Lebanon and Syria Inception Workshop on the CGIAR F2R-CWANA Initiative

Brochures for the events to celebrate the launch of the CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative F2R-CWANA in the key countries of Morocco (17th May), Uzbekistan (17th June), Egypt and Sudan (29th June) and Lebanon and Syria (4th July) with keys NARES and other partners and stakeholders. This record is for the event that was held in Lebanon and included a focus on Syria

Egypt and Sudan Inception Workshop on the CGIAR F2R-CWANA Initiative

Brochures for the events to celebrate the launch of the CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative F2R-CWANA in the key countries of Morocco (17th May), Uzbekistan (17th June), Egypt and Sudan (29th June) and Lebanon and Syria (4th July) with keys NARES and other partners and stakeholders. This record is for the event that was held in Egypt and included a focus on Sudan

BAYESIAN ESTIMATION OF STABILITY INDICES OF SORGHUM VARIETY TRIALS

Multiple–environmental trials are routinely conducted by crop improvement programs for developing desired genotypes. Over a long run, these programs gather information on genotypic performance and variability. Bayesian approach can be used to utilize prior information to identify genotypes for high and stable yield. A set of 18 sorghum genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block designs (RCBD) with four replications during three seasons, 2009-2012 at diverse locations, North-Gedarif and South-Gedarif, in Sudan. Data on grain yield was analyzed. The aim of this paper was to estimate stability indices such as regression coefficient, coefficient of variation (CV %) and coefficient of determination (R2) using a Bayesian approach. R2WinBUGS and R packages have been used. The results of these different stability indices agreements and suggesting that this approach produces reliable estimates of the stability of crop variety. In general, Bayesian compared to frequentist approach gave higher precision in terms of standard error of genotypes means, regression coefficient and coefficient of determination. Moreover, Bayesian has a broader inference-base to allow an integration of prior information about the current data and is recommended for use following the steps illustrated with the example datasets

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

Prebreeding Using Wild Species for Genetic Enhancement of Grain Legumes at ICRISAT

Like many other major crops, ICRISAT’s mandate grain legume crops have a narrow genetic base. The production and productivity of these crops is adversely affected by different biotic and abiotic stresses, and high levels of resistance or tolerance to these stresses are not available in the cultivated genepool. In contrast, wild species harbor many useful genes and have potential to thrive well under climatic extremities. However, utilization of these wild species for the genetic improvement of crop cultivars is hindered mainly due to ploidy level differences between cultivated and wild species, cross-incompatibility barriers, and linkage drag. Systematic prebreeding efforts involving wild species of Cicer, Cajanus, and Arachis as donors and popular well-adapted cultivars of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.], and groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) as recipient parents, respectively, have led to the development of new genepools having good agronomic performance and higher frequency of useful genes and alleles introgressed from wild species. Evaluation of a few populations for biotic stresses and yield-related traits resulted in the identification of desirable introgression lines (ILs) that have been shared with NARS for use in breeding programs. Overall, prebreeding ensures continuous supply of novel and diverse genetic variability derived from wild species in readily usable form into the breeding pipelines to develop new climate-resilient cultivars with a broad genetic base

Research achievements in plant resistance to insect pests of cool season food legumes

Plant resistance to at least 17 field and storage insect pests of cool season food legumes has been identified. For the most part, this resistance was located in the primary gene pools of grain legumes via conventional laboratory, greenhouse, and field screening methods. The use of analytical techniques (i.e., capillary gas chromatography) to characterize plant chemicals that mediate the host selection behavior of pest insects offers promise as a new, more rapid way to differentiate between insect-resistant and susceptible plant material. Examples of research achievements in mechanisms of resistance and host-plant resistance within the context of integrated control programs are discussed. Accelerating the development and subsequent releases of insect-resistant cultivars to pulse farmers requires more involvement from interdisciplinary teams of plant breeders, entomologists, plant pathologists, plant chemists, molecular biologists, and other scientist