Report of the CGIAR Committee on the IBPGR

Report of the committee appointed by CGIAR Chairman S. Shahid Husain to consider actions to be taken following the external review of IBPGR. The Committee addressed the functions and mandate of the IBPGR, the responsibilities of the CGIAR for plant genetic resources, the research program of the IBPGR, the structure of the IBPGR including the role of the board itself, and the relationship of IBPGR to the FAO. On the assumption that the FAO would not be able to accommodate the IBPGR in the recommended form, it also considered the location, international status, and funding of an independent IBPGR. It also addressed the steps to be taken should the CGIAR approve its recommendations.Agenda document, TAC 38th Meeting, October 1985, and CGIAR meeting October-November 1985

Descriptors of Pigeonpea

The pigeonpea descriptor list was finalized at an International Workshop on Pigeonpeas, held 15-19 December 1980 at ICRISAT Patancheru, Hyderabad, India. A list of particpants is given in the Appendix. A draft list for discussion had been prepared by the IBPGR Secretariat and the Genetic Resources Unit, ICRISAT, based on the work of L.J.G. van der Maesen, N Murthi Anishetty and P. Ramanandan Yield and height data should be expressed relative to nearby check cultivars heterogeneity of soils into account. Because of the out crossing nature of pigeon pea the characteristics of an accession may change over the years if it is not properly maintained. IBPGR and ICRISAT endorse this list and recommend it for document and exchange purposes. The suggested coding, although representing a consensus of experts, should be regarded as the only definitive scheme. Any suggestions for modifications will be welcome

Effects of N fertilization on yield for low-input production in Spanish what landraces ( Triticum tugidum L. and Triticum monococcum L.)

A core subset of Spanish durum wheat landraces was evaluated at two nitrogen levels (80 and 220 kg/ha) to identify landrace genotypes adapted to low N production. Yield differences were statistically significant between N levels and among genotypes at both levels. Fiftyone per cent of the landraces yielded significantly more at low than at high N (low-N varieties) while 26% had a positive (high-N varieties) and 23% an indifferent (indifferent-N varieties) response to N fertilizer. No significant agromorphological differences were found among low and high-N varieties at low N level that conferred some advantage to low-N varieties. In contrast, high-N varieties possessed longer grain-filling period under high N level. Phenological characters showed an important influence on yield and on the performance of the varieties within each subgroup. The traits affecting grain yield most positively, mainly the low-N varieties, were long filling period and earliness. Five entries were selected for prebreeding to low N adaptation

Pearl millet populations characterized by Fusarium prevalence, morphological traits, phenolic content, and antioxidant potential

Background: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) has become increasingly attractive due to its health benefits. It is grown as food for human consumption and fodder for livestock in Africa and Asia. This study focused on five pearl millet populations from different agro-ecological zones from Tunisia, and on characterization by morphological traits, total phenolic and flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, and occurrence of Fusarium. Results: Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences between populations for the quantitative traits. The highest grain weights occurred in the pearlmillet cultivated in Zaafrana and Gergis of Tunisia. Early flowering and earlymaturing populations cultivated in the center (Zaafrana, Rejiche) and south (Gergis) of Tunisia tended to have a higher grain yield. The Zaafrana population showed the highest value of green fodder potentiel (number andweight of leaves/cultivar and theweight of tillers and total plant/cultivar) followed by Gergis and Rejiche. The Kelibia population showed the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content. Rejiche exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity. Trans-cinnamic, protocatechuic, and hydroxybenzoic acids were the major phenolic compounds in all the extracts. Three Fusarium species were identified in Tunisian pearl millet populations based on morphologic and molecular characterization. Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum occurred most frequently. The average incidence of the three Fusarium species was relatively low (<5%) in all populations. The lowest infection rate (0.1%) was recorded in the samples from Zaafrana. Conclusion: Chemometric analysis confirmed the usefulness of the above traits for discrimination of pearl millet populations, where a considerable variation according to geographical origin and bioclimatic conditions was observed. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industr

