LMI Adaptation des Plantes et microorganismes associés au Stress Environnementaux

Objectives

Pearl millet is a major crop contributing to food security for poor farmers in arid regions of the world. Despite its importance, pearl millet is an orphan crop that received very little support from science, industry and politics. As a result, it lags behind the other major grains in its genetic development and its average yields are low. However, its untapped potential is still vast and could be used to 1) improve tolerance to some environmental factors that are the main limitations to pearl millet growth and 2) increase pearl millet nutritional value and diversify its uses to make it more attractive. This project aims at providing tools and knowledge to accelerate the breeding of new pearl millet varieties with increased nutritional qualities as well as better adaptation to environmental stresses . Moreover, the project has a strong capacity building component whose objective is to train young African researchers in state-of-the art phenotyping and genotyping technologies.

This project is co-supervised by Dr Francesca SPARVOLI (IBBA, CNR, Italy) and Dr Laurent LAPLAZE (UMR DIADE, IRD, France).