CIMMYT E-News, vol 6 no. 1, January 2009

They draw fierce criticism from environmental groups, are hailed by some companies and scientists as a solution to global hunger, and chances are you’ve eaten them. Released commercially more than a decade ago, genetically modified (GM) crops and food products still cause controversy. In an attempt to set the record straight and generate productive discussion, the Science Museum in London recently hosted a debate on the pros and cons of GM technologies in the context of the global food price crisis. Rodomiro Ortiz, CIMMYT scientist and director of resource mobilization, took part with viewpoints from a science and development perspective.

Centers like CIMMYT and its partners in developing countries have achieved enormous success using conventional breeding methods to improve maize and wheat varieties. Farmers in developing countries grow seed derived from these efforts on nearly 100 million hectares worldwide, which has increased yields and helped lower the price of main staple crops.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 8, August 2007

Faster, cheaper, more efficient: gift from DuPont helps CIMMYT scientists look for genes in wheat and maize—and gives breeders an affordable tool to help select the best.

A quiet revolution is taking place in CIMMYT’s biotechnology labs. The team has just received a new generation of genotyping machines. These semi-automated work-horses will make it much easier to determine whether breeding lines contain specific useful genes. It is hoped that this will help maize and wheat breeders—through a process known as marker-assisted selection (MAS)—to make breeding more effective and get crop varieties with valuable traits to poor farmers more quickly.

Traditionally, the only way to find out whether the offspring from a particular cross have inherited useful characteristics, such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, or grain quality, has been to grow them in the field and evaluate the adult plants. MAS can speed up the breeding process, since it makes it possible to track the presence of desired genes in every generation. This does not bypass the need for field evaluation, but can greatly improve the efficiency of the process. “Field screening takes time, space, and resources, and our capacity is limited,” explains CIMMYT maize breeder Gary Atlin, “but with MAS we could use resources more effectively, zeroing in on the best lines to test in the field and filtering out those that haven’t inherited the characteristics we need.”

When researchers want to find out whether a particular line of wheat or maize has the useful version of a gene (for example, disease resistance rather than disease susceptibility), they use nearby, identifiable sections of DNA known as markers, labeled with a fluorescent dye. Different versions of markers and genes are called alleles. DNA that is close together on the chromosome tends to stay together over generations, so a specific allele of a marker will be routinely inherited alongside the desired allele of a nearby gene. Using the new capillary electrophoresis genotyping machines, the sample is forced along a narrow capillary tube under the influence of an electric current. A laser at the end of the tube detects the different alleles of the fluorescent markers, indicating to the scientist whether the sample contains the allele they want.

The two ABI 3700 machines have been generously donated to CIMMYT by DuPont through its Pioneer Hi-Bred seed business, reflecting a fruitful collaborative relationship of more than a decade’s standing. Until now, CIMMYT has run most of its marker-assisted selection work on manual, gel-based electrophoresis apparatuses. In addition, analyses of genetic relationships between different wheat or maize lines have been run on older ABI genotyping machines, including two based on the previous, much slower generation of gel-based machines. The new machines can handle many more samples—96 each at a time—but it’s the savings in hands-on time that makes the real difference. “There’s no comparison,” says Marilyn Warburton, Head of CIMMYT’s Applied Biotechnology Center. “It will take us ten minutes to load one of these new machines, whereas it takes about four hours to make and load a manual electrophoresis gel.”

As well as being much quicker and less labor-intensive, capillary electrophoresis makes it possible to test for more than one marker and run more than one sample at once in each tube. By using different colors of fluorescent dye for each sample, markers for each can be distinguished, like teams of runners wearing different-colored jerseys. For maximum efficiency, scientists can also set up groups of samples to run at slightly different times, like runners set off in a staggered start. CIMMYT will even be able to develop a new type of marker, known as SNPs, which allow numerous traits to be tested simultaneously, providing more information per sample.

