International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
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Characterization of ICRISAT Bred Pearl Millet Restorer Parents (2006-2019)
Get PDFPearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L) R. Br.) is a major warm-season “nutricereal” grown on ~34 million
ha across the world with majority of area (>95%) in the arid and semi-arid tropical (SAT) regions of Asia
(~11 million ha) and Africa (~22 million ha) (FAO, 2020). India being the largest producer with an average
production of 8.61 million tonnes and productivity of 1243 kg ha-1 occupies an area of 6.93 million ha
(Directorate of Millets Development, 2020). It is a highly cross-pollinated crop with an outcrossing rate
of more than 85%. The protogynous flowering and wind-borne pollination favors cross-pollination,
making open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) as the natural cultivar state of this crop. OPVs, however, are not
amenable to achieving as much heterozygosity and the consequent heterosis as it is possible in singlecross
hybrids. Furthermore, OPVs are highly heterogeneous and hence morphologically more variable than
single-cross hybrids. It has been observed that single-cross hybrids generally give 20-30% more grain yield
than OPVs (Rai et al. 2006). Based on these considerations, and with the availability of a commercially
exploitable cytoplasmic-nuclear male sterility (CMS), the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in
India took the first significant step in the world to embark on grain hybrid development. With the rapid
growth of a vibrant seed industry, pearl millet research in India, both in the private and the public sector,
is now almost all directed towards hybrid breeding. In alignment with the regional priority in Asia region,
ICRISAT’s pearl millet improvement research at Patancheru playing a pivotal role in developing diverse
range of improved breeding lines and potential hybrid parents, leaving the development, testing and
release of hybrids to the NARS and the private sector....
Contributions of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) to various sustainable intensification impact domains in Tanzania
Get PDFCONTEXT: The implementation of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) varies widely among farmers, from no ISFM to multiple computations of ISFM components (i.e., improved germplasm, organic resources, fertilizers, and local adaptations e.g., soil and water conservation (SWC)). There is no comprehensive report on farmers' use of ISFM components and their impact on sustainable intensification domains of productivity, economic, social, human condition, and environment and the associated variations across farmer fields and agroecological zones (AEZs).
OBJECTIVE: This study 1) evaluated the current implementation status of ISFM by farmers in relation to the
various ISFM components and 2) provided multi-dimensional multi-scale evidence of ISFM implications that can guide ISFM investments within SSA contexts, with a specific focus on Tanzania.
METHODS: We used data collected from 1406 plots between 2013 and 2020 in semi-arid and sub-humid AEZs.
The data are from farmer practices. The plots were grouped by the various combinations of ISFM component
Genome‑wide association analysis to delineate high‑quality SNPs for seed micronutrient density in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
Get PDFChickpea is the most important nutrient-rich grain legume crop in the world. A diverse core set of 147 chickpea genotypes was genotyped with a Axiom(®)50K CicerSNP array and trait phenotyped in two different environments for four seed micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn). The trait data and
high-throughput 50K SNP genotypic data were used for the genome-wide association study (GWAS). The study led to the discovery of genes/QTLs for seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn, concentrations in chickpea. The analysis of seed micronutrient data revealed significant differences for all four micronutrient concentrations (P ≤ 0.05). The mean concentrations of seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn pooled over the 2
years were 45.9 ppm, 63.8 ppm 146.1 ppm, and 27.0 ppm, respectively. The analysis of results led to the identification of 35 SNPs significantly associated with seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations. Among these 35 marker-trait associations (MTAs), 5 were stable (consistently identified in different environments), 6 were major (explaining more than 15% of the phenotypic variation for an individual trait) and 3 were both major and stable MTAs. A set of 6 MTAs, MTAs (3 for Mn, 2 for Fe, and 1 for Cu)
reported by us during the present study have been also reported in the same/almost same genomic regions in earlier studies and therefore declared as validated MTAs. The stable, major and validated MTAs identified during the present study will prove useful in future chickpea molecular breeding programs aimed at enhancing the seed nutrient density of chickpea
Scalable diversification options delivers sustainable and nutritious food in Indo‑Gangetic plains
