This project aims to improve rice productivity in West Africa through marker-assisted recurrent selection for drought tolerance and yield potential. Highlights include establishing drought evaluation sites, characterizing the target environments, and developing three MARS populations. The populations were phenotyped in multiple locations for drought tolerance and yield. Promising lines with higher yields under stress were identified. The project also built capacity through training, technology exchange, and developing phenotyping databases to manage data.

1. RICE
GCP Project Number: G7010.04.01
Improving rice productivity in lowland
ecosystems of Burkina Faso, Mali and
Nigeria through marker-assisted recurrent
selection for drought tolerance and yield
potential
Ndjiondjop MN, Venuprasad R, Futakuchi K, Dieng I, Sow M, Cisse F, Hema D,
Maji A.T, Audebert A, Kumar A and Ahmadi N

2. Plan
• Overall Project
• Highlights
• Conclusion

3. Project Organization
WP1- Characterization of the IV-TPE, establishment of drought evaluation
sites and description of ideotypes fitting major sub-classes of TPE.
• Characterization of lowland environment
• Establishing drought evaluation sites and
• Designing Ideotype for TPE
WP2- Phenotyping
• For drought tolerance the
GCP phase 1 genetic
materials, MARS
populations, and promising
lines
• For yield & other traits
under various levels of
environment control
WP3- Breeding
• Developing breeding
populations
• Genotyping MARS
populations
• QTL analysis
• Combining favourable
alleles at target QTLs
WP4- Capacity
and Community
Building
• Putting in place
the rice drought
molecular biology
and breeding
community of
practice for West
Africa
• Capacity building
(PhD student and
short training on
specific topics)
WP5- Project and information management
• For drought tolerance
• For yield & other traits under various levels of environment
control

4. Highlights: WP1- Consolidating
knowledge
• The extend of inland valleys in the TPE in Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso
were determined using a digital elevation model (DEM)
• Information on farmers’ perception and management of drought in the TPE
is available through surveys involving around 200 farmers in Mali and two
states in Nigeria
• Validation of crop simulation modeling is on going from 2 years field
experiments data

5. Highlights: WP2&3- Phenotyping and
Breeding
 Implementation of efficient Phenotyping network

6. Highlights: WP2&3- Phenotyping and
Breeding
• 6 populations (B6144, ITA212, WAB638-1, BW348-
1, Kogoni 91-1 and IRAT104) developed with a
common parent (IR64)
• 4 of them evaluated for general adaptability and
phenotypic acceptability
• 3 (B6144, Kogoni and ITA212) evaluated for yield
potential during wet season
• 3 evaluated (B6144, Kogoni and ITA212) for
drought tolerance during dry season
 Populations developed

7.  Phenotyping for drought tolerance
Highlights: WP2&3- Phenotyping and
Breeding
• MARS POP 1 (IR64 X B6144)
• 230 lines evaluated in 6 field trials in Burkina, Nigeria, Mali, AfricaRice-
Ibadan, CIAT and IRRI and 1 controlled-trials (AfricaRice)
• 62 lines evaluated in 4 field trials in Burkina, Nigeria, Mali, AfricaRice-
Ibadan, and 1 controlled-trials (AfricaRice)
Location Traits Population mean Reduction (%)
Well-watered Stressed
Burkina Days to flowering 106.5 114.0 -7.0
Ibadan Days to flowering 78.0 79.4 -1.8
IRRI Days to flowering 85.3 102.9 -20.6
Mali Days to flowering 94.2 98.5 -4.6
Nigeria Days to flowering 60.6 126.5 -
ROS Days to flowering 65.4 67.9 -3.7
Burkina Grain yield (t.ha) 2.3 1.2 47.5
Ibadan Grain yield (t.ha) 4.9 1.3 72.3
IRRI Grain yield (g) 650.3 82.0 87.4
Mali Grain yield (g) 509.3 335.1 34.2
Nigeria Grain yield (g) 293.2 341.3 -
ROS Grain yield (g) 249.0 68.8 72.4
Burkina Plant height 100.7 93.2 7.5
Ibadan Plant height 120.7 82.4 31.8
IRRI Plant height 107.8 79.2 26.6
Mali Plant height 101.4 89.2 12.1
Nigeria Plant height 136.5 72.7 46.7
ROS Plant height 119.2 90.9 23.7
• MARS POP 2 (IR64 X ITA212)
• 230 lines evaluated in 4 field trials in
Burkina, Nigeria, Mali, AfricaRice-Ibadan, and
1 controlled-trials (AfricaRice)
• MARS POP 3 (IR64 X Kogoni91-1)
• 144 lines evaluated under controlled-trials
(AfricaRice)