All of this means that the new machines have a much higher throughput capacity, and can process many more samples for the same labor input, drastically reducing the per-sample cost—currently the major constraint on use of MAS. “If MAS were significantly cheaper, I would certainly use it in maize breeding,” says Atlin. “Effectively, it lets you quickly transfer the genes you want into improved varieties. If you’re doing a backcross between a donor with a desired trait and an improved parent with good agronomic performance, you’re trying to select for one characteristic from the donor, but against all its other genes. With a number of markers, MAS makes it possible to determine exactly which progeny combine the desired gene from the donor with the good genes from the other parent. You can get results in two generations, compared to four or five normally.”

The challenge for MAS is finding genes with substantial effects, especially for complex traits such as drought tolerance in maize. Atlin believes such genes are still to be found. “In the past, donors with a single useful gene or trait but otherwise poor agronomic qualities were very difficult to use in breeding, as they introduced so much bad material. We can get rid of that useless material through MAS. That opens up the field to look for useful genes in a wider range of parents. And genotyping technology is getting cheaper and better at finding genes all the time.”

In wheat, the hunt for useful markers at CIMMYT is more advanced. “We’re working with new markers to select for nematode resistance, leaf and stem rust resistance, boron tolerance, Fusarium resistance, and grain quality,” says Susanne Dreisigacker, CIMMYT wheat molecular biologist. “Our current work is all gel-based, which means running tests sample by sample and marker by marker. Being able to run many samples at the same time will make a huge difference.”

For more information: Marilyn Warburton, molecular geneticist (m.warburton@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 2, February 2007

At an agricultural research station in Kenya, ingenuity, improvised tools, and a small group of talented, dedicated researchers and technicians using good science, are on the front line of the battle to prevent a potential multi-billion dollar crop disaster for the world.

Peter Njau has a look of concern on his face and a sense of urgency in his voice. “Be very gentle,” he says. “You don’t have to separate each seedling from the others.” Njau, KARI-Njoro’s wheat breeder, is teaching technicians at the Njoro Agriculture Research Centre of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) to transplant thousands of extremely delicate winter wheat seedlings. The seedlings have been kept in a cool environment to simulate a temperate winter and now they are ready for what they will interpret as springtime.

The technicians are using a new transplanting method for the very first time. It should be more efficient but the team only has one chance to get it right. All day they have been preparing the plot, wetting it down and cooling the soil using a new sprinkler irrigation system; making small furrows in the damp soil and putting in beads of fertilizer; carefully marking and labeling the location for each plant. The transplanting has to take place just before sunset so the seedlings will have cool soil and a cool night to start establishing their young root systems. Any mistake and they will die and the opportunity to test them for resistance to the new stem rust will be lost until the next season.

Speed and precision are vital since the airborne fungus that was discovered in Uganda in 1999 has now spread beyond the African continent. It is following a path that will take it to the great wheat growing areas of south Asia where farmers grow wheat eaten by a billion people. In the last great stem rust outbreak in North America in 1954, the fungus destroyed as much as 40% of the spring wheat crop.

The Njoro station is in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, not far from the city of Nakuru and very close to the Equator. The new stem rust spores have been present in the air at the station for at least three years, making it the perfect location for testing wheat to see if it can resist the fungus. Called Ug99, the new stem rust is such a large threat to wheat around the world that scientists dare not transport the spores themselves to other test locations. Instead as part of the CIMMYT-ICARDA Global Rust Initiative, which also includes national partners like KARI and the Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research (EIAR), the world’s wheat comes to East Africa. Similar work is being conducted at several sites in Ethiopia by EIAR. “We are committed to work with international partners to fight the looming threat of stem rust,” says Dr. Bedada Girma, leader of EIAR’s Stem Rust Task Force.

Njau works for KARI and manages both his KARI assigned research as well as the GRI wheat nurseries (plots of different wheat plants) at the station. In one area the team grows three different kinds of wheat that are known to be easily infected with Ug99. The three wheats mature at different times so there is always a source of infection to challenge the wheat being tested. An adjacent field has over 3,000 samples of spring wheat in nurseries designed to confirm what appears to be resistances found in previous seasons. Those nurseries also include CIMMYT and KARI breeding populations from which breeders hope to extract high performance, Ug99 varieties for Kenya and the world.

