CAAREA breeding-related activities

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CAAREA breeding-related activities
Resistant varieties and role of plant health in
Aflatoxin control Presenter Dr. Arnold
Mushongi ARI-Uyole CAAREA Tanzania Project
Leader
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Maize research status in developing countries
Losses of maize grain yield due to various
stresses in the developing world

• Lost to stem borers gt10
• Lost to post harvest pests gt15
• Total insect pests gt25

Loss of quality less studied!!!
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Background in Tanzania

• Tanzania people 44 million
• 85 of Tanzanians depend on maize
• 60 dietary calories, 50 daily protein maize
  also cash crop multiple uses (including feed)
• Per capita consumption annual 112.5kg
  (308g/person/day) national utilization 3million
  metric tons(TFSD, 1996) GY 3.66mt FAOSTAT
  2007 i.e. production consumption
• very low maize productivity lt1.5t/ha vs
  potential of 8t/ha due to multiple factors ---
  use 9kg/ha fertilizer (AFS, 2006), poverty,
  unstable climate, etc

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More and more Varieties needed that

• A. Yield higher
• B. Are safe for human and livestock consumption
• Plant health is key in achieving a) and b) above,
  since a stressed genotype will succumb to the
  stressors and consequently ill performance
• Achieving a) and b) will contribute to improving
  national food security, alleviate poverty

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Current interventions

• Two breeding projects on maize
• I. On improved production and productivity
• II. Food safety and human nutrition
• Challenge chances are limited to have varieties
  that have outstanding higher yields and are
  aflatoxin resistant
• Efforts done to strike a balance
• Note further that no crop variety in Tanzania are
  proven to be resistant to aflatoxin accumulation
  (TOSCI, 01 December 2012 pers. comm.)

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Project I AGRA

• Title Towards improvement and adoption of
  African Crops Production, testing, promotion and
  distribution of seeds of improved hybrid Maize
  cultivars in the intermediate and
  transition-to-low altitude zones of Tanzania
• Goal To improve national food security and the
  livelihoods of poor rural farmers through access
  to new improved maize cultivars and an efficient
  quality seed production and distribution system
  in Tanzania

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Key activities

• Inbred-hybrid generation and evaluation
• Maintenance breeding
• Population improvement
• Production of breeder and pre-basic seed for ASA
  and private sector
• Promote and use participatory maize breeding
• Convening meetings embracing PPP approach in the
  local seed industry
• Extension messages on good agronomic practices
  for maize production

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Targeted traits

• High grain yield
• Early maturity
• Mitigating consequences of climate change
• Drought tolerance
• Striga weed tolerance
• Maize streak virus tolerance
• Early maturity
• Other key biotic and abiotic stresses
• Market traits i.e. end user preferences

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Project II specifically on breeding for
resistance to Aflatoxin accumulation Milestones

• 16 in total
• Subdivided mainly to
• interacting with key stakeholders
• National wide survey
• Human/staff and institutional support
• Field trials (inoculated and uninoculated)
• Biobanking, manuscript publications
• Strategic (culture of moving from Data to
  decision making) --- success of CAAREA !!!!!

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Breeding target GY MA tolerance/resistance

• Eco-biological socioeconomic issues drought,
  low soil fertility (N), high temperature,
  insect/disease resistance (pre, postharvest),
  farmers preferences, etc
• Traits GY components, tight husk cover, closed
  ear tips, flintier kernels, long EFPD, fast KDD,
  earliness, drooped ears, etc
• Secondary traits targeted due to low heritability
  of aflatoxin accumulation cf. other types of
  mycotoxins
• Implication highly influenced by GxE
  interaction, more environments required to
  validate results

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Ear/kernel rots
A. Flavus and A. parasitucus produce aflatoxins
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• Pre-harvest Maize ear samples (250) collected
  from 10 sites (low and highland maize)
• Period June-July 2012
• Post-harvest same sites
• Period September-October 2012
• Trials planted at in two planting regimes in two
  sites with A. flavus (Table 1)
• Secondary traits bred for and evaluated by MSc
  student in lowland maize
• NxP fertiliser trial done by another MSc students
  in the Southern Highlands

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Continous work Field trial panels, planting,
modeling

• Field trial (inoculated)
• 40 entries (20 inbred lines, 10 highly advanced
  experimental hybrids, 10 very popular commercial
  hybrids)
• FT uninoculated 10 popular varieties per
  agro-zone i.e. 20 experimental stations across
  Tanzania
• data collection weather, phenotypic
• data analysis, modeling, risk maps-aflatoxin,
  stresses

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Automatic weather station at trial site
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Table 1 Laboratory results of fungal isolates
()
Site Aspergillus Aspergillus Aspergillus
flavus niger carbonareous
Igeri (Njombe) 13.4 7.4 14.8
Seatondale (Iringa) 2.2 0 0
Mbimba (Mbeya) 0 0 0
Ismani (Iringa) 0 0 0
Milundikwa (Rukwa) 0 0 0
Mitalula (Mbeya) 0 0 0
ARI-Uyole (Mbeya) 0 0 0
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Capacity building

• MSc students (Christine Kaswahili, Sokoine
  University of Agriculture and Samuel Msuya, Open
  University of Tanzania
• Nursery crossing block at ARI-Ilonga (Dr Mushongi
  and MSc student Ms Christina Kaswahili)

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From R. Nelson, Cornell University
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From R. Nelson, Cornell University
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From R. Nelson, Cornell University
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Aflatoxin level tested inbred lines (CAAREA-
Kenya)
0-20ppb
Above 100ppb
20-100ppb
Inoculated maize genotypes (entries)
FT2FT2 analysis beginning January overlap of
genotypes in Tanzania ? quicker, more confident
answers analysis beginning Januarynotypes in
Tanzania ? confident answers
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Potential opportunities for scaling up

• Successful models developed from this project
  would be applied to
• other crops where aflatoxin is a problem
• as decision support systems along the nodes of
  crop value chain
• reliably predict and demarcate target population
  of environments as hotspots for breeding goals
  against aflatoxin accumulation (including other
  mycotoxins in other food and feed systems)

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Potential opportunities for scaling up

• Human and institutional capacity building would
  foster national efforts to mitigate the problem
  in long run
• Sustainable impact would result from the approach
  emphasized by AGRA of promoting the PPP approach
  in the local seed industry breeding and
  releasing new varieties and cooperation with
  local government, ASA and TOSCI.
• For instance from the CAAREA research outputs,
  TOSCI would be advised to include a criterion of
  resistance/tolerance to aflatoxin in major crops
  before their varieties are released while ASA and
  the private sector could popularize use of such
  varieties.

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Thank you!