Global Project 1

Coordinator: PM Gaur

Enhanced Drought Tolerance

Project Title: Marker-assisted introgression of drought tolerance QTLs in pearl millet

Team Members: Hash CT, Vadez V, Bidinger FR, Rizvi SMH, and Chandra S

Partners: CCS HAU, TNAU, CAZRI and RAU-RRS Nagaur have been our NARS partners; IGER is main ARI partner.

Description: SSR and RFLP-based marker-assisted backcrossing of QTLs associated with superior grain and/or stover yield under conditions of managed terminal drought stress based on seed parent and restorer parent mapping populations; completing evaluation of first generation products for major QTL target on LG2; completing MABC for other first-generation products in 841B background; initiating pyramiding of drought tolerance and downy mildew resistance in H 77/833-2 background .

Applied: Initially in Asia and later in Africa, application in other regions would be spillover

Partners: NRCS-Rajendranagar, UASD-RRS Bijapur, and MAU-Parbhani here in India; SARI in Ghana; TAMU and CIMMYT

Description: SSR marker-assisted backcrossing of stay-green QTLs from source B35 into the genetic backgrounds of fully-senescent rabi-adapted recurrent parent R16 and elite rainy-season adapted genotypes ISIAP Dorado, S 35 = ICSV 111 and IRAT 204; includes field assessment of improvements, if any, in terminal drought tolerance of early-generation QTL introgression homozygotes in R16 and ISIAP Dorado backgrounds; with additional funding it could expand to include donor parent E 36-1 and additional recurrent parents.

Applied: Initially in India and Ghana, once the promising finished products are available a wider testing in African and elsewhere will be possible.

Team Members: Gaur PM, Hoisington D, Vadez V, Kashiwagi J, and Chandra S

Partners: Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India

Description: Root traits, particularly rooting depth and biomass are expected to play an important role in avoidance of drought in receding soil moisture conditions by improving water availability to the plant through more efficient extraction of available soil moisture. However, the laborious methods involved in digging and measuring roots make it difficult to select for root traits in a segregating population. Molecular markers are being identified for root traits using the RIL mapping populations from two crosses (ICCV 283 × ICC 8261, ICCV 4958 × ICC 1882) to facilitate marker-assisted selection for root traits.

Applied: Globally

Project Title: Marker assisted breeding for water use efficiency in groundnut

Team Members: Nigam SN, Upadhyaya HD, Vadez V, Hoisington D, and Chandra S

Description: Phenotyping of WUE in the progenies of RIL populations developed between contrasting parental lines for WUE. Understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying high WUE

Project Title: Transgenic drought tolerance in chickpea and groundnut

Team Members: Sharma KK, Vadez V, Gaur PM, and Nigam SN

Description: Development, characterization and evaluation of transgenic groundnut and chickpea for tolerance to abiotic stresses, especially drought. The transgenic plants of groundnut carrying the drought-responsive elements, rd29A: DREB1A and chickpea transgenic events with rd29A:DREB1A or P5CSF gene for the over-production of proline have been developed and are being characterized for responses to drought conditions in the containment greenhouse through dry-down experiments.

Enhanced Salinity Tolerance

Project Title: Mapping salinity tolerance in chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea

Team Members: Vadez V, Gaur PM, Nigam SN, Saxena KB, Upadhyaya HD, Mallikarjuna N, Hoisington D, and Chandra S

Partners: IRRI, CSSRI, [CSSRI is Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (Karnal, Haryana, and Lucknow regional station)] CRRI, [CRRI is Central Rice Research institute (Cuttack, Orissa).] NDUAT [Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology (Faisabad, Uttar Pradesh)]

Description: Screening for salinity tolerance in the mini-core collections. Investigation of tolerance mechanisms. Search for tolerance QTL in existing or newly created mapping populations.

Applied: Rice fallow of salinity affected areas (Orissa, Gujarat, Bangladesh, Vietnam) and any potentially salt affected area.

Project Title: Marker-assisted breeding for phosphorus acquisition ability in pearl millet

Team Members: Hash CT, Vadez V, and Chandra S

Partner: Osmania University (India) and Lake Chad Research Institute (Nigeria)

Description: Developing and testing field and pot screening techniques; testing opportunities for exploiting existing pearl millet mapping populations (skeleton-mapped F2:F4 progeny sets and their testcrosses) for mapping components of the ability to acquire P from poorly-soluble rock phosphate; testing opportunities to use field- and/or pot-screening in recurrent selection to improve P acquisition ability in elite African OPVs.

Applied: In Africa and Asia

Project Title:Marker-assisted genetic improvement of grain carotenoid content in pearl millet

Team Members: Hash CT, Rai KN, and Chandra S

Partners: Cornell University, University of Georgia, ILRI, Waite Institute (Australia)

Description: Working with Cornell University and the University of Georgia to assess SNP diversity in genes for enzymes controlling the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway using a panel of pearl millet genotypes (including the best known sources of elevated grain beta-carotene levels) having diverse grain characteristics; using the same panel to establish a NIRS calibration curve for grain beta-carotene content; development of mapping populations based on crosses of best known trait sources and elite inbred lines

Applied: Global, but emphasis should be Africa and drier parts of India

Project Title: Genetic engineering of groundnut for enhancement of ß-carotene and of pigeonpea for enhancement of methionine and ß-carotene

Team Members:Sharma KK, Vanamala A, Nigam SN, and Saxena KB

Description: This project involves the development of transgenic groundnut and pigeonpea for improved nutritional status. Currently, transgenics of groundnut for enhanced levels of ß-carotene and transgenics of pigeonpea for enhanced levels of ß-carotenes and methionine are being generated. Once stable transgenic events are identified, they will be evaluated for the gene integration and inheritance followed by biochemical characterization for the over production of ß-carotene (pro-vitamin A) and methionine (a sulfur-rich amino acid).

Improved feed and food quality

Project Title: Improved pearl millet stover quality

Team Members: Hash CT, Blummel B, Bidinger FR, Folkertsma R, Mgonja M, Rattunde F, and Chandra S

Partners: ILRI and national program in India (AICPMIP)

Description: Assessing potential for marker-assisted breeding, and NIRS-based conventional recurrent selection, to improve ruminant nutritional value (yield x quality) of pearl millet straw harvested from dual-purpose (grain + fodder) genotypes; QTL mapping of NIRS-predicted stover quality parameters using stover samples harvested from previous years' field trials; RFLP and SSR marker-assisted backcrossing of QTLs to elite hybrid parent backgrounds; in vivo testing of breeding products

Applied: Initially applied in Asia and later in Africa and elsewhere.