Not far from the plots, inside a small building, sheets of polyethylene shroud a makeshift innoculum chamber. Plastic garbage bags act as blinds to keep the room dark. On the floor are two old plastic spray bottles for water to keep the leaves of the host wheat plants damp. It is here where the fungus is grown and multiplied for use later on test plants. “We improvise a lot here,” says Miriam Kinyua, the Director of the station and overall coordinator of Kenya wheat research, including GRI activities. “The world needs this work to be done.” She also expresses gratitude to the Canadian International Development Agency for providing funding that let the station put in a good irrigation system. “We can now grow wheat in the off season and ensure that if the rains fail, our testing won’t,” she says. She is also pleased that the research station is now connected to the rest of the world via a satellite dish and the internet, another result of the CIDA contribution. New contributions from USAID are adding to the support for GRI work in both Kenya and Ethiopia.

Back at the transplant plot each group of seedlings is hand watered. Early the next morning the team will put small tree branches in the ground around the plot as stakes to hold up some old canvas sheets. The canvas will shade the fragile seedlings from the hot equatorial sun for another three days. Perhaps under the flapping canvas is a seedling that holds the key to durable resistance to the Ug99 fungus.

For more information Rick Ward, Coordinator, Global Rust Initiative (r.w.ward@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 10, October 2006

Improved maize makes a big difference in the lives of smallholder farmers on the slopes of Mt Kenya.

It’s 4:00 am and still pitch-black on the farm of Consolata Nyaga, but she is already busy at work. With nothing but the dim light of an oil lamp to guide her she carefully milks her two cows to be ready for the buyer who passes her house just before 5:00 every morning. She will get about a dollar for the three liters of milk, a profitable start to what will be a very long working day.

The milk cows are a very small part of her “garden”; a hectare and a quarter of land. She also grows some coffee, bananas, and beans. But what makes her farm work is the half hectare of improved maize she grows every season.

Consolata is a widow living alone, but her maize, a variety released by Kenya based on material from CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), feeds her and gives her the cash to put her 10 children through school. “This season I had thirteen bags” she proclaims. “Because it is my cash crop, I must sell and send the children to school.”

Neighbors are curious and come to field days on her farm to learn about the maize, which is not only a higher yielding variety but is also quality protein maize (QPM), meaning it has enhanced levels of the essential nutrient amino acids, lysine and tryptophan.

This is a part of Kenya where maize is not only a staple; it is the food people want to eat. Farmers store it inside their homes rather than in outside bins to prevent theft. “Actually any family that has no maize, has no food,” says Father Vincent Ireri, the Development Coordinator of the Diocese of Embu. “And anytime, even when we say as a country we have no food or there is famine, the implication is that there is no maize.” Ireri leads a team that works in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services, with farmers in the district to demonstrate the advantages of the new maize varieties.

CIMMYT and KARI have been working in this area to help farmers with maize varieties that are more drought-tolerant and insect resistant and under proper management give higher yields. Much of the work in this area has been funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Consolata and the community group of which she is the treasurer have been quick to adopt the improved materials. Life seems to revolve around maize on Consolata’s small farm. In fact when she comes back from selling the milk each morning she immediately settles down to a hot mug of uji—a maize meal porridge. At midday she starts to prepare for the evening meal. She puts a mixture of maize and beans, called githeri, to boil on the cooking fire and then heads to her last unprepared field with a large hoe. No animal-drawn plow, just the power of one energetic maize farmer.

“Ah no! Let me tell you, if you eat potatoes and cabbages and eat rice, you cannot have energy to dig,” she says. “Yes, maize has got very big energy. You see somebody like myself after 56 years cannot dig unless you eat something good!”

Four hours later, and after a trip to the market to sell a bag of maize, dinner is ready. Neighbors, friends, and relatives have stopped by to enjoy the feast as the sun sets.

“Whenever, if I miss maize, I feel as if I am losing somehow,” Consolata says. “Maize is good. Maize is my favorite thing. And I like it. Yes.”

