Kansas State University Pearl Millet Breeding Program Desalegn D. Serba Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center - Hays ddserba@ksu.edu
Mission K-State agriculture research is geared towards the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge, applications and products. The research is supported by public and private resources, are conducted in an atmosphere of open inquiry and academic freedom. Pearl millet breeding program is working on the development of grain and forage type cultivars for Western Kansas dryland and similar areas.
Breeding goal Development of inbred parental lines and hybrid cultivars that are improved for stress tolerance, yield, and nutritional quality Normal midrib millet Brown midrib (BMR) millet
Current Research Activities
Germplasm enhancement
Development and evaluation of experimental hybrids
Development of 2 nd generation mapping populations for genome study Female Male KPM001A KPM001R KPM008A KPM009R KPM019A KPM012R KPM025A KPM016R NM-5A KPM021R DSA 105A KPM022R Tift 85DA1 NM-6 R1 Tift 99A1 Tift 01-02 81A1 Tift 07-6 834A1 Tift 383 Tift 454 Tift 93-AST TRM S1 Bulk MAGIC-Multi-parent advanced generation 90-225 intercrossed population 99c 77123 A4R4 NAM-nested association mapping population
Study of molecular diversity of breeding population and germplasm accessions Region Country Seed source (number of lines) East Africa Somalia PGRC (3) (EA) Kenya GRIN (1) Sudan PGRC (6) India India GRIN (16) UGA (26) Middle East (ME) Yemen PGRC(10) Southern Africa (SA) USA West Africa (WA) DR Congo Malawi Zambia Zimbabwe Kansas Georgia Nebraska Algeria Burkina Faso Chad Gambia Mali Niger Nigeria GRIN(14) GRIN (5) PGRC (12) PGRC (1) GRIN (1), PGRC (2) ARCH (55) Tifton (27) UNL (7) PGRC (9) PGRC (22), GRIN (1) PGRC (5) PGRC (2) GRIN (3) PGRC (50) PGRC (11) Genetic category Germplasm accession Inbred lines Inbred lines Inbred lines Inbred lines Inbred lines
The root system for drought tolerance
Root growth rate 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Root length 16.5 15.5 15 15.5 14.25 13.5 14 12.5 11 wk1 wk2 wk3 Tift93-AST KPM021R PI 279671
Achievements/Outputs
Genomic diversity of breeding population Conducted GBS on 400 parental lines and germplasm accessions Detected 82,112 SNPs for 398 genotypes Serba et al., unpublished
Neighbor-joining dendrogram Serba et al., unpublished
Population structure Serba et al., unpublished
Population structure Serba et al., unpublished
Forage yield and quality Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on dry forage yield (kg ha -1 ) and crude protein content (cp, % DM) of forage (TifLeaf-3) 7500 7400 7300 7200 7100 b a bc ab bc a ab ab ab 17 16 15 14 7000 6900 c 13 6800 N0 N30 N60 N90 N120 12 Yield cp
Performance of semi-dwarf hybrids and parental lines developed elsewhere in WA Preliminary evaluation nursery 1. Bambey, Senegal 2. Bengou, Niger Bambey, Senegal, October 2016
Days to 50% flowering Location Days range 30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71 Bengou 0 0 29 25 28 6 Bambey 2 12 42 16 5 0
Downy mildew score Location 0-10 scale 0-3 4-6 7-10 Bengou 32 33 33
Grain yield Location 250 Grain yield range (kg ha -1 ) 251-500 501-750 750-1000 1001-1500 1501 Bengou 60 16 11 0 1 0 Bambey 22 12 10 12 10 7
Overall Observation Positive observation Early maturing OPV-hybrids involving male parents from WA are better than the regular hybrids Staygreen and improved fodder quality Negative observation Inbred parental lines developed in USA are susceptible to downy mildew Semi-dwarf and less biomass for fodder or other uses of stalk
Future goals Securing federal and other source of funding - cultivar development and understanding about the genome Strengthen collaboration with WA programs, ICRISAT (ISC), etc Study marker-trait association through NGS and precision phenotyping for genomic assisted breeding Making sure pearl millet- not just a birdfeed in USA
Constraints/Needs to move forward Funding - high competition for federal grants Facility -farm equipment, lab, Collaborators -physical distance from potential ones
Acknowledgements USDA-GRIN PGR-Canada
Thank you