Country strategies
Focus traits • Drought • Leaf spots (ELS and LLS) and rust • Aflatoxin • Rosette (GRD)
Improvement Plan
Objective
• continually improving the rate of genetic gain through release of new improved varieties in the region.
Improvement Plan…
• Breeding Pipeline
– Developing products that mitigate production constraints and meet client needs
1. Develop drought-tolerant breeding lines
2. Develop short duration (SD) breeding lines with moderate levels of resistance to rust, LLS and ELS
3. Develop SD and aflatoxin resistant, SD + drought tolerance, SD + high oil, SD + confectionery
4. Develop medium duration breeding lines (high levels of Rust, LLS, ELS, GRD resistance and other stresses)
Improvement Plan
• Widening genetic pool
– Increases in the number of crosses being made
• >250 pop
– Introduction from other programs (ICRISAT- Malawi & India and NARS)
– Utilizing the genetic diversity of groundnut (10,587 accessions) at Niamey
Improvement Plan…
• Optimization of selection strategies – Pedigree and its modification – SSD – F2 or F3 (early generation selection) or later
stage
• Speeding generation advance & phenotyping – Off season – Mesh house – Shuttle breeding (e.g. GRD & aflatoxin
phenotyping in Malawi; drought in Mali)
Improvement Plan…
• Optimization of testing strategies – Target environments
– Number of Entries
– Test environments and number of Location
– On-farm & on-station
– Number of Years
– Number of replications
Ecology
Mali Nigeria
North Sahel Sahel Savanna
Sudan Sahel Sudan Savanna
Sudan Savannah Northern Guinea
Savanna (NGS)
North Guinea
Savannah
Southern Guinea
Savanna (SGS)
Derived Savanna
Improvement Plan…
• Use of marker technologies – Focus traits (e.g. LLS, rust, oleate)
• Institutionalizing the application of BMS to enhance efficiency of data collection, analysis & management;
• Using modern tools like NIRS & XRF for accurate measurement of specific traits
• Utilizing Breeding Performance Assessment Tool (BPAT) to enhance breeding efficiency and guide product development;
Backstopping NARS
• Increased germplasm/breeding lines sharing with NARS
• Capacity building for scientists and technicians