations in rice production. Our intention is to highlight research advances in the fields of physiology, molecular breeding and genetics, with a special focus on increasing productivity, improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and nutritional quality of rice. ; Up-to-date contributions by experts from international research centers and universities Provides practical knowledge and strong scientific foundation on rice biotechnology All-in-one resource for current advances in rice breeding Open Acces