You can read more about the adoption of quality protein maize in the Embu district in the August E-news article The maize with the beans inside: QPM gathers a following in Kenya.

For more information contact Dennis Friesen (d.friesen@cgiar.org)

May, 2005

Kenya broke historic agricultural ground in a protected field on May 27 when it sowed its first transgenic maize seeds into local soil. Supported by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the Rockefeller Foundation, this experiment is the first of its kind in the region. The Bt maize plants that sprout will be resistant to stem borer, an insect that drills into the maize stalk and causes significant losses to Kenyan harvests.

“Stem borers destroy some 400,000 tons of maize in Kenya each year, nearly equal to the nation’s annual imports of the crop,” says Dr. Romano Kiome, Director of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). By growing the Bt maize plants, farmers won’t have to worry about the pest or have to apply pesticide to counteract the destruction. “This is part of an innovative approach to help Kenyan farmers fight the insect pests, and it translates into increased food security and incomes,” Kiome says.

The field trials are being undertaken as part of the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) Project, a joint research project of KARI and CIMMYT. The goal is to verify the results from trials held at a biosafety greenhouse, which was officially opened in June of 2004. Researchers will now be checking to see how the transgenic maize holds up under field conditions

The trials will serve two purposes, according to IRMA Project Manager and CIMMYT maize breeder Stephen Mugo. First, they will be used to determine the effectiveness of various transgenic Bt genes against common Kenyan stem borers. Second, the plants will be crossed with Kenyan maize lines as part of a breeding process that will produce Bt maize varieties adapted to Kenyan growing conditions. The project is also developing stem borer resistant varieties using conventional breeding.

These trials are conducted in strict accordance with the terms proscribed by the Kenyan plant health regulatory body KEPHIS and the KARI and National Biosafety Committees, Mugo stresses. The open quarantine site where the confined trials are being held was built to their specifications and includes many biosafety and security measures to ensure that pollen, seed, or plant materials do not escape the trial area or cross inadvertently with maize not included in the experiment.

For further information, contact Stephen Mugo (s.mugo@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 9, September 2005

Techniques from maize may make better wheats.

Wheat farmers do not want their crop to fall over before the grain can be harvested. This condition, lodging, happens when grain weight becomes too heavy for the plant to support, bending the whole plant and limiting yields. In high yielding systems where farmers are able to input nitrogen fertilizer and water, the grain spike gets heavy and the plant can fall over. Big wheat spikes and resistance to lodging are both CIMMYT wheat breeding goals.

David Bergvinson specializes in insect pests in maize, where lodging is also a constraint and insects can exacerbate the problem by damaging a plant’s root system. Scientists have developed several techniques to measure the strength of the roots in maize. Bergvinson decided to try a maize technique on wheat.

“Variety is the spice of life,” says Bergvinson, regarding his shift from maize to wheat for this experiment, “Often we take for granted established techniques within our own crop of research without looking beyond to see how these can be applied to address important issues in other crops.”

With wheat breeder and colleague Richard Trethowan, Bergvinson used an electronic balance or scale to measure the strength of the crown, where the roots branch out into the soil, by pulling vertically on the plant until it is uprooted. In addition, they tested the stem toughness at the base of the plant.

In this literally ground-breaking experiment, Bergvinson and Trethowan hypothesize that wheat which performs well, that is takes the most force to uproot it, should also resist lodging. So far, they have tested fifty wheat lines at three of CIMMYT’s wheat stations in Mexico, all with different environmental and soil conditions. Next season, they hope to confirm the results with further tests at CIMMYT’s field station near Ciudad Obregon.

Although the results are not final, synthetic wheats, bred from durum wheat and wild relatives of wheat, appear to have stood up well in both tests. Synthetics are also known for their ability to withstand drought stress. Wheat lines known to fall prey to lodging performed poorly in the tests, indicating that this relatively straightforward measurement can potentially be used to screen and eliminate lodging susceptible wheats in the breeding program.

April, 2004

Visiting family farms in Punjab this month, US Ambassador to India Dr. David C. Mulford learned how conservation agriculture benefits farmers and the local economy.

