NewsletterHappeningsFebruary 2017, No. 1738

Feature Stories

Discussions during the Global Planning Meeting.

Promoting quality science through interdisciplinary research

During the biennial planning session of ICRISAT’s senior scientists, Dr David Bergvinson, Director General,

ICRISAT, said, “One of the challenges is how can we bring different disciplines and programs together to develop integrated multidisciplinary proposals as a key step in our strategy toward implementing our new organizational structure, delivering our country strategies and offering high quality science through interdisciplinary approaches.”

Dr Chandra Madramootoo, ICRISAT Governing Board Chair, emphasized the need to close yield gaps. Using the example of a study on groundnuts in India, he explained how the gaps between average yields, maximum yields and minimum yields are highly variable, especially when soil stresses are considered.

“Along with factoring in biotic and abiotic stresses, I think we need to put our crop breeding research programs in line with risks and business risks, because that is what the farmers are into, they are into this business and they need to manage risks. I think we should re-position and think how we look at our crop breeding strategy in terms of risks,” said Dr Madramootoo.

The Global Planning Meeting set aside a considerable amount of time, to review and enhance the existing crop breeding programs, discuss modernization of crop improvement, and strategize how to harness new tools to maximize genetic gains. Innovation systems research was

also discussed in detail to ascertain how all the different disciplines in crop improvement, innovation systems and other global and regional programs can work together to contribute to ICRISAT’s mission.

Specific case studies on: scaling up climate-smart agriculture, watershed management innovation and crop-livestock market were presented and discussed, to better understand and apply the innovation systems approach to agriculture research. Updates and highlights of ICRISAT’s global research programs were also presented by the respective research program directors.

To generate innovative research ideas, a ‘team challenge’ was organized during the meeting. Teams were required to come up with one innovative research topic, where the winning team would receive USD 5,000.

Eight research ideas were presented, and the winning pitch was from Dr Chris Ojiewo and team 'A Global Framework of Integrated Seed Systems for Climate Smart Crops'.Second runner-ups were: Dr Tilahun Amede Wondifraw and team, Dr Damaris A Odeny and team and Dr Albert Johannes Gierend and team.

Dr Peter Carberry, Deputy Director General – Research, ICRISAT, urged the participants to work as a team, across regional and global programs to deliver impact oriented work that ratifies and supports ICRISAT’s strategy of inclusive market oriented development for smallholder farmers.

Photo: PS Rao, ICRISAT

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“We have to ensure that we continue to deliver quality science that has a stand in the international community. We also need to deliver technology that has global and regional impact. We are an applied research organization and our vision and mission is about having impact on the ground and we have to deliver appropriate technology,” said Dr Carberry.

Over 212 scientists, managers and administrative staff from ICRISAT’s nine locations worldwide, convened at the 2017 Global Planning Meeting to update ICRISAT’s strategy, confirm 2017 work plans and identify methods to raise the science quality and impacts from research. The meeting took place at ICRISAT-India on 14-16 February.

For ICRISAT’s work in the last 45 years click here

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Innovative digital technology in the service of smallholder farmers

The ICRISAT innovation Hub (iHub), a creative space where agricultural technology entrepreneurs, scientists

and experts can collaborate to innovate cutting edge ideas for smallholder farmers, was inaugurated at ICRISAT-India.

“This is very important for the welfare of farmers. We have to enhance farmers’ incomes. Seventy percent of people in India are in agriculture and most of them are dependent on crop loans. I want to see farmers able to reduce their investments, increase productivity and yield with good rates, so they do not have to go for loans every year,” said Mr Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Agriculture Minister, Telangana.

Mr KT Rama Rao, IT Minister, Telangana, talked about how technology, science and agriculture extension can help farmers. “The convergence of technology with distressed sectors like agriculture, is the key to empower our farmers and to improve productivity. Science cannot be for the sake of science and unless it changes things on the ground for the common person we cannot say that we’ve been able to make a social and economic impact.”

