Plant Breeding MRA. Randall Nelson and Brian Diers. Web:

Transcription

1 Plant Breeding MRA Randall Nelson and Brian Diers Web:

2 Breeding and Genetic Improvement u Goal is to enable breeders in Africa to develop high yielding, nutritious, and climate change resilient varieties u Implemented through existing soybean breeding programs in Africa u Want the program to continue after the project is completed

3 Soybean Yields are Low in Africa u African soybean yields are similar to the USA in the 1930s. Yield kg/ha USA Average Africa Year

4 Soybean Yields are Low in Africa u Yield increases are needed in Africa for soybean to be profitable and to produce the grain needed to feed its growing and malnourished population u In the USA, 2/3 of the soybean yield increases are estimated to be from genetic improvement u Both improved varieties and agronomic practices are needed

5 Participants u USA (60+ years of soybean breeding experience, 2 years of development work) u Randy Nelson USDA-ARS and University of Illinois u Brian Diers University of Illinois u Africa (little experience in breeding soybean) u Hesham Agrama IITA breeder Malawi and Zambia u Nicholas Denwar SARI breeder, Ghana u Abush Tesfaye Jimma Agricultural Research Center

6 u SIL providing: Soybean Breeding Programs u Basic equipment for breeding u Threshers, planters, vehicles, crossing forceps u Germplasm u Technical expertise u Visit each program at least annually u Evaluate progress and provide advice on breeding methods. u Coordinating with the Syngenta Foundation in developing yield tests.

7 New Equipment

8 Status of Programs and u IITA has an established program that serves Africa Challenges u IITA provides experimental lines to national programs including Ghana and Ethiopia u Ghana and Ethiopia are new programs u Will take years for the programs to produce their own varieties u There are private breeding programs in South Africa and Zimbabwe

9 Status of Programs and Challenges u Breeding programs are small and need to increase the size of the efforts u There is sufficient staff u Some infrastructure at research stations is needed u Limited by the number of plots that can be planted and threshed by hand threshed u Some stations have high technical staff turnover u Limited by what is viewed as possible

10 Status of Programs and Challenges u Will initiate marker-assisted selection for simple traits through IITA lab in Nigeria u Rust and other disease resistance, maturity u Need the basics working first u Can not use marker-assisted selection until we have associations between markers and phenotypes

11 u North American varieties most likely used as parents. u South American varieties may be used directly u Need varieties with promiscuous nodulation and to investigate Rhizobium persistence after inoculation. Status of Programs and Challenges

12 Maturity Group a Poor Predictor of Date of Flowering and Maturity u Date of flowering and maturity of plant introductions in a Malawi off season nursery Days to Flowering Days to Maturity Maturity Group Maturity Group

13 Mean data by US maturity group of U.S. and Brazilian cultivars grown in Jimma, Ethiopia MG Height Maturity n III IV V VI VII VIII

14 Data on U.S. and Brazilian cultivars grown in Jimma, Ethiopia Entry Mat Hgt Clark 63 K Afgat Saline (III) Maverick (III) Benning (VII) Nova Bragg (VIII) 31 51

15 Data on U.S. and Brazilian cultivars grown in Jimma, Ethiopia Entry Mat Hgt Desha (VI) T (V) 29 66

16 LD (III) in Jimma, Ethiopia

17 No inoculation Rhizobium inoculation

18 Soybean plant in farmer s field in Jimma, Ethiopia

19 Expected Outcomes u After five years, we want to see productive, modern breeding programs in Ghana, Malawi/Zambia, and Ethiopia. u Progress will be measured by: u Increases in number of experimental lines tested and plots grown. u Improvements in the yield potential of released soybean cultivars.

20 Questions?