For four years, farmer Tara Singh and his family have experimented with zero tillage and bed planting, two techniques promoted by the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains. After meeting with Singh and other farmers, Ambassador Mulford said he was “impressed” to see that the techniques “work in fields and farmers are using them to their advantage.” The techniques have potential to conserve water, improve the quality of the soil, reduce the use of fuel in farming, and improve weed control.

Singh and his family run an intensive and complex farming operation that highlights the pressures and opportunities that are transforming agriculture in this region. Water, especially for agriculture, will become increasingly scarce. Demanding new markets for horticultural crops are emerging. Farmers cannot predict how increasing competition and changing export markets might affect their production of rice and wheat, which are India’s traditional staples but also potentially valuable exports.

On half of the farm, Singh grows rice and wheat in rotation. Wheat covers the ground from November to May, and then rice is planted. On the other half of his land, he has diversified production considerably. After growing rice in the monsoon season, he produces lettuce, broccoli, mustard, and tomato in winter. In spring, Singh’s fields are planted to leeks, bitter gourd, cucurbits, tomatoes, radishes, onions; and mint. Most of these crops are grown in combinations or as relays. Some are grown on raised beds to leave the soil undistributed and to make weed and water control much easier.

Singh’s experimentation is helping researchers to learn how conservation agriculture and diversification might benefit smaller farms with fewer resources.

Ambassador Mulford and others at the field visit discussed some of the challenges and concerns shared by farmers and researchers, such as the need for appropriate field equipment for conservation agriculture, the effects on local labor markets, the role of equipment manufacturers, and the need to cope with large amounts of crop residue without plowing and burning. Despite the challenges, the projected benefits of conservation agriculture are promising. In 2002, researchers at Australia’s Centre for International Economics calculated that the increased use of zero-tillage techniques promoted by the Rice-Wheat Consortium offered a gain of 1.8 million Australian dollars per year to the Indian economy.

The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains was founded in 1994 by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Its goal is to improve the productivity of rice- and wheat-based farming while protecting natural resources. The Consortium receives support from the governments of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, UK, and USA, as well as from the Asian Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and World Bank. Partners include five CGIAR international agricultural research centers, numerous advanced research institutes, equipment manufacturers, NGOs, and farmer groups. CIMMYT is currently the convening CGIAR Center for the Consortium’s work.

Ambassador Mulford was accompanied in the field by his wife and by Embassy staff, including Drs. Larry Paulson and Chad Russell; several farmers from Jalbera Village; Dr. Amjer Singh (Director), Er. B.S. Sidhu (Jt Director), Tarsem Singh (Chief Agriculture Officer), all of the Department of Agriculture, and S.K. Ahluwalia (Deputy Commissioner), Punjab Government; and Dr. Raj K. Gupta and other staff working with Rice-Wheat Consortium. The Ambassador and his delegation also met with the Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University and with the Governor and Chief Minister of Punjab.

September, 2004

CIMMYT maize breeders Dave Beck and Hugo Cordova organized and led a seed production course on 6-14 September at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batan, Mexico. The course, entitled “Production of High Quality Seed with an Emphasis on Quality Protein Maize,” was funded in part by the Mexican national organization SAGARPA.

This was the first seed course in which Beck and Cordova targeted mainly small seed companies from Mexico. They hosted 38 participants from universities, the public research sector, private companies, farmer associations, and other institutes involved in maize seed production. Seed courses of this type are offered about once a year at CIMMYT headquarters and several times a year at outreach offices, particularly in Africa.

Beck says he hopes to have an impact on small-scale farmers. “We’re trying to balance our training course between the formal and informal seed sectors with the principal goal of getting more improved seed into the hands of small-scale farmers,” he says. “I hope that participants gain a better understanding of the key aspects involved in quality seed production and that they can walk away with new, practical ideas on how they can technically improve the quality of the seed they’re producing.”

The course focused on quality protein maize (QPM), which some participants were learning about for the first time. Beck wants participants to see that QPM products developed by CIMMYT and partners are competitive with commonly used varieties. “This is an important step in the chain of getting materials to farmers,” says Beck. “We can develop excellent varieties, but if they’re not quality produced in sufficient quantities, our breeding research work is going to have minimal impact.”