Mr Rama Rao highlighted that, despite several interventions from the government, agriculture remains unattractive to youngsters as the sector is non-remunerative. According to him, this is an area which agricultural and technological innovation can target.

“Entrepreneurs with passion are the ideal individuals to tackle problems using innovation and drive conversations at the intersection of agriculture, finance and IT. Promoting such intense collaborations between entrepreneurs and ICRISAT scientists is at the heart of the idea of iHub. We have already launched an International Agricultural Innovations Program with T-Hub and many agritech startups have shown interest in collaborating with us,” said Dr Bergvinson, Director General, ICRISAT.

In this context, Dr Bergvinson emphasized on tailoring interventions and targeting knowledge for smallholder farmers to address their ambitions and aspirations of life

Inaugurating the iHUB: (L to R) Mr PS Reddy, Mr Rama Rao and Dr Bergvinson.

Mr Rama Rao addressing the gathering.

Photo: PS Rao, ICRISAT

Photo: PS Rao, ICRISAT

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A step towards seed conservation in Africa

which will then motivate them to follow those recommendations leading to technology adaptation.

As impacts of climate change are visible in the semi-arid and arid areas, Dr Bergvinson added, “We need to use advanced analytics, cloud computing, mobile technology to support farmers make best decisions to manage risks and maximize economic opportunities.”

To enhance and strengthen the strategic vision for iHub, a high level advisory council has been set up, comprising: Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary for IT, Telangana; Anil

Bhansali, Managing Director of Microsoft, India; Rama Iyer, Senior Vice President of T-Hub; Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University; BVR Mohan Reddy, Executive Chairperson, Cyient; C Parthasarathi, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Telangana; David Bergvinson, Director General, ICRISAT and convener Ram Dhulipala, Lead, Digital Agriculture and Youth, ICRISAT.

The iHub spread over 10,000 sq. ft. includes a 40-seater accelerator facility. It was inaugurated by Mr Rama Rao and Mr Srinivas Reddy on 13 February. g

A team from ICRISAT-Niamey genebank, visited a community-led seed bank in Tougouri village.

This seed bank is first of its kind in Burkina Faso. During the visit, the team interacted with farmers and expressed interest in collaborating with the seed bank in collection, conservation and regeneration of critical landraces at ICRISAT Sadoré station.

The seed bank is an initiative of local farmer groups and is supported by the Plants Genetic Resources Service of Burkina Faso. Thirty landraces are being stored in the seed bank which has a capacity for short to mid-term conservation. The bank also has an underground room, where panicles and pods of groundnut, pearl millet, sorghum and maize are conserved for 2-3 years.

The entire village participates in maintaining, organizing and managing the seed bank. The village elects a committee to take charge of the seed bank’s daily activities. After regeneration, excess seeds are distributed to farmers and priority is given to farmers who contribute to the seed bank.

ICRISAT’s regional genebank trains the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners in collection, seed multiplication and conservation activities.

The visit took place on 13 January and was organized in collaboration with the Institut National de l’Environnement et de la Recherche Agricole (INERA). g

For more information of ICRISAT’s role in biodiversity conservation, click here

This work contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

ICRISAT team at the seed bank.

Photo: ICRISAT

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New PublicationsQTL‐seq for rapid identification of candidate genes for 100‐seed weight and root/total plant dry weight ratio under rainfed conditions in chickpeaAuthors: Singh VK, Khan AW, Jaganathan D, Thudi M, Roorkiwal M, Takagi H, Garg V, Kumar V, Chitikineni A, Gaur PM, Sutton T, Terauchi R, and Varshney RKPublished: 2016, Plant Biotechnology Journal. pp. 2110-2119. ISSN 1467-7644Abstract: QTL-seq approach, was used to identify candidate genomic regions for 100-seed weight (100SDW) and total dry root weight to total plant dry weight ratio (RTR) under rainfed conditions. Genomewide SNP profiling of extreme phenotypic bulks from the ICC 4958 × ICC 1882 population identified two significant genomic regions, one on CaLG01 (1.08 Mb) and another on CaLG04 (2.7 Mb) linkage groups for 100SDW. Similarly, one significant genomic region on CaLG04 (1.10 Mb) was identified for RTR. http://oar.icrisat.org/9544/