Get PDFIndo-Gangetic plains (IGP) of South Asia have supported bulk of human and bovine population in the region since ages, and a spectacular progress has been made in food production. However, malnutrition, diminishing total factor productivity, and natural resource degradation continue to plague this cereal-dominated region, which is also vulnerable to climate change. Addressing these challenges would require a transition towards diversifying cereal rotations with agroecological cropping systems. A study was, therefore, conducted at the experimental farm of ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal on crop diversification and sustainable intensification options using agro-ecological approaches such as Conservation Agriculture (CA) and diversified cropping systems to ensure food and nutritional security while sustaining the natural resources. On 2 years mean basis, CA-based cropping system management scenarios (mean of Sc2–Sc7) using diversified crop rotations; increased the system yield by 15.4%, net return by 28.7%, protein yield by 29.7%, while using 53.0% less irrigation water compared to conventional tillage (CT)-based rice–wheat system (Sc1). Maize-mustard-mungbean on permanent beds (PBs) (Sc4) recorded the highest productivity (+ 40.7%), profitability (+ 60.1%), and saved 81.8% irrigation water compared to Sc1 (11.8 Mg ha−1; 2190 USD ha−1; 2514 mm ha−1). Similarly, Sc5 (maize-wheat-mungbean on PBs) improved productivity (+ 32.2%), profitability (+ 57.4%) and saved irrigation water (75.5%) compared to Sc1. In terms of nutritional value, Sc5 was more balanced than other scenarios, and produced 43.8, 27.5 and 259.8% higher protein, carbohydrate and fat yields, respectively, compared to Sc1 (0.93, 8.55 and 0.14 Mg ha−1). Scenario 5 was able to meet the nutrient demand of 19, 23 and 32 additional persons ha−1 year−1 with respect to protein, carbohydrate and fat, respectively, compared to Sc1. The highest protein water productivity (~ 0.31 kg protein m−3 water) was recorded with CA-based soybean-wheat-mungbean (Sc6) system followed by maize-mustard-mungbean on PBs (Sc4) system (~ 0.29 kg protein m−3) and lowest under Sc1. Integration of short duration legume (mungbean) improved the system productivity by 17.2% and profitability by 32.1%, while triple gains in irrigation water productivity compared to CT-based systems. In western IGP, maize-wheat-mungbean on PBs was found most productive, profitable and nutritionally rich and efficient system compared to other systems. Therefore, diversification of water intensive cereal rotations with inclusion of legumes and CA-based management optimization can be potential option to ensure nutritious food for the dwelling communities and sustainability of natural resources in the region
The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
Get PDFMicronutrient deficiency is among the most significant public health problems in Ethiopia. In this setting, food fortification has been identified as a cost-effective and sustainable strategy to deliver essential micronutrients. Safety certification and nutrition education messages can be used to nudge people to choose fortified foods. However, there is little evidence as to the effectiveness of such interventions in this context. This paper aims to fill this gap. We focus on cooking oil, as it has been identified as an ideal candidate for vitamin A fortification in Ethiopia. To study consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for safety certification and vitamin A fortification, we implemented a stated choice experiment on 996 randomly selected urban
consumers to reveal preferences required to calculate WTP. To estimate the causal effect of messages on consumers’ WTP
for fortification, a nutrition message on the benefits of vitamin A was provided to 518 randomly selected participants. We found that consumers valued safety certification. This finding holds for certification issued by both government and private parties, with a higher value ascribed to the former. We also found that urban consumers were willing to pay a premium for vitamin A fortification. The nutrition message increased WTP for fortification, albeit only slightly. Finally, we found that the effect of safety certification on consumers’ WTP for fortified cooking oil was higher than its effect on WTP for non-fortified
oil, indicating that urban consumers value certification even more when fortification is involved
Development of High Yielding Fusarium Wilt Resistant Cultivar by Pyramiding of “Genes” Through Marker-Assisted Backcrossing in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
Get PDFPusa 391, a mega desi chickpea variety with medium maturity duration is extensively cultivated in the Central Zone of India. Of late, this variety has become susceptible to Fusarium wilt (FW), which has drastic impact on its yield. Presence of variability in the wilt causing pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri (foc) across geographical locations necessitates the role of pyramiding for FW resistance for different races (foc 1,2,3,4 and 5). Subsequently, the introgression lines developed in Pusa 391 genetic background were subjected to foreground selection using three SSR markers (GA16, TA 27 and TA 96) while 48 SSR markers uniformly distributed on all chromosomes, were used for background selection to observe the recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG). BC1F1 lines with 75–85% RPG recovery were used to generate BC2F1. The plants that showed more than 90% RPG recovery in BC2F1 were used for generating BC3F1. The plants that showed more than 96% RPG recovery were selected and selfed to generate BC3F3. Multi-location evaluation of advanced introgression lines (BC2F3) in six locations for grain yield (kg/ha), days to fifty percent flowering, days to maturity, 100 seed weight and disease incidence was done. In case of disease incidence, the genotype IL1 (BGM 20211) was highly resistant to FW in Junagarh, Indore, New Delhi, Badnapur and moderately resistant at Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM20211) was the most stable genotype at Junagadh, Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM 20211) and IL4(BGM 20212) were the top performers in yield and highly stable across six environments and were nominated for Advanced Varietal Trials (AVT) of AICRP (All India Coordinated Research Project on Chickpea) in 2018–19. BGM20211 and BGM 20212 recorded 29 and 28.5% average yield gain over the recurrent parent Pusa 391, in the AVT-1 and AVT-2 over five environments. Thus, BGM20211 was identified for release and notified as Pusa Manav/Pusa Chickpea 20211 for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Southern Rajasthan, Bundhelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh states by the Central Sub-Committees on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, for commercial cultivation in India (Gazette notification number S.O.500 (E) dt. 29-1-2021).Such pyramided lines give resilience to multiple races of fusarium wilt with added yield advantage
