Sorghum - icrisat

derived parental lines/improved germplasm. These
have made substantial contributions to enhance
biodiversity, productivity, yield stability, and also
improved the livelihoods of poor farmers in the dry
areas (Gowda et al. 2003).
Spillover impacts
Several varieties developed at one location
exhibited their superior performance in another
location/country/region. Details of such spillovers
are described below:
Spillovers from Asia to Africa: A total of about 29
varieties, including germplasm accessions and
advanced progenies have spilled over from
ICRISAT-Patancheru into 17 African countries
(Figure 15). In order to illustrate the spillover of
sorghum technologies from ICRISAT-Patancheru to
the African region/countries, selected examples are
presented.
Variety S 35: It is an advanced generation breeding
progeny (M 91019) developed at ICRISAT-
Patancheru, which was introduced into ICRISAT-
Nigeria and from these reintroduced into
Cameroon and Chad where it was released as S
35 upon further testing. On the basis of its high
and stable performance, S 35 was released in 1986
for wider use in large-scale seed multiplication.
According to Kamuanga and Fobasso (1994), 20 t
of S 35 seed was produced at the time of its release
by the government’s Seed Multiplication Project
at Maroua.
Variety ICSV 111: It is a pure-line variety developed
between 1980 and 1984 at ICRISAT-Patancheru
through pedigree selection from a three-way cross.
The ICRISAT program in Nigeria introduced ICSV
Figure 15. Spillover impacts of important sorghum
research products.
111 in 1988 from ICRISAT-Patancheru, and it was
released in 1996. Farmers in Nigeria prefer this
variety because of its high yield, early maturity,
white grain, good food quality (good porridgemaking
quality) and juicy stalks (preferred by
animals). It is also resistant to Striga hermonthica,
an important parasitic weed in WCA.
S 35 – a food securing and land
saving sorghum variety
“When rains do not come on time or when
they stop too soon, our own varieties give
us nothing, so we sow this one”, says a
farmer Toralet of Niergui village (Guera in
Chad) displaying a few panicles of S 35.
“This is the sorghum that never fails”, he
adds. “I used to sow 2 ha of my own variety
of sorghum each year in order to feed my
family”, said another farmer Issaka from the
village of Niergui, Guera. “I now sow only
1 ha with S 35. I grow vegetables on half of
the other hectare”, he added. For Bouda, a
farmer from the village of Tchigali Il in
Mayo-Kebbi in Chad, the short duration trait
of S 35 variety is a real advantage, not just
because it helps escape terminal drought,
but also matures much earlier, thereby
reducing the hunger period before the next
harvest. “Ever since I first tried S 35 variety
in 1992, I sow half a hectare of it each year.
This way I can feed my family even as I wait
for the sorghum of our ancestors to mature”,
he said (Yapi et al. 1999).
Variety ICSV 112: This (Figure 16) was developed
at ICRISAT-Patancheru by pedigree selection from
a multiple cross. The variety was released in India
(as CSV 13 in 1987) and in several African
countries – Zimbabwe (as SV 1 in 1987), Kenya
(as CSV 13 in 1988), Swaziland (as MRS 12 in
1992), Malawi (as PIRIRA 2 in 1993), Mozambique
(as Chokwe) in 1993 through the efforts of
ICRISAT’s Africa programs and their partners. It was
also released in a few Latin American countries.
ICSV 112 is a medium-maturing (110–120 days),
18