Introgression of striga resistance into popular Sudanese sorghum varieties using marker assisted selectionAuthors: Ali R, Hash CT, Damris O, Elhussein A and Mohamed AHPublished: 2016, World Journal of Biotechnology, 01 (01): 48-55. ISSN 2518-0878Abstract: We used molecular marker-assisted backcrossing to introgress Striga resistance from a resistant genotype, N13, into agronomically important genetic backgrounds (Tabat, Wad and Ahmed). Backcross populations BC3S3 were generated and genotyped using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers. A total of 17 promising backcross progenies were selected and screened in Striga infested field alongside their parents. http://oar.icrisat.org/9551/

Plant Growth Promoting Actinobacteria: A New Avenue for Enhancing the Productivity and Soil Fertility of Grain LegumesAuthors: Gopalakrishnan S, Sathya A and Vijayabharathi RPublished: 2016, Springer, Singapore. ISBN 978-981-10-0705-7Abstract: Actinomycetes are bacteria that play an important role in PGP and plant protection, produce secondary metabolites of commercial interest, and their use is well documented in wheat, rice, beans, chickpeas and peas. In order to promote legumes, the general assembly of the UN recently declared 2016 the “International Year of Pulses.” In view of this development, this book illustrates how PGP actinomycetes can improve grain yield and soil fertility, improve control of insect pests and phytopathogens, and enhance host-plant resistance.http://oar.icrisat.org/9545/

Use of Genomic Approaches in Understanding the Role of Actinomycetes as PGP in Grain LegumesAuthors: Sharma M, Tarafdar A and Ghosh RPublished: 2016, Plant Growth Promoting Actinobacteria: A New Avenue for Enhancing the Productivity and Soil Fertility of Grain Legumes. Springer, Singapore, pp. 249-262. ISBN 978-981-10-0705-7Abstract: In agriculture, actinomycetes are used as biocontrol agents against some pests and pathogenic organisms as well as plant growth-promoting (PGP) agents for crops. Use of different molecular methods, e.g., metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, genetic fingerprinting, proteogenomics, and metaproteomics, are more significant for classifying and discovering the immense diversity in microbial population and for understanding their interactions with other abiotic and biotic environmental elements. The opportunity of accessing inexpensive sequencing techniques has led to the assemblies of copious genomic data for actinomycetes, such as Streptomyces and related species, with the goal of discovering novel bioactive metabolic and their utility as PGP; however, the use of actinomycetes in agriculture using genomic approaches is in its initial stages.http://oar.icrisat.org/9546/

Socio‐economic and Agricultural Vulnerability across Districts of KarnatakaAuthors: Raju KV, Deshpande RS and Satyasiba BPublished: 2016, Climate Change Challenge (3C) and Social-Economic-Ecological Interface-Building: Exploring Potential Adaptation Strategies for Bio-resource Conservation and Livelihood Development. Environmental Science and Engineering, Part 2. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp. 161-190. ISBN 978-3-319-31013-8Abstract: The current paper attempts to build a picture of the socio-economic context of vulnerability by focusing on indicators that measure both the state of development of the people as well as its capacity to progress further. The result of agricultural vulnerability index suggests indicators like cropping intensity, gross irrigated area and commercial crop area that are the major drivers in determining the vulnerability of districts of Karnataka. The socio-economic index depicts indicators like per capital income, population density and percentage of literacy rate that are the major drivers and contribute to the overall livelihood vulnerability of districts.http://oar.icrisat.org/9552/

