Development of a framework for cooperation and integration among different disciplines within ICRISAT to undertake holistic research for greater impacts, was a key focus of scientists from Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region at their recent regional planning meeting. Reviewed achievements and lessons learnt from past activities as well as shared and peer reviewed each other’s work plans.

1. Cereal breeding in ESA
Henry Ojulong, Eric Manyasa, Sam Njoroge,
NARS partners
Regional Planning Meeting
Harare 36-27 April 2917

2. Biotic stresses
Leaf diseases
Leaf/foliar insect pests
Striga
Genetic resources
Collection
Conservation
Characterization
Utilization
Limited use
of productivity
enhancements
Underdeveloped
Seed System
Lack of varieties
With preferred
Attributes
Abiotic stresses
Drought
Poor post
Harvest handling
Reduce grain quality
Constraints in cereal value chain
Unreliability of grain supply
Poor market access

3. Breeding strategy
Crossing Program
Local x Local
Exotic X Local
Exotic X Exotic
(Biparental
+Pedigree)
Introduction and evaluation of exotic
Lines and varieties
Collection and
evaluation of Landrace
and farmer varieties
On-farm Testing Farmer
verification and Selection
Preliminary Testing and
Selection of usable
landraces
Population development and improvement (ms3),
Hybrid making and Breeding for different objectives
Generation Advance
Breeding Nurseries
Preliminary Testing and Selection On-station
Advanced Testing On-station
Multi-Location/Regional Testing
On-farm Verification trials and Farmers selection (PVS)
Variety Release and Promotion
Seed Multiplication
On-station Advanced Testing
and Selection of Adapted types
to 3 AEZ
Preliminary Testing and
Selection of usable
landraces
Preliminary Testing

4. Collections
• Finger millet 269 (Tanzania and Uganda)
Characterization
• Sorghum 400
• Pearl millet 157
• Finger millet 557
Rejuvenation
• Sorghum 400
• Pearl millet 320
• Finger millet 400
Germplasm unique accession repatriation
• Sorghum 799
• Finger millet 396
• Pearl millet 155
Germplasm collection and management

5. Populations
Finger millet
Kiboko
• 2377 lines for diverse traits at F2
• 245 Lines for micro nutrients at F2
• 562 lines for snapping trait at F3
• 157 lines for general at F4
Alupe
• 258 lines for blast F3
• 96 lines for striga resistance at F3
• 64 lines nutrient traits at F5
• 88 lines for snapping trait at F4
To be advanced

6. Sorghum
•448 drought populations advanced to F2 at
Kiboko
•145 high Fe and Zn selections advanced to F3 at
Kiboko and Alupe
•424 Striga selections to F4 at Alupe
•364 new hybrids
•260 BC3S2 striga resistant hybrid parents (A/B)
•251 BC3F2 striga and drought lines
•To be advanced to the next generations
Populations

7. Sorghum
Two trials (Short and medium maturity) evaluated in 6
locations across dryland agro-ecologies in Kenya and
Tanzania
Short duration 16 entries
Across locations:
• Gadam (2.436 t ha-1),
• ZSV 3 (2.347 t ha-1),
• Tharaka 6 (2.330 t ha-1),
• IESV 214011 DL (2.273 t ha-1)
• ICSL 71052 (2.214 t ha-1)
Gadam selected for NPT in Tanzania
Drought

8. Drought
Zimbabwe
7 varieties (6-7 t/ha at Matopos) selected for on farm
testing
Medium maturity trial (36 entries)
Across the 3 sites:
Grain yield range of 2.4 to 2.56 t ha-1.
IESV 214002 DL, IESV 214007 DL, IESV 214013 DL, IESV
92043 DL, IESV 92043 DL and IESV 214003 DL
• The trial will be repeated in 2016 in Tanzania.
• IESV 214013 DL selected for on-farm testing both in
Kenya and Tanzania

9. Regional Hybrid Trial (25 entries) evaluated in
Kenya and Tanzania in 5 locations
• Best yielding
• IESH 22023,
• IESH 28001,
• ATX 623 X IESV 91131 DL,
• IESH 22002
• ATX 623 X KARI MTAMA 1
• Grain yield range 3.11 to 3.36 t ha-1.
• Check ATX 623 x MACIA 2.9 t ha
• Hybrid ATX 623 X IESV 91131 DL selected for PVS.
Drought

