Increase major staple food crop (cassava, yam, maize, banana/plantain, soybean, and cowpea) yields by 60% Increase average farm income by 50%, lifting 25% of poor households above the poverty line (over 11 million Africans) Reduce the number of malnourished children by 30% Restore 40% of farms to sustainable resource management (revitalizing over 7.5 million hectares of degrading farmlands)

1. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Breeding Staple Crops
R. Asiedu

2. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.orgwww.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
IITA’s Strategic Research for Development Goals
1. Increase major staple food crop (cassava, yam, maize,
banana/plantain, soybean, and cowpea) yields by 60%
2. Increase average farm income by 50%, lifting 25% of poor
households above the poverty line (over 11 million Africans)
3. Reduce the number of malnourished children by 30%
4. Restore 40% of farms to sustainable resource management
(revitalizing over 7.5 million hectares of degrading
farmlands)
R4D Goals

3. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org

4. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
http://genebank.iita.org/
International collections of
major food crops in Africa
Crop
Number of
accessions
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) 15379
Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) 4841
Cassava (Manihot esculenta
Crantz)
3499
Yam (Dioscorea spp.) 3170
Bambara groundnut (Vigna
subterranea L. Verdc)
1752
Maize (Zea mays L.) 1565
Miscellaneous legumes 558
Wild Vigna (Vigna species L.) 1543
Banana/plantain (Musa spp.) 546
African yam bean
[Sphenostylis stenocarpa
(Hochst.) Harms]
456

5. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Descriptors for Germplasm
Characterization
Website:
http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=387&Item

6. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Microscopic chromosome
images at different stages in a
cell division cycle of TDr
95/18544
1: Interphase, 2: Prophase, 3:
Metaphase, 4: Anaphase, 5:
Telophase
1 2
4 5
31 2
4 5
3
Ploidy determination
Source: Vroh, 2008
DNA flow cytometry is used to overcome
some of the challenges of chromosome
counting
• the method is non-destructive, rapid,
sensitive and convenient
• does not require dividing cells

7. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Genetic diversity tree of 342 yam accessions from the core
collection based
on SSR data using unweighted neighbour- joining analysis
D. alata (red)
D. bulbifera (purple)
D. cayenensis (yellow)
D. dumetorum (ash)
D. esculenta (blue)
D. rotundata (green)
-Results generally consistent with
established taxonomical relationships
-High level of genetic variation in core
germplasm
Source: Kolesnikova & Vroh, 2008

8. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.orgwww.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Key traits:
Early maturity
High promiscuous nodulation
Resistance to rust, leaf spot and bacterial
pustule
High grain and fodder yield
Shattering resistance
Good seed storability
Soybean

9. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.orgwww.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Key traits:
High grain yield
Drought tolerance
Adaptation to sub-optimal soil nitrogen
Tolerance to lodging
Resistance to major foliar diseases and maize
streak virus
Maturity (late, medium, early, or extra early)
Tolerance to Striga hermonthica
Resistance to stem borers (Sesamia calamistis and
Eldana sacharina)
High pro-vitamin A content
High lysine and tryptophan contents
Resistance to aflatoxin contamination
Maize

10. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.orgwww.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Key traits:
High and stable root yield
High root dry matter (starch) content
Drought tolerance
High root pro-vitamin A content
Early maturity
Low cyanogenic potential of roots
Disease resistance (cassava mosaic, anthracnose,
bacterial blight)
Cassava

11. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Breeding for Increased Nutrient
Density – HarvestPlus Project

12. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Product Delivery Schedule
Target products
Target pro-vitamin A content (µg/g)
Planned year
of release
1st Generation 6–8 µg/g (40–60% target increase) 2012
2nd Generation 8–12 µg/g (60–80% target increase) 2015
3rd Generation ≥15 µg/g (≥100% target increase) 2017-2018

13. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Mean pro-
vitamin A
Mean pro-
vitamin A
Mean grain
yield
Mean grain
yield
2009 2011 2010 2011
Hybrids (μg/g) (μg/g) (kg/ha) (kg/ha)
Ife maizehyb-3 8.8 7.2 5440 5744
Ife maizehyb-4 8.1 7.4 5121 5198
Oba Super 2 (CH) 5.3 3.5 4636 4867
Mean 5.8 5.2 5026 4889
LSD(0.05) 0.7 1.0 1093 673
CV 13 16 15 16
Mean pro-vitamin A content and grain yields of hybrids released in Nigeria in
2012.
Regional trials: Sources of Vitamin A rich hybrids for release

14. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Provitamin A content and agronomic performance of promising OPVs and hybrids included in regional
trials
Regional Trials: Channelling promising provitamin A enriched
OPVs and hybrids to partners for testing

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Genetic Gains in Grain Yield
- DTMA Project

16. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Grain yield (kg ha-1
) of three breeding eras of early maize
cultivars evaluated under multiple stress and non stress
environments in Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria, 2010 and 2011.
Environment
Era % Genetic
gain Era-1
1 (1988-2000)
15 cvs
2 (2001-2006)
16 cvs
3 (2007-2010)
19 cvs
Multistress
(16 env)
2176 2286 2606 11.16
Non-stress
(35 env)
3398 3615 3957 9.02
Mean 2760 2909 3207 8.88

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Grain yield (kg ha-1
) of three breeding eras of extra-early maize
cultivars under multiple stress and non stress environments in
Nigeria, 2013.
Era
% Genetic
gain Era-1
Environment 1 (1995-2000) 2 (2001-2006) 3 (2007-2012)
12 cvs 19 cvs 25 cvs
Multistress
(11 env)
1786 1989 2248 15.2
Non-stress
(16 env)
2714 2976 3354 13.9
Mean 2250 2483 2802 11.2

18. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Released early and extra-early maize hybrids and OPVs in
DTMA Partner Countries, 2007-2015.
Country Number of
varieties
released
Number
of
hybrids
released
Year of
release
Institution Total
Benin 6 0 2007-2015 INRAB/IITA 6
Ghana 5 2 2010-2012 CRI/SARI/IITA 7
Mali 2 7 2009-2014 IER/IITA 9
Nigeria 6 4 2009-2013 IAR/IAR&T/IITA 10
Total 19 13 2007-2014 32

19. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Two extra-early maturing (80-85 days to maturity) white hybrids released in
Nigeria in 2013 in collaboration with IAR&T
Ife Hybrid 5 and Ife Hybrid 6 combine drought and low N tolerance with
Striga resistance.
Will contribute to more stable maize production in in the face of increasingly
unpredictable rainfall.
Striga tolerant versus susceptible
hybrids
Drought tolerant versus susceptible
hybrids

20. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Impact of Soybean RustImpact of Soybean Rust
10 g seeds = 196 (D), 89 (H)
0 7
1418
• Premature
defoliation
• 60-80% grain
yield loss
• Seed size
reduced
• HPR ideal for
African farmers
Source: Bandyopahyay, 2010

21. A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Resistant Susceptible
Rust Resistance Evaluation in Checkerboard Design
Source: Bandyopahyay, 2010

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Attacks flowers and pods of various legumes, up to 80% yield loss
An old enemy: the legume pod borer,
Maruca vitrata

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Severely
affected
roots are
unfit for
any use
Cassava Brown Streak Disease

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