Quantifying household vulnerability triggered by drought: evidence from rural IndiaAuthors: Sam AS, Kumar R, Kächele H and Müller K Published: 2016, Climate and Development. 01-16. ISSN 1756-5529Abstract: The objective of this paper is to quantify the livelihood and socio-economic vulnerability of rural households that are affected by drought in rural India. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index and Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index were applied to analyse the vulnerability of rural households. A sample size of 157 rural households from the state of Odisha in India was surveyed in 2015. Socio-demographic characteristics such as low literacy rates, high dependency ratios and weak housing structures make people more vulnerable, whereas access to social networks plays a significant role in supporting poor rural households. http://oar.icrisat.org/9581/

Differential Induction of Flavonoids in Groundnut in Response to Helicoverpa armigera and Aphis craccivora InfestationAuthors: War AR, Sharma SP and Sharma HCPublished: 2016, International Journal of Insect Science, 08. pp. 55-64. ISSN 1179-5433Abstract: High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprinting of phenols of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) plants with differential levels of resistance was carried out in response to Helicoverpa armigera (chewing insect) and Aphis craccivora (sucking pest) infestation. The genotypes used were ICGV 86699, ICGV 86031, ICG 2271 (NCAc 343), ICG 1697 (NCAc 17090), and JL 24. Most of the identified compounds were present in H. armigera- and A. craccivora-infested plants of ICGV 86699. http://oar.icrisat.org/9582/

Incidence of arthropod pests and diseases of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in northern GhanaAuthors: Tanzubil PBPublished: 2016, Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies, 04 (04): 29-32. ISSN 2320-7078Abstract: Combinations of farmer interviews and direct field sampling were carried out between 2014 and 2015 in five districts viz; Tolon, Savelugu, West Mamprusi in the Guinea savannah as well as in Bongo and Builsa North in the Sudan Savannah. Most farmers (80%) were able to mention and/or describe the key field pests and diseases often associated with groundnuts in Ghana, with termites, millipedes, white grubs and virus diseases being most frequently mentioned. Inspite of this knowledge, as many as 64% of farmers took no measures to control pests and diseases on their farms. Sampling of farms in the areas largely confirmed the farmer perceptions and responses in terms of the key members of the pest complex. http://oar.icrisat.org/9583/

Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci of Resistance to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus and Leaf Spots in a Recombinant Inbred Line Population of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) from SunOleic 97R and NC94022Authors: Khera P, Pandey MK, Wang H, Feng S, Qiao L, Culbreath AK, Kale S, Wang J, Holbrook CC, Zhuang W, Varshney RK and Guo BPublished: 2016, PLOS ONE, 11 (7): 01-17. ISSN 1932-6203Abstract: We developed a recombinant inbred line population from the cross between SunOleic 97R and NC94022, named as the S-population. An improved genetic linkage map was developed for the S-population with 248 marker loci and a marker density of 5.7 cM/loci. This genetic map was also compared with the physical map of diploid progenitors of tetraploid peanut, resulting in an overall co-linearity of about 60% with the average co-linearity of 68% for the A sub-genome and 47% for the B sub-genome. http://oar.icrisat.org/9585/

Global Resources of Genetic Diversity in PeanutAuthors: Barkley NA, Upadhyaya HD, Liao B and Holbrook CCPublished: 2016, Peanuts: Genetics, Processing, and Utilization. Academic Press and AOCS Press, pp. 67-109. ISBN 9781630670382Abstract: Peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an annual herb, with geocarpic fruits, and an indeterminate growth habit. It is classified as a legume in the plant family Fabaceae. Carl Linneaus first described the cultivated species in 1753, as A. hypogaea which was derived from the word “arachos” meaning a weed and “hypogaea” which means an underground chamber (Stalker and Simpson, 1995). Cultivated peanut can be classified into two subspecies, fastigiata and hypogaea, based on the presence or absence of floral axes on the main stem. They can be further divided into six botanical varieties (subspecies hypogaea: var. hirsuta, and var. hypogaea; subspecies fastigiata: var. aequatoriana, var. fastigiata, var. peruviana, and var. vulgaris) based on a range of morphological characteristics such as growth habit, trichomes, and pod morphology. http://oar.icrisat.org/9586/

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