Phenotyping of Eggplant Wild Relatives and Interspecific Hybrids with Conventional and Phenomics Descriptors Provides Insight for Their Potential Utilization in Breeding

[EN] Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is related to a large number of wild species that are a source of variation for breeding programmes, in particular for traits related to adaptation to climate change. However, wild species remain largely unexploited for eggplant breeding. Detailed phenotypic characterization of wild species and their hybrids with eggplant may allow identifying promising wild species and information on the genetic control and heterosis of relevant traits. We characterizated six eggplant accessions, 21 accessions of 12 wild species (the only primary genepool species S. insanum and 11 secondary genepool species) and 45 interspecific hybrids of eggplant ith wild species (18 with S. insanum and 27 with secondary genepool species) using 27 conventional morphological descriptors and 20 fruit morphometric descriptors obtained with the phenomics tool Tomato Analyzer. Significant differences were observed among cultivated, wild and interspecific hybrid groups for 18 conventional and 18 Tomato Analyzer descriptors, with hybrids generally having intermediate values. Wild species were generally more variable than cultivated accessions and interspecific hybrids displayed intermediate ranges of variation and coefficient of variation (CV) values, except for fruit shape traits in which the latter were the most variable. The multivariate principal components analysis (PCA) reveals a clear separation of wild species and cultivated accessions. Interspecific hybrids with S. insanum plotted closer to cultivated eggplant, while hybrids with secondary genepool species generally clustered together with wild species. Many differences were observed among wild species for traits of agronomic interest, which allowed identifying species of greatest potential interest for eggplant breeding. Heterosis values were positive for most vigor-related traits, while for fruit size values were close to zero for hybrids with S. incanum and highly negative for hybrids with secondary genepool species. Our results allowed the identification of potentially interesting wild species and interspecific hybrids for introgression breeding in eggplant. This is an important step for broadening the genetic base of eggplant and for breeding for adaptation to climate change in this crop.The present work was financially supported by CONICET Argentina, UNLP, and ANPCyT (Project PICT 2011-1213)Kaushik, P.; Prohens Tomás, J.; Vilanova Navarro, S.; Gramazio, P.; Plazas Ávila, MDLO. (2016). Phenotyping of Eggplant Wild Relatives and Interspecific Hybrids with Conventional and Phenomics Descriptors Provides Insight for Their Potential Utilization in Breeding. Frontiers in Plant Science. 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00677S

Exploiting genomic resources for efficient conservation and utilization of chickpea, groundnut, and pigeonpea collections for crop improvement

Both chickpea and pigeonpea are important dietary source of protein, while groundnut is one of the major oil crops. Globally, ~1.1 million grain legume accessions are conserved in genebanks, of which, ICRISAT genebank holds ~50,000 accessions of cultivated species and wild relatives of chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut from 133 countries. These genetic resources are reservoirs of many useful genes for the present and future crop improvement programs. Representative subsets in the form of core and mini core collections have been used to identify trait-specific genetically diverse germplasm for use in breeding and genomic studies in these crops. Chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea have moved from ‘orphan’ to ‘genomic resources rich crops’. The chickpea and pigeonpea genomes have been decoded, and the sequences of groundnut genome will soon be available. With the availability of these genomic resources, the germplasm curators, breeders and molecular biologists will have abundant opportunities to enhance the efficiency of genebank operations, mine allelic variations in germplasm collection, identify genetically diverse germplasm with beneficial traits, broaden the cultigen’s genepool, and accelerate the cultivar development to address new challenges to production, particularly with respect to climate change and variability. Marker-assisted breeding approaches have already been initiated for some traits in chickpea and groundnut, which should lead to enhanced efficiency and efficacy of crop improvement. Resistance to some pests and diseases has been successfully transferred from wild relatives to cultivated species