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Plant Breeding and Biotechnology

Plant Breeding and Biotechnology

Crop cultivation has a long history in human civilization, with records showing the cultivation of cereal plants beginning at around 8000 BC. This early plant breeding was developed primarily to provide a steady supply of food.

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Accelerating genetic gain through early-stage on-farm sparse testing.

Christian R Werner¹, Mainassara Zaman-Allah², Teshale Assefa³

¹Accelerated Breeding Initiative (ABI), Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), 56237 Texcoco, Mexico; International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 56237 Texcoco, Mexico.

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Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

African crop breeding is shifting early selection from limited research stations to hundreds of farms. This on-farm sparse testing uses genomic relationships to improve crop varieties for smallholder farmers.

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Area of Science:

Agricultural Science
Plant Breeding
Genomics

Background:

Traditional crop breeding relies on limited research stations for early selection, which may not represent diverse smallholder farm conditions in Africa.
This disconnect can hinder the development of crop varieties that are optimally suited to the environments where smallholder farmers grow their crops.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and evaluate an early-stage on-farm sparse testing strategy for African crop breeding programs.
To leverage genomic relationships to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of selection in farmers' fields.

Main Methods:

Implementing sparse testing across hundreds of farms within the target population of environments.
Utilizing genomic relationship information to guide selection decisions in this distributed testing network.

Main Results:

The proposed on-farm sparse testing approach facilitates a shift in selection from centralized research stations to a broader range of real-world farming conditions.
This strategy is designed to enhance the rate of genetic gain by more accurately selecting for traits relevant to smallholder farmers.

Conclusions:

Early-stage on-farm sparse testing, integrated with genomic insights, offers a promising approach to accelerate crop improvement for African smallholder farmers.
This methodology enhances the relevance and impact of breeding programs by aligning selection with farmer-centric environments.