10. Malawi two locations
Average grain yield between 2.9 to 6.0 t ha-1
Best hybrids
• IESH 22011
• IESH 22005
• IESH 22002
Zimbabwe
• Top 5 hybrids at Matopos had yields of 5.2 to 6.1 t ha-1
Drought

11. Finger millet
25 entries evaluated in five (5) locations in Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda.
• Yield range 0.85-1.8 t/ha
• 20 out yielded improved check U15 (1.0 t/ha)
• Best yielders: IE 5165, IE 501, IE 2030, IE 593,
IE 2187 (1.3-1.8 t/ha)
• To be advanced to PVS
Drought

12. Finger millet
Malawi:
25 entries in 3 locations
Average yield 0.6-1.9 t/ha, check 0.6
Best yielders (1.5-1.9 t/ha)
KNE 688
KNE 669
U15
KNE 1034
KNE 1124
Gulu E
To be taken on farm
Drought

13. Pearl millet
25 entries evaluated in 2 locations in Zimbabwe
• Yield range 0.42-1.33 t/ha
• Best yielders: range 1.06-1.33 t/ha
– ICMV 221,
– PMV 3,
– SMDV 90031, SDMV 94005
• To be repeated as season was not good
Drought

14. Finger millet
25 entries evaluated at striga sick plots at
Alupe.
High Yielders
• GBK-043153A,
• GBK-029770A,
• GBK-000410A,
• GBK-029674A
Suppressed striga emergency
• GBK-043164A,
• GBK-000414A,
• GBK-02980A.
Striga

15. 80 blast lines evaluated in Kenya and
Uganda (PYT)
• Blast range 2-5 –resistant check 3
• Yield range 0.8-2.9 t/ha check 0.8 t/ha
• Best 25 to be advanced to AYT
Blast

16. Early, Medium and Long duration finger
millet accessions evaluated at 6 locations in
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Early duration
Best performers:
• IEFV00070 (2.3 t/ha)
• GBK 011141A (2.3 t/ha)
• Kal Dokolo (2.3 t/ha).
Maturity groups

17. Medium duration
• IE 2093 (2.9 t/ha)
• IE 6072 (2.9 t/ha),
• IE 3070 (3.2 t/ha),
• IE 615 (3.3 t/ha)
• Kal (3.4 t/ha).
Long duration trial.
• IEFV00060 (2.0 t/ha)
• IE 2589 (2.1 t/ha)
• GBK 00835A (2.5 t/ha)
• Quteke (3.3 t/ha)
Maturity groups

18. Finger millet
Data from the regional finger millet trials
shared with partners and used for submitting
varieties to NPT for release.
• Kenya 3
• Uganda 4
• Ethiopia ?
• Tanzania 3
Generate data to facilitate release

19. Kenya
Agronomic data for 4 sorghum hybrids were provided to
Kenya Seed Company.
• IESH 22002,
• IESH 22009,
• IESH 22011
• IESH 22012 in DUS tests ting
Egerton University
• One hybrid (IESH 214015) for malting
• 2 OPVs (IESV 91018 LT and IESV 93042 SH) for sweet
stalk-livestock recommended for release
Ethiopia
• KARI Mtama 1 and IESV 23007 DL in NPT
Generate data to facilitate release

20. Finger millet
• 29 nutrient dense genotypes (and
improved check, U15) evaluated in three
locations Tanzania,
Calcium
Range 487 to 957 mg/100gm.
Highest: IE 3169, IE 3225, KNE 741,Iklulule,IE
2034 (813-957 mg/100gm)
Nutrient accumulation across agro ecologies

21. Iron
Range: 10.61-23.3 t/ha
Highest: IE 6952, IE 6321, Acc 32 (16.1 -23.3
mg/100gm)
Zinc
Range: 2.9-4;1 t/ha
Highest : KNE 628, IE 6443, IE 2014,IE 2034
(3.9-4.1 mg/100gm).
• Six accessions advanced to PVS across the
locations.
• KNE 741 and Acc 32 at advanced stages of
release ans are already being promoted
Nutrient accumulation across agro ecologies

22. Sorghum
• Four hybrids (IESH 22012, IESH 22022, ATX
623 x Macia and ICSA 12 x KARI Mtama 1)
suitable malting
• Five varieties and five hybrids were tested
for feed quality tannin levels 0-1%
Grain quality analysis

