Participatory varietal selection in high-potential production systems

This paper reviews some of the participatory research in high-potential production systems on participatory varietal selection in high-potential production systems. This collaborative research is conducted by the Centre for Arid Zone Studies, UK; Local Initiatives in Biodiversity Research and Development (U-BIRD), Nepal; the Gramin Vikas Trust, India; and the Punjab Agricultural University, India. The justification for participatory rescarch on varietal selection in marginal areas is reviewed .and then compared to the needs of high-potential production systems (HPPSs). Some of the more significant findings on participatory varietal selection (PVS) in HPPSs are summarized and the roles of decentralization and participation in the research are reviewed. Participatory methods can increase the efficiency of formal breeding programs and in HPPSs they have a great potential for contributing lo higher and mor

Proceedings of the International Conference on Genetic Improvement of Sorghum and Pearl Millet

In 1971, an international symposium, Sorghum in the Seventies , organized by the All India Coordinated Sorghum Improvement Project with support from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Rockefeller Foundation was held in Hyderabad, India. The symposium reviewed the current knowledge base of the scientific, production and nutritional aspects of sorghum as a crop and as a human food. In 1981, ICRISAT, INTSORMIL, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sponsored Sorghum in the Eighties , an international symposium at ICRISAT Center in India, to review the achievements accomplished in sorghum research during the preceding 10 years. They reviewed sorghum\u27s role as an important cereal food, feed, construction material, and fuel in the developed and developing countries. In 1994, after discussion among INTSORMIL and ICRISAT scientists, it was recognized that an international meeting on the genetic improvement of grain sorghum and pearl millet was needed and would be strongly supported by the international sorghum and millet research community. Those discussions led to the September 1996 International Conference on Genetic Improvement of Sorghum and Pearl Millet. Grain sorghum and pearl millet are major food grains in the semiarid tropics of Africa, India, and South America. Sorghum ranks fifth among the world\u27s cereals, following wheat, maize, rice, and barley. F AO includes all millets together in its production estimates. Current estimates indicate that annual world sorghum production is approximately 61 million metric tons and world millet production is approximately 20 million metric tons. The inaugural speaker of this 1996 conference, Dr. Leland House, indicated global population is projected to increase to nine billion people by the year 2030 and is projected to increase most rapidly in the developing world. This will create a growing demand for food, as well as potential new market opportunities for food products developed from these basic grains

Participatory varietal selection, food security, and varietal diversity in a high-potential production system in Nepal

A survey of nearly 1500 households in the high-potential production system (HPPSs) of the Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts of Nepal showed gre.t physical and socioeconomic diversity. Varietal diversity was low in all the crops studied and varied according to location in main-season rice. Masuli was the predominant main-season rice variety, occupying over 65% of the area in Ihe surveyed villages. Seventeen modem varieties of main-season nce were introduced to farmers lo test in collaborative trials. Farmers identified 10 of the new rice varieties as having useful traits, and seven were adopted to a significant extent within three seasons. The new varieties occupied about 13% of over 800 ha of main-season rice in eight study villages and increased on-farm varietal diversity by partly replacing predominant varieties. The accepted varieties offered, on average, an 18% yield advantage without any requirement lo change agronomy or increase inputs. Other advantages of Ihe new varieties were their early maturity, drought tolerance, disease and insect tolerance, and better adaptation to different ecological niches such as areas Of shallow water. Despite the commonly assumed uniformity of high-potential production systems, the new varieties occupied specific niches in the farming system from irrigated land with varying duration of retained standing water, and from partially irrigated to rainfed lowland conditions. Farmers preferred specific varieties for different niches, which should help lo increase and maintain biodiversity on the farm. Overall production is expected to increase as each niche becomes occupied increasingly by Ihe best-adapted variety. Participatory approaches are simple, powerful method. for identifying superior varieties and deploying them in specific niches for increasing food production in high-potential production systems

Participatory crop improvement in maize in Gujarat, India

This paper describes a participatory plant-breeding (PPB) program for maize in a rural development project financed by the United Kingdom's Department of International Development (DFID) and the Government of India and executed by the Krishak Bharati Cooperative (KRIBHCO). The program was targeted at low-resource farmers of the Panchmahals district of Gujarat. Farmers were given a range of maize varieties to try in a participatory varietal-selection program. However, none of these proved to be overwhelmingly popular with farmers, although maize variety Shweta from Uttar Pradesh was adopted by some farmers for more fertile fields. Hence, in 1993 a breeding program was begun by crossing yellow- and white-endospermed maize varieties, all of which had some acceptance or positive attributes identified in participatory trials. The breeding program targeted trails identified by farmers, and in some generations, selections were carried out by farmers in the populations grown on land rented by the project. Soil-fertility management was lower than that normally used on research-station land. The breeding program has produced several successful varieties. One of them, GDRM 187, has qualified for release and yielded 18% more than the local check in research station trials, while being seven days earlier to silk. In farmers' fields, where average yields were lower, the yield advantage was 28%. Farmers perceived GDRM 187 to have better grain quality than local landraces

The impact of participatory plant breeding (PPB) on landrace diversity: A case study for high-altitude rice in Nepal

Participatory plant-breeding (PPB) methods were used to develop two acceptable, cold-tolerant rice varieties in Nepal: Maehhapuchhre-3 (M-3) and Machhapuchhre-9 (M-9). Both were derived from the cross Fuji 102 Chhomrong Dhan. Following the introduction of these varieties from 1993 to 1998,the changes in the rice landraces and varieties that fanners grew were studied in 10 villages. In seven of the villages, for which data were analyzed for both 1996 and 1999, fanners grew 19 landraces and four modem varieties, of which three (M-3, M-9, and Lumle 2) were the products of PPB. These three varieties covered 11 % of the total surveyed area in 1999. The introduction of the PPB varieties had the greatest impact on the more commonly grown landraces. During the years studied, because the new varieties had exotic germplasm in their parentage, there was an overall increase in varietal diversity. However, in the future, ¡increasing adaption of M-3 and M-9 could result in significant reductions in varietal diversity

Towards a practical participatory plant-breeding strategy in predominantly self-pollinated crops

There is a limit to the capacity of any breeding program, and the more crosses that are made, the, smaller The size of each cross. The theory of the optimum number of crosses in inbreeding crops is bristly Reviewed. The theory is unsatisfactory in determining the optimum number of crosses, but models that Take linkage into account show that very large populations are needed to recover specified genotypes. Hence, one possible strategy is to select a small number of crosses that are considered favorable and Produce large populations from them. This strategy is ideality suited lo Ihe particular constrains and advantages of participatory plant breeding (PPB). When a breeding program is based on few crosses. The Choice of parents is crucial; and farmer participatory methods are highly effective in narrowing the choice, Modified bulk-population breeding methods are desirable strategies in the participatory plant breeding of self-pollinating crops when combined with low-cross-number. Approach, and a participatory breeding program for rice in Nepal is described