Presentation
Sommaire
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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.
Programme
In this project, we use new phenotyping methods to characterize a collection of 100 pearl millet inbred lines for 1) root system development and interaction with the rhizosphere microbiota and 2) nutritionally important seed compounds: phytic acid and C-glucosylflavones (goitrogen). The impact of certain root phenotypes on agronomical performances will also be assessed in field trials. In parallel, we will produce thousands of high quality DNA markers on the inbred lines for phenotype/genotype association purpose using next generation sequencing technologies. Together, these approaches should lead to the identification of QTLs/genes involved in agronomically relevant root and seed quality traits.
Expected outputs
Our project is first expected to increase our knowledge about pearl millet biology though the 1) identification of the cellular and molecular bases of pearl millet root development and interaction with the rhizosphere microbiota, 2) the analysis of the molecular bases of seed quality traits and 3) the description of the genetic diversity of a set of 100 inbred lines.
We expect these scientific results to leads to application in breeding through 1) the identification of alleles controlling desirable traits, 2) a set of SNP markers in 100 pearl millet inbred lines and 3) the identification of mutants with reduced seed phytic acid and C-glucosylflavones (goitrogen) content.
Finally, our project will have a capacity building output through the training of 7 young scientists in state-of-the-art phenotyping and genotyping techniques.
Deliverables
- Root architecture and growth parameters for 100 inbred lines
- Content of nutritionally relevant compounds in the seeds of 100 inbred lines
- Identification of pearl millet genes involved in phytate and C-glucosylflavones synthesis in seed and identification of pearl millet low phytic acid and low goitrogen plants.
- Genotype of 100 inbred lines and the individuals of the two RIL population with thousands of SNP markers
- Identification of genomic regions involved in the seed quality and root traits
Overall coherence with related national or international initiatives
The proposed project fits with the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (WECARD) whose aim is to improve agricultural productivity. CERAAS (part of this project) has a regional mandate for dryland cereals.
This project is coherent with the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals, led by ICRISAT (part of this project). Specifically, it fits with Strategic Component 2 “Developing improved dryland cereal varieties and hybrids for increased grain and stover yield, quality and adaptation in smallholder farmers’ fields”
Role of the various partners
UMR DIADE and AGAP will lead the root architecture phenotyping work (WP1) and will be involved in the gene discovery effort (WP3). UMR Eco&Sols and BVME will characterize the root/rhizosphere microbiota interaction (WP1). IBBA and Universita di Pavia will lead the seed quality characterization (WP2). LMI LAPSE will conduct field trials in Senegal (WP1 and 2) and will lead the genotyping effort (WP3). ICRISAT will provide a pearl millet TILLING population and identify putative mutants in candidate genes involved in phytate and goitrogen synthesis (WP2).
The NewPearl project is jointly funded by the Agropolis Fondation and Fondazione Cariplo.
Funding
