New crop and fodder genotypes for sustainable intensification in semi-arid agro-ecologies of Tanzania

United States Agency for International Developmen

Gliricidia-based doubled up legume for improving crops production and agroecosystem resilience in Kongwa and Kiteto districts

United States Agency for International Developmen

Pigeonpea perspective in India

Pigeonpea occupies a prominent place in Indian rainfed agriculture. It is an integral component of in various agro ecologies of the country mainly inter cropped with cereals, pulses and oilseeds and millets. It is the second most important pulse crop next to chickpea, covering an area of around 4.42 m ha (occupying about 14.5% of area under pulses) and production of 2.86 MT (contributing to 16% of total pulse production) and productivity of about 707 kg/ha. It is mainly consumed as dry split dhal throughout the country besides several other uses of various parts of pigeonpea plant. Enhancing the productivity of the crop assumes specific significance in India mainly to combat protein malnutrition as it is the main source of protein to the predominant vegetarian population. Based on the crop duration and climatic condition the crop is grouped under four agro ecological zones with varied plant type requirements and location specific constraints for each zone. Systematic crop improvement efforts were launched at ICRSIAT since its inception in 1972. It focused during first decade (1972 to 1980) on collection, evaluation, maintenance and sharing of germplasm and yield enhancement research. During 1980 to 2000 ICRISAT research priorities were development of stable sources of resistance for wilt and Sterility Mosaic Diseases which are highly devastating and endemic in India in almost all the agro ecologies of pigeonpea cultivation. From 2000, concerted efforts are in progress on CGMS based hybrid development. Spectacular achievement by ICRISAT in recent past in the crop is deciphering its genome sequence and it has ushered pigeonpea in to genomic era. Subsequently lot of genomic information is in the process of development through molecular approaches like Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Nested Association Mapping (NAM). Multiparent Advance Generation Inter Crosses (MAGIC) and Introgression Libraries (IL) etc. These approaches are under process of utilization for crop improvement

Africa RISING genetic intensification in Central Tanzania and Zambia

United States Agency for International Developmen

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The Seed Constraint: New approaches for smallholder agriculture in eastern and southern Africa

Pilot interventions through the Tropical Legumes II (TL-II) Project have shown promise in making new varieties available to farmers who depend on the farmer seed system. These initiatives which includes community seed schemes, seed recovery and seed bank schemes, seed fairs, contracting schemes, small seed packs, etc being promoted under TL-II, are further developed, and linked to participatory research, where farmers are directly involved in variety selection and testing. R&D agencies linked through TL-II implementation are designing and testing demand-driven seed supply strategies, which provide the necessary incentives for farmers to buy seed from the marketplace. The alternative approaches described above are based on two propositions; that different approaches are required for different crops and that we must lay greater emphasis on stimulating seed demand rather than focusing exclusively on seed supply. This report describes the legume seed dissemination strategies used for chickpea in Ethiopia, and groundnut and pigeonpea in Malawi and Tanzania and other TL-II focus countries. Preliminary research results from TL-II baseline studies in all three countries found that there was very limited awareness about improved legume varieties, and that neither public- nor private-sector interventions to produce and market legume seeds had a successful track record in these countries. To overcome these constraints investments have been made in breeder and foundation seed production, and proceeds from seed sales used to re-capitalize seed revolving funds that are then used to support subsequent seed production cycles

Pigeonpea breeding in eastern and southern Africa: challenges and opportunities

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millspaugh) is an important multipurpose grain legume crop primarily grown in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In Africa, the crop is grown for several purposes including food security, income generation, livestock feed and in agroforestry. Production in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is however faced with many challenges including limited use of high-yielding cultivars, diseases and pests, drought, under-investment in research and lack of scientific expertise. The aim of this review is to highlight the challenges facing pigeonpea breeding research in ESA and the existing opportunities for improving the overall pigeonpea subsector in the region. We discuss the potential of the recently available pigeonpea genomic resources for accelerated molecular breeding, the prospects for conventional breeding and commercial hybrid pigeonpea, and the relevant seed policies, among others, which are viewed as opportunities to enhance pigeonpea productivity

Advances in chickpea crop improvement for improved productivity and resilient cropping systems in Ethiopia

The paper discusses research and development efforts made and highlights future directions..

