Molecular Breeding Platform at the BecA-ILRI Hub: Supporting breeders in the region

1. v More than 200 breeders and agriculturists
from NARS trained to use modern breeding
management and decision tool (Fig. 1)
v Establishment of nodes and migra@on of
historical data from several breeding
programs in Africa into the BMS tool
v 15 research scien@sts trained in Demand-led
variety design approach
v SSR genotyping of tubers (yam, cassava),
cereals (rice, maize), tree crops (mango,
eucalyptus), vegetable (biJer leaf), forage,
fish and livestock (caJle, goat) from sub
Saharan Africa, USA and Ecuador (Fig 2)
v SNP genotyping of 3230 samples including
forage, maize, rice, sorghum, fish and sheep
from CG centers (70%), Na@onal Agricultural
Research System (NARS) (15%) and the
Program for African Seed System (PASS)
(15%) (Fig. 3).
v Genomic assisted breeding jointly
implemented with partners in Tanzania and
Eritrea
Molecular Breeding Pla0orm at the BecA-ILRI Hub:
Suppor>ng breeders in the region
*Nasser Yao, Mary Wambugu, Francesca Stomeo, Mark Wamalwa, Appolinaire Djikeng and *Josephine Birungi
Biosciences eastern and central Africa-InternaFonal Livestock Research InsFtute, (BecA-ILRI) Hub,Nairobi, Kenya
About the Molecular Breeding Pla0orm
The Breeding plaWorm at the BecA-ILRI Hub aims at enhancing plant breeding and livestock research using modern breeding tools. The plaWorm is built
around three key components: the Breeding Management System (BMS), the Integrated Genotyping Service and Support (IGSS) and the Demand-led
variety design. BMS is a suite of comprehensive tools, embedded in a single place, and commonly used by breeders for their day to day breeding
ac@vi@es. IGSS is an innova@ve genotyping service and support to local plant/livestock breeding programs and small and medium enterprises in sub-
Saharan Africa to accelerate the rate of gene@c gain, development and release of new crop varie@es and improved livestock. Through the demand-led
variety design approach, the breeding plaWorm aims at making plant breeding in Africa a business model responsive to market demand. The plaWorm
also generates and manages genomic and marker data and provides support to breeders and other scien@sts in integra@ng DNA marker assays and
genomic tools into their breeding program and research ac@vi@es for both cul@vated and orphan crops and livestock species. Major fields covered
under the plaWorm include: 1) training of breeders to make efficient use of breeding decision support tools (BMS and IGSS), 2) provision of advice and
guidance in elabora@ng an holis@c breeding strategies (demand-led variety design) using modern breeding tools, 3) genome sequencing-based gene@c
profiling and genera@on of various genotyping data types from low to high throughput facili@es, 4) support in popula@on development and data
management followed by required analyses, interpreta@on of result and suppor@ng scien@sts to get the suitable breeding decision for the next step, 5)
genome wide associa@on study and 6) genomic selec@on.
*For more informa@on contact Dr Nasser Yao/Dr Josephine Birungi
N.Yao@cgiar.org/J.Birungi@cgiar.org ● hub.africabiosciences.org
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Founda@on (BMGF)
Syngenta Founda@on for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA)
This document is licensed for use under a Crea@ve Commons AJribu@on –Non commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License February 2016
Partnerships
Outputs
v Modern breeding tool adopted and used
in several breeding programs in eastern,
central and southern Africa including
Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and
Kenya
v Breeders and agriculturists beJer
integra@ng historical and manual data
directly into BMS to accelerate breeding
efforts
v Major QTL for Maize Lethal Necrosis
(MLN) iden@fied and used to develop
maize MLN resistant lines
v Gene@c profiling of 350 rice accessions,
comprising a unique collec@on of the
African Oryza and key rice germplasms
used by the rice community as parental
lines or elite material, now serving
several breeding purposes at the Africa
Rice Centre
v Ins@tu@ons (Naliendele Agricultural
Research Ins@tute (NARI) in Tanzania and
the Hamalmelo College of Agriculture,
Eritrea) implemen@ng genomic-based/
molecular assisted breeding
Outcomes
• Gene@c profiling of key crop and livestock commodi@es from breeding
programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
• Design of product profiles for major crops/livestock
• Development of cul@var development pipelines for major crop/livestock
• Linkage with the Global Open-source Breeding and Informa@cs Ini@a@ve
(GOBII) and Diversity Seek (DivSeek) ini@a@ves
Poten>al to scale-up
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Private Sector
CG center
ABCF
NARS
University
Number of trainees per ins>tu>on
Figure 1: Number of trainees per country and per ins>tu>on
Figure 3: Number of samples processed per commodity and per
ins>tu>on under IGSS
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Number of samples
Years
Trends in Genotyping Service Provision
Figure 2: SSR genotyping service provision and trend from 2009 to 2014
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Zambia
Benin
Cote d'Ivoire
Cameroon
DRC
Burundi
Rwanda
Eritrea
Tanzania
Ethiopia
Kenya
Sudan
Uganda
Number of trainees per country