ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

Project 4
Producing more and better food from staple cereals (sorghum and millets) and legumes
(groundnuts, chickpea and pigeon pea) at lower cost in eastern and southern African (ESA)
SAT through genetic improvement
Output 4A: Sustainable regional breeding networks that integrate conventional and biotechnology tools
established; and improved germplasm and parental lines of adaptable sorghum, pearl millet, pigeon pea,
chickpea and groundnut that are resistant to biotic stresses and meet end user preferences developed and
disseminated with associated capacity development annually in ESA
MTP Output Target 2006: At least 10 new groundnut lines with increased rosette virus resistance made available to
partners
Output Targets A1: Task networks established to pursue regionalized breeding in response to determined
sorghum and millet regional challenges [2011]
Activity A1.1 Enhance capacity on the use of GIS and establish recommendation domains for technology
targeting by task networks for sorghum and millet improvement for food security and market needs
Milestone A1.1.1: At least 10 NARS collaborators trained on GIS and other data/information management tools by
2007
Capacity building on tools, methods and strategies to improve crop breeding efficiency: Resources available
for agricultural research have fallen sharply in many NARS and in International Agricultural Research Centers. The
Sub Regional Organizations, such as ASARECA, are pursuing a regionalized approach to technology development,
dissemination, scaling out and information sharing with a major goal of attaining efficiency and cost effectiveness.
In order to develop improved sorghum and millet cultivars, the strategy is to establish breeding networks that will
address regional crop improvement challenges that cut across the region. This requires a good understanding of the
relevant plant adaptations for sorghums and millets in ECA, tools and methods that will help in methodical
delineation of recommendation and scaling out domains. The concept of agro-ecological characterization and
mapping the crop adaptation areas in the region of interest is a priority that can also support integration of crop
improvement and natural resource management issues (IGNRM). ECARSAM and ICRISAT organized a training
course for its collaborators on GIS and data and information management. The training course was conducted in
Nairobi, Kenya and attended by a total of 22 participants (14 men and 8 women) including breeders, GIS and data
management specialists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi. The main
achievements included:
1. Articulation with scientists the benefits to be derived from pursuing a regionalized crop improvement program
citing experiences from southern Africa,
2. Exposure of scientists to GIS, and other tools and methods useful in developing strategy for sustainable crop
improvement programs,
3. Identification of main production systems for sorghum and millets in ECA in view of biophysical-climatic
conditions as well as socio-economic factors such as end use quality requirements in terms of food and market
needs, industry needs e.g. food, feed, fodder to determine crop improvement needs, and
4. Clear identification of the environmental factors to which specific adaptation is expressed e.g. highland
sorghum, photoperiodic sensitivity and determine studies to inform the crop improvement programs.
This was followed up by a training and refresher course to 10 scientists on biometry and statistical methods, how to
organize, manage and analyze biodiversity and molecular data. Emphasis was placed on using Genstat 9.0 and other
software’s such as Numerical Taxonomic multivariate Analysis System (NTSYS), Arlequin, R.2.2 and Popgene.
This training was considered very useful and plans are underway to expand it and include a broader range of
scientists in ESA.
MA Mgonja, B Mitaru and E Manyasa
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