G6007.04/G6010.04: Improve chickpea productivity for marginal environments in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia- Phase II

Chickpea is the world’s second largest grown food legume and the developing countries account for over 95% of its production and consumption. Drought is globally the number one constraint to chickpea production, causing yield losses of around 3.7 million tons (out of a total production of 8.6 million tons). TL I Phase II aims at harnessing the resources developed during Phase I for chickpea crop improvement. Eight superior lines were selected based on phenotyping of reference collection and 37 and 44 crosses were made in sub-Saharan Africa and India respectively for developing pre-breeding populations. Further 28 two-way crosses, 14 four-way crosses and seven eight-way crosses were made and F1s have been shown for developing MAGIC populations (Activity 1). For designing the KASPar assay, 2486 genes containing high confidence SNPs were chosen and by using Marker Services of Integrated Breeding Platform, successful KASPar assays were developed for a total of 2005 genes. Towards development of genome-wide physical map, in collaboration with National Institute of Plant Genetic Research (NIPGR), New Delhi (S Bhatia and A K Tyagi) and UC-Davis, USA (MingCheng Luo), two new BAC libraries were constructed using HindIII and EcoRI restriction enzymes. To date, 15,744 clones were fingerprinted and 10,368 fingerprints were edited. Fingerprinting of remaining clones is in progress to develop genome wide physical map (Activity 2). For enhancing MABC activities, involving NARS partners as leaders under TL I Phase II, Ms Serah Songok, a PhD student from Egerton University in Kenya, is involved in introgression of QTL for root traits from ICC 4958 into ICCV 97105 and ICCV 95423. In this context, 3 cycles of MABC have been completed and 100 BC3F1 seeds were generated in each cross. DZARC in Debre Zeit has completed first backcrossing of Ejere × ICC 4958 and Arerti × ICC 4958 with the recurrent parents (Ejere and Arerti). In case of MARS, that was initiated in the Phase I of TL-I, F3:5 progenies from two crosses (JG 11 × ICCV 04112 and JG 130 × ICCV 05107) developed were evaluated at three locations (Debre Zeit in Ethiopia, Koibatek in Kenya and Patancheru in India) under rainfed and irrigated. QTL analysis is in progress for both the populations. A proposal was developed and submitted to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India for funding a TL-I complementary project on application of MABC and MARS research to enhance drought tolerance in chickpea in India. The project has been approved with a total budget of about US $ 850,000 over a period of 3 years (Activity 3). A workshop on modern breeding technologies for chickpea improvement was conducted in the Year 1 (October 25 – November 19, 2010) at the ardent request of breeders and collaborators. (http://www.icrisat.org/bt-publicdomain-mas2.htm). One PhD student, Ms Serah Songok, currently working at ICRISAT, has been registered at Egerton University. A second PhD student, Mr Musa Jarso, has registered at Addis Ababa University will commence work shortly on molecular breeding. Another PhD student, Ms Alice Koskie, registered at WACCI would work on MARS activities. Mr Kebede Teshome, PhD student, registered at Haramaya University is currently working at ICRISAT. An MSc student, Mr Abebe Sori, is registered at Haramaya University and Mr Moses Oyier, has been registered at Egerton, and has commenced work at both the university and at ICRISAT. Mr Getachew Tilahun, registered at Addis Ababa University will start to work on MABC for drought tolerance. Efforts to identify and enroll the balance of the targeted number of MSc students are ongoing (Activity 4). Compilation of the marker sequence data, marker genotyping data, mapping data and phenotypic data obtained in Tropical Legumes I Project Phase I is in progress. Data will be curated in appropriate databases by the end of April 2011. Till now 11 datasets were curated and data have become available in local database (Activity 5)