The course covered technical issues and field aspects relating to quality seed production. Course instructors included CIMMYT staff members and a professor from the Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, Mexico. They discussed post-harvest handling, seed conditioning, technology transfer, marketing, and seed distribution, among other topics. Participants visited fields at El Batan and at CIMMYT’s Agua Fria research station in the state of Veracruz, where they looked at seed production blocks, breeding work, and demonstration blocks.

“The participants were really impressed with what they saw at the field level,” says Cordova. “We know that QPM can alleviate hunger and malnutrition in the coming years, so we are promoting the use of this germplasm.”

Many participants wanted to know more about marketing seed. Because the private sector often keeps knowledge about producing genetically pure seed confidential, Beck stresses the importance of assisting small seed companies, the public sector, and farmer associations. Cordova says information provided in the course will hopefully help small companies compete better with big ones.

Beck hopes that the course will help strengthen relationships with CIMMYT collaborators, many of whom sent participants to the course. He also envisions that the participants will build relationships with each other and find opportunities to work together.

For more information: David Beck or Hugo Cordova

CIMMYT E-News, vol 6 no. 3, April 2009

It is a common dilemma for non-profits and assistance programs: how to deliver benefits to the needy without creating dependency or disrupting markets. Addressing this problem, Maize Seed for the Poor (MSP), a pilot project in Kenya, is exploring ways to offer farmers subsidized agricultural inputs to boost farm productivity, while also energizing local seed markets.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 8, August 2007

Zero-tillage trials in rainfed, winter wheat-fallow systems show smallholder farmers on the Anatolian Plains a way to double their harvests.

Muzzafer Avci is an agronomist with the Central Field Crops Research Institute of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture. In recent years he has been working with CIMMYT wheat agronomist, Ken Sayre, and over time has become an advocate of zero-tillage—the direct seeding of a crop into the residues of a previous crop, without plowing—for rainfed winter wheat, a key crop for small-scale farmers on the Anatolian Plateau. On this day, he completes a drought impact forecast for the Ministry and drives the three hours east of Ankarato to the Ilci Cicekdagi farm, where the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Turkey has funded zero-tillage trials.

On the Anatolian Plateau, farms are typically less than 10 hectares in size. Wheat farmers obtain just a single harvest every second season from each field. Sowing takes place in autumn before the onset of winter. The wheat germinates quickly, lies dormant over the winter, and matures the following summer. After harvest the field is left fallow for a year before being sown to wheat again. During the fallow, farmers plow the weeds under two or three times. Even with the long fallow, which one would suppose helps conserve or improve soil fertility, typical wheat harvests on these farms reach only 2 tons per hectare, far below the crop’s genetic potential. Once highly productive, the winter wheat farming system has become more and more dependent on fertilizer as soils degrade, making it unsustainable.

Model farm showcases zero-tillage

A former state farm that was recently privatized, the Ilci Cicekdagi farm is not typical. It comprises 1,700 hectares and supports modern, diversified farming involving dairy and beef cattle, sheep, and many crops, among them wheat. The farm owner and managers believe they have a responsibility to assist less well-endowed, smallholder farmers in the area. So they hold demonstrations and field days for the local community. Farm manager Nedim Tabak says he hopes the farm will be a model for local farmers. He is proud of his zero-tillage trials and shows them off to Avci and to Carla Konsten, Agricultural Counselor from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ankara. The Netherlands, Canada, and Australia have funded pilot zero-tillage work in Turkey for the past two years and representatives of those countries’ funding agencies are pleased with the result. “This technology will clearly benefit farmers on the Anatolian Plateau,” says Avci, who learned about zero-tillage first-hand at a CIMMYT course on the topic.

Retired agronomist Mufit Kalayci, recently brought back to the Anatolian Agricultural Research Center in Eskisiher, Turkey, to mentor a new team, sees the value of zero-tillage in intensive, irrigated systems with more than a single crop per year, but is skeptical about using it with traditional rainfed wheat farms. “I don’t think you can retain enough moisture over the fallow period.” he says. For that reason, one of the goals of the zero-tillage experiment was to see if a second crop other than weeds could be grown during the fallow season. This question will be answered in coming years.