8.  Phenotyping for Yield Potential
Highlights: WP2&3- Phenotyping and
Breeding
POP 1 Mali
POP 1 in Burkina
• MARS POP 1 (IR64 X B6144)
• 230 lines evaluated in 7 field trials in Burkina, Nigeria, Mali,
AfricaRice-Ibadan,
• MARS POP 3 (IR64 x Kogoni 91-1)
• 230 lines evaluated in 2 field trials in Mali and AfricaRice-
Cotonou
Trait: Yield
Example of Promising
lines
Nigeria (Badeggi
VB)
AfricaRice-
Ibadan (VF)
IRB-MR-463 **** **
IRB-MR-4 **** -
IRB-MR-176 **** -
IRB-MR-197 **** -
IRB-MR-215 *** *
IR64 - -
B6144F - -
**** >> 10 checks, ***>> 9 checks , ** >> 7 checks, **>> 4 checks
PlotYieldVFIbadan
20
200 14001200800400
120
100
600 1000
0
80
60
40
Plotyield(g)
POP 3 at Cotonou

9. General scheme of the MARS procedure
(From IBP portal)
- Cumulate favourable alleles at QTLs of
interest
- Recombination of complementary lines
(R)
- MAS of the best recombinations
Iteration of R & MAS = MARS
QTL detection on F5:6
Multiple trait (yield, days to
flowering, plant height) &
Multiple environments
Genotyping
IR4 x B6144F (484 SNPs)
IR64 x ITA212 ( 369 SNPs)
IR64 x Kogoni (305 SNPs)
7 parents selected (IR64, B6144, ITA212,
BW348, WAB638, Kogoni91, IRAT104
Genotyping parental lines
with 805 SNPs markers
6 MARS bi-parental populations developed
- 1st pop: 230 lines from IR64 x B6144F (14 trials)
- 2nd pop: 200-230 lines from IR64 x ITA212 (5 trials)
- 3rd pop: IR64 x Kogoni91-1 (3 trials)
Simulation using IBP tools
(OptiMAS)
Phenotyping for DRT and
YP in TPEs
K_id10242330.0
K_id100151611.8
K_id100197312.8
K_id100215813.1
K_id100289917.7
K_id100410927.7
K_id100459130.0
K_id100484931.3
K_id100512533.5
K_id100546537.8
K_id100797561.3
K_id100826764.4
K_id101120078.8
K_id101157880.4
K_id101248193.4
K_id101266694.7
K_id101286495.8
K_id101334298.1
K_id101341698.3
K_id1013855101.3
K_id1013920101.4
K_id1013967101.5
K_id1014452103.2
K_id1018345127.6
K_id1024503155.5
1
K_id20002352.3
K_id20008356.5
K_id200183116.3
K_id200211019.1
K_id200281126.7
K_id200339333.8
K_id200471148.7
K_id200648656.8
K_id200679558.6
K_id200746171.1
K_id200752678.7
K_id200759779.2
K_id200779780.6
K_id201035798.5
K_id2011302106.8
K_id2012408123.0
K_id2012453123.5
K_id2012558123.9
K_12124.1
K_id2016060156.7
K_id2016584161.2
2
K_id30001113.0
K_97.7
K_id300383935.2
K_id300457143.5
K_id300514548.0
K_id300521648.6
K_id300534948.8
K_id300672162.5
K_id300680863.7
K_id300760471.5
K_id300833384.3
K_id300839085.5
K_id301009489.3
K_id301045991.3
K_id3014586140.3
K_id3017784160.9
K_id3018242164.4
3
K_id40001701.8
K_id400111310.5
K_id400188212.5
K_id400388822.9
K_id400429426.7
K_id400512039.0
K_id400534243.9
K_id4009930100.5
K_id4010708107.2
K_id4010713107.3
K_id4011259114.0
K_id4011696122.6
K_id4011781123.4
K_id4012434132.7
4
K_id50115580.0
K_id500095316.0
K_id500128121.8
K_id500296040.0
K_id500303441.4
K_id500309241.8
K_id500341745.3
K_id500363847.4
K_id500611658.7
K_id500623659.3
K_id500633260.1
K_id500812277.2
K_id500859080.8
K_id5011201103.2
K_id5013100110.9
K_id5013743114.8
K_id5014338117.9
5
K_id60001342.8
K_id60007435.6
K_id60009117.3
K_id60012068.4
K_89.6
K_id600153511.2
K_id600268714.9
K_id600334119.2
K_id600340320.2
K_id600349825.7
K_id600358032.6
K_id600382934.4
K_id600402935.3
K_id600448140.4
K_id600486847.1
K_id600494649.7
K_id600496950.3
K_id600633660.2
K_id600738664.8
K_id600754065.7
K_id600905567.0
K_id601132478.2
K_id601141379.0
K_id601208085.0
K_id601223686.2
K_id601242588.6
K_id601248788.8
K_id601265891.2
K_id601343496.5
K_id601352996.8
K_id601372097.9
K_id6016490116.8
K_id6016589118.5
K_id6016941124.9
6
K_id70003040.0
K_id70000632.1
K_id70001425.3
K_id70002538.4
K_id700038410.2
K_id700079843.7
K_id700242752.7
K_id700280163.0
K_id700284863.3
K_id700304769.6
K_id700305969.8
K_id700345976.8
K_id700374881.0
K_id7005611111.7
7
K_id800087625.4
K_id800097526.1
K_id800133134.4
K_id800147736.7
K_id800164140.9
K_id800166741.0
K_id800231446.2
K_id800255449.6
K_id800295452.1
K_id800362654.8
K_id800469260.6
K_id800498666.0
K_id800536171.3
K_id800544572.0
K_id800552573.4
K_id800558173.9
8
K_id90010292.8
K_id900225514.5
K_id900250519.8
K_id900253220.6
K_id900256325.1
K_id900318838.3
K_id900448657.2
K_id900717181.5
K_id900725984.2
K_id900728785.5
K_id900762293.1
K_id900776394.5
9
K_id100000281.1
K_id100004984.6
K_id100010387.9
K_id1000131810.3
K_id1000540249.1
K_id1000691075.5
K_id1000696377.5
10
K_id1100078412.7
K_id1100085814.6
K_id1100098017.7
K_id1100276435.2
K_id1100414855.7
K_id1100564660.4
K_id1100762580.7
K_id1100784081.9
K_id1100821487.6
K_id1100852589.1
K_id1100867889.2
K_id1100911794.8
K_id11009930102.8
K_id11009984103.3
K_id11010335109.4
K_id11010502111.6
K_id11010811114.4
K_id11011505117.7
11
K_id1200122426.9
K_id1200488553.3
K_id1200559258.0
K_id1200567760.0
K_id1200723175.4
K_id1200740777.4
K_id1200762981.4
K_id1200828592.8
K_id1200832893.4
K_id1200866596.4
12
IR64 x B6144
Highlights: WP2&3- Phenotyping and Breeding: Summary