23. Kenya: Sub humid
• IESV 24029 SH and IS 21018 high grain yield, good
grain colour and less bird damage.
• IESV 24029 SH NPT by Kenya Seed Company as
Kensorg 20.
– 800kg of foundation seed produced and delivered under
FTF-DTC project in 2015SR
– 3.7 tons of seed produced for promotion in 2016 LR
Tanzania
• IESV 23010 DL Selected for
NPT testing
PVS
IESV 24029 SH

24. • Malawi:
Sorghum
– Varieties KARI Mtama 1, Macia, R 8602, IESV
92170 DL and IESV 23006 DL selected
– To go into release process
– ICRISAT and NARS partners to put together data to
help in release.
PVS

25. Finger millet
Victoria Lake zone:
• KNE 628 High yield, high nutrient, big
compact heads, Acc 32 IE 3779 selected for
NPT
Tanzania: Central
• KNE 628, RW 123, Acc 32 Good yield, high
Ca, Acc 14 good yield
Malawi
• IEFV0001, Acc 814, KNE 628, for high yield,
early maturity, high nutrient content
PVS

26. Forum for Agro-vets, farmer group, community
seed producers, seed companies and extension
staff initiated;
Over 40t certified seed sorghum sold by
aggregators and agro-dealers in Kenya About 20
tons of QDS seed of sorghum and finger millet
improved varieties through agro-vets in Kenya and
Tanzania
25 farmer groups producing sorghum and finger
millet QDS were facilitated to produce and market
over 12, 000 Small Seed Packs (SSPs=0.5 to 1 kg)
through agro-vets
 Report on Effectiveness of SSPs and QDS
commercialization prepared.
Seed

27. • Sorghum
– Gadam hamam 5.4 tons
– Kari Mtama 2 (IS 8193) 3.47 tons
– IESV 24029 SH 4.5 tons
• Finger millet
– U15 1.2 tons
– P224 1.3 tons
• Pearl millet
– ICSV 221 3.1 tons
• Cowpea 1.6 tons
• Greengram 1.5 tons
Breeder and Foundation seed for FTF-
DTC/SMU/SOMNI/HOPE

28. Sorghum diseases in Tanzania and
Uganda
• Objective: Identify and update information
on diseases of sorghum across major
production areas in Tanzania and Uganda

29. Methods
• In Tanzania, 40 fields : Dodoma, Singida, Simiyu,
Shinyanga, Mwanza, and Mara Provinces
• In Uganda, 143 fields: Teso, Western, Northern, and West
Nile agroecologies.
• Farmers were purposively selected and at least 30 plants
per field along two diagonal transects were visually
assessed for disease and samples taken to the laboratory
to confirm diseases observed.

30. Results
• In Tanzania, 16 diseases were identified and
the most prevalent (% of fields)
• leaf blight at 76%,
• anthracnose at 56%, and rust at 43%.
• In Uganda, 15 diseases were identified and the
most prevalent were leaf blight at 55%,
anthracnose at 43% and ladder leaf spot at
20%.
• Disease prevalence differed significantly
between Tanzania and Uganda

31. Results cont..
• More prevalent in Tanzania was leaf blight (P = 0.0007),
covered smut (P = 0.0002), rust (P < 0.0001), bacterial leaf
blight (P = 0.0007), head mold (P < 0.0001), long smut (P <
0.0001).
• In contrast, diseases more prevalent in Uganda than in
Tanzania were anthracnose (P = 0.032), ladder leaf spot (P =
0.0018), head smut (P = 0.015), gray leaf spot (P = 0.0098),
oval leaf spot (P = 0.001), and downy mildew (P = 0.001).
• Generally, significant differences were observed in incidence
of major diseases if the farmers grew local or improved
varieties.
• This is the first comprehensive sorghum disease survey
report in over 15 years in both countries

32. Opportunities
• Climate change
• Huge germplasm base (wild + cultivated)
 Population improvement
 Varieties/hybrids for multiple uses
• New/emerging markets
 Malting/Brewing
 Feed (Unga Ltd)
 Food (compositing)-
 Nutritional facts
o healthy foods (diabetics, weaning foods, confectioneries etc)
o Noodles
• Govt support
 High value traditional crops
 Seed subsidy
 Open borders and markets

33. Opportunities
• Large population dependent on sorghum and millets
• Strong partnerships developed along the value chain
• Biotechnology - enhance breeding efficiency
 Diversity studies
 MAS