Zero-tillage: A lot to like

Of course, use of zero-tillage and retaining crop residues on the soil do more than simply capture and hold soil moisture. The practices reduce production costs and diesel fuel burning, and help prevent topsoil erosion from the strong winds that often sweep the Plateau during fallow. The elimination of repeated tillage to bury weeds also helps retain soil structure, aiding aeration and water filtration. The zero-tillage trials have obtained demonstration yields of more than 4 tons per hectare—double what farmers currently get.

Farm manager Tabak says his trials were sown late for lack of timely access to a zero-tillage seeder. He is planning to modify one of the seeders on the farm for next season. Already some local farmers have looked at his test plots and said they will try zero-tillage too next season.

For more information: Julie Nicol, Wheat Nematologist (j.nicol@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 1, January 2007

Farmers and community leaders in Kenya’s most densely-populated region have organized to produce and sell seed of a maize variety so well-suited for smallholders that distant peers in highland Nepal have also selected it.

According to Paul Okong’o, retired school teacher and leader of Technology Adoption through Research Organizations (TATRO), Ochur Village, Western Kenya, farmers first disliked the maize whose seed he and group members are producing. “It has small grains, and they thought this would reduce its market value,” he explains. “But when you sowed the seed, which looked small, what came out of it was not small!”

Small-scale maize farmers of the Regional Agricultural Association Group (RAAG), another community-based organization in Western Kenya, have quintupled their yields in only one year—now obtaining more than 2 tons of maize grain per hectare—using seed, fertilizer, and training from TATRO, according to RAAG coordinator, David Mukungu. “This has meant that, besides having enough to eat, farmers were able to sell something to cover children’s school fees or other expenses,” says Mukungu. “We started with six farmers the first year, but after other farmers saw the harvest, the number using the improved seed and practices increased to thirty, and we expect it will continue increasing.”

The variety whose seed TATRO grows is called Kakamega Synthetic-I. It is an open-pollinated variety—a type often preferred over hybrids by cash-strapped smallholders, because they can save grain from the harvest and sow it as seed the following year, without losing its high yield or other desirable traits. The variety is also drought tolerant, matures earlier than other local varieties, and is better for making Kenyan’s favorite starchy staple, ugali. “Women say it ‘pulls’ the water, which means you don’t need much maize flour to make a good, heavy ugali,” Okong’o explains. “These things seem small, but when taken together they weigh a lot for farmers who eat ugali as a daily staple.”

A maize that crosses many borders

Kakamega Synthetic-I was released by the KARI research station in Kakamega, Kenya. Its pedigree traces back to the work of CIMMYT and many partners in southern and eastern Africa—national maize research programs, private companies, and non-government organizations—to develop stress tolerant maize for the region’s smallholders. “Kakamega Synthetic I was selected from ZM621, a long-season, drought tolerant, open-pollinated variety now released in several African countries,” says Marianne Bänziger, CIMMYT maize physiologist who took part in the creation of ZM621 and now serves as director of the center’s Global Maize Program. “The variety has also been released in Nepal, after small-scale farmers from the mid-hills chose it as one of their favorites in participatory varietal trials.” Bänziger says. This highlights the role of a global organization like CIMMYT, which can draw upon and distribute public goods and expertise transcending national borders: “The center was predicated upon and has practiced collaborative science ‘globalization’ for agricultural development since its inception four decades ago—long before that term became fashionable in policy circles.”