10. Highlights: WP4- Capacity and
Community Building
 Information and technology exchange within the Rice CI network
• Regular Monitoring tours organized and good germplasm
exchange between partners
Recalibrating Diviner 2000 in Burkina
Monitoring tour in Mali
• On-site training are organized on-demand
• CIRAD to AfricaRice for IR thermography and fluorimetry
• AfricaRice to NARS partners Diviner 2000, IBP tools, etc
Reviewing data recording in Mali
• 3 PhD and one MSc students on board with focus on indirect physiological methods for
drought evaluation, exploitation of O. glaberrima drought tolerance potential and
increasing yield potential using MARS
• Development of linkage with other projects: AfricaRice Breeding Task Force, GRiSP
Phenotyping Task Force
Field preparation for drought
experiment in Burkina

11. Highlights: WP5- Project and information
management
 Data gathering and information management
• Phenotyping databases, using IBWorkflow System, established at
AfricaRice and NARS countries (more than 15 trials already loaded)
• Data analysis strategy established (collection, quality control, statistical
analysis, QTL analysis, Simulation and decision)
• Regular Project updates and annual technical report developed and shared

12. • Information on farmers’ perception and management of drought in the
TPE is available through surveys involving around 200 farmers in Mali
and Nigeria.
• An efficient drought phenotyping network was established
Conclusion
• MARS POP 1 (IR64 X B6144) phenotyped for drought tolerance and
yield potential in 15 trials
• MARS POP 2 (IR64 X ITA212) evaluated for drought tolerance in 4
field trials in Burkina, Nigeria, Mali, AfricaRice-Ibadan, and 1
controlled-trials (AfricaRice)
• MARS POP3 (IR64 x Kogoni1-1) evaluated for drought and yield
potential in Cotonou and Mali

13. • Genotypic data available on three MARS pop
• Seven consistent QTLs were subsets out of 30
Conclusion
• A three steps optimization process was undertaken.
1) the genetic value of each line was estimated using genotypic data;
2) Six candidate lines are selected;
3) the expected genetic value of the progeny crosses between these lines was
computed and crosses are being made.
• Improved material identified at each cycle of selection will join the AfricaRice
and NARS partners’ varieties development and release pipelines. This is
already the case for the lines with improved yield stability

14. Collaborating Institutes
Center of Excellence for Rice Research
NCRI
Thank you !!!!!!!!