Designing chickpea for a hotter drier world
Get PDFChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important grain legumes in the world, but its current and future production is threatened due to the increased incidence of drought and heat stress. To address this challenge, an integrated crop improvement strategy encompassing breeding, genomics, physiology and agronomy is required. Here, we review the physiological traits known to confer drought and heat adaptation in chickpea and identify areas of drought and heat adaptation research that may be prioritised in the future. Furthermore, we underscore approaches to efficiently phenotype chickpea adaptation traits and highlight the significant challenges and importance of understanding the nexus between canopy and root development. Finally, we present the opportunity to adopt multi-trait genomic prediction approaches to efficiently utilise key physiological traits, that can be assayed using high-throughput phenotyping platforms, to accelerate genetic gain in drought and heat prone environments
Impact of different cooking methods on the chemical profile of high-oleic acid peanut seeds
No full textHigh oleic acid (OA) peanut seeds (PS) can be beneficial for human health. However, chemical variations in high-OA PS after domestic cooking are not fully understood. In order to investigate the impact of different cooking methods on the chemical profile of high-OA PS, widely established metabolomics approach was employed to identify the relative contents of PS metabolites. Herein, 630 metabolites within 27 categories were characterized in PS, of which 141, 157, 402 differential metabolites were observed in each treatment group (boiling, baking, and frying) when compared to the raw seed. Accordingly, bioactive substances were maximally preserved in baked high-OA PS. Further conventional methods (HPLC-UV/GC–MS) quantified the absolute composition of amino and fatty acids, verifying the reliability of metabolomic analysis. Collectively, the understanding of the phytochemical substances in relation to the domestic cooking method established a foundation for future high-OA PS processing
Rural Market Food Diversity and Farm Production Diversity: Do They Complement or Substitute Each Other in Contributing to a Farm Household's Dietary Diversity?
Get PDFMajority of undernourished people live in rural Asia and Africa, and many of them are smallholder farmers and consume a significant amount of what they produce. This is specifically true in India. However, in the context of increasing commercial production systems, it is not well-known how much food is consumed from a particular food group that was purchased, what proportion of food is from the production of farm households, and how their diets change seasonally. Furthermore, whether the rural market food diversity complements or substitutes farm production diversity in household's diets is unknown. We employed a mixed-methods research design to answer these questions. The research was conducted in three villages in Telengana State. The results reveal that crop diversity has significantly declined from a highly-diverse production system to a less diverse one. The Food Consumption Score results show that on average own-farm production contributes 23% of food (mainly starchy staples), while market purchases contribute 77% of calories consumed (from more diverse and nutritious foods). Therefore, in the study, villages' market food diversity is more important, and it is complementary to own-farm production. However, our study shows that mere market access (the most widely used proxy indicator in the literature) does not guarantee the availability of diverse nutritious foods to households who use that specific market. This is because market food diversity varies from market to market and across seasons. Therefore, we proposed that in commercial production systems improving crop diversity, and strengthening rural markets, are needed. Moreover, incentivizing retail business and subsidizing nutritious and/or biofortified food in rural areas must be part of strategies to improve nutrition in rural India
Nano‑biofertilizers on soil health, chemistry, and microbial community: benefits and risks
No full textNano-biofertilizers are the biologically synthesized nano-fertilizers from the microbes and plants employed in the agri-cultural fields to promote crop production and protection. For instance, specifically, the plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPM) having significant growth promotion and antagonistic traits, have led to their wide range of applications as nano-biofertilizers. In the agricultural scenario, the soil, crops, microbiome and nano-biofertilizers often influence one another and their ecological systems. The application of these PGPM nano-biofertilizers often promised enhanced soil quality and crop protection during both abiotic and biotic stress conditions through their bioactive compounds. This made the PGPM nano-biofertilizers as key players of yield enhancers and an advantage to the ever-increasing global food demand. However, day by day, nanotechnology being more beneficial and economical, many researchers and agriculturalists are shifting towards their wide range of applications in modern agricultural practices. This challenges the nanoparticles (NPs) dosage, toxicity, and their environmental footprint in the agricultural soils over a long time. This chapter highlights the key features of the PGPM nano-biofertlizers, their type and time of application, their dynamics on plant soil health, and the necessity for better and safer marketing applications of these NPs in the agricultural fields