Finding and filling entrepreneurial niches

By reducing risk for small-scale farmers, varieties like Kakamega Synthetic-I encourage investment in other amendments, like fertilizer, that can start smallholders on an upward spiral out of low-input, subsistence agriculture. Good varieties also entice enterprising farmers and community-based organizations like TATRO into potentially profitable businesses like seed production, for niches inadequately served by existing companies. “We observe the seed production regulations of the KEPHIS, the Kenyan plant health inspectorate, and would like to work toward certification of our organization, to be able to sell certified seed in labeled packages and fetch better prices,” says Okong’o. TATRO is currently producing and marketing just under 2 tons of Kakamega Synthetic-I—enough to sow more than 70 hectares—each year. The lack of effective informal seed production and distribution systems limits the spread of improved open pollinated maize varieties and farming practices in eastern Africa, according to Stephen Mugo. CIMMYT maize breeder in the region, Mugo also coordinated the former, Rockefeller Foundation-funded project “Strengthening maize seed supply systems for small-scale farmers in Western Kenya and Uganda” that involved TATRO and similar farmer organizations. “Improved varieties raised yields in the past and could do so again,” he says, “but only about one-fifth of the region’s farmers grow improved varieties.”

For more information, Stephen Mugo, maize breeder (s.mugo@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 11, November 2006

Ethiopia’s highland maize farmers now have a reason to smile—two reasons, as a matter of fact. Argene and Hora, recently released highland maize varieties, are spurring renewed hope for the country’s agricultural productivity.

Speaking at a farmer field day held in Bu’i, Oromiya, to showcase the new varieties’ performance, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Neway Gebre-Ab, termed the new varieties “a great breakthrough in research,” and said the future for highland farmers looked bright. “There is great enthusiasm; the farmers told us they were expecting a bumper harvest of 7 to 8 tons per hectare this season,” said CIMMYT maize breeder and coordinator of the Highland Maize Project, Twumasi Afriyie.

For several decades now smallholders cropping the highlands of Ethiopia have wanted new, higher-yielding maize varieties. The cool, wet climate is ideal for the crop, yet varieties released in the 1970s and 80s did not fully exploit the benign climate. Indeed, the older varieties have been giving lower and lower yields in successive seasons. The old varieties also take a long time to mature. Today, many farmers here consume their entire crop green, leaving nothing to mature in the field, and thus risking their long-term food security. This long maturity period also means that farmers can grow only one crop each year.

Since 1998 CIMMYT and partners have been working to develop new, high-yielding maize varieties for the highlands. Thousands of parent lines have been tested and bred in a systematic collaboration with researchers in eastern and central Africa, with the work in Ethiopia being achieved in partnership with scientists at the Ambo National Plant Protection Research Center of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR).

Argene and Hora have also been bred to withstand the important pests and diseases in the highlands. The new varieties mature in fewer days, and are stockier than traditional ones, which easily fall over (lodge) during storms or in strong winds.

Afriyie says Oromiya was a logical first home for the improved highland maize. The expansive state spans parts of western, central and southern Ethiopia, and is home to 26 million people. Nearly 90% are rural folk who depend on agriculture.

Higher maize production can make a real difference to the farmers in the region: The versatile crop can be eaten fresh off the cob or dried and pounded into flour to make different dishes. Poorer households are increasingly adding some maize meal to their injera batter (Ethiopia’s best-loved staple, injera is a spongy, fermented flatbread made from teff flour). This is due to teff’s high price. Surplus maize can be dried and stored for later, or sold for cash.

The farmers who are growing the new varieties plan to capitalize fully on the early maturity. “We can practice relay cropping and get two harvests in a season,” said one woman farmer—another double benefit from the new highland maize.

For more information, Twumasi Afriyie (t.afriyie@cgiar.org)

May, 2005

CIMMYT shows technology to enhance farmer income and reduce ocean pollution

Wheat farmers in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico’s Sonora State will be the first to gain from a new technology developed by CIMMYT researchers with partners from Oklahoma State and Stanford Universities. And while the farmers in Mexico will benefit, CIMMYT believes that farmers and the environment in many developing countries will reap rewards as well.

“I wish I had known about it this season,” said Ruben Luders when he saw the results. He farms 400 hectares of wheat in the Yaqui valley. “It will save me money.”

What Luders and more than twenty-five other farmers saw in a demonstration was an effective and accurate way to determine both the right time and correct amount of nitrogen fertilizer to apply to a growing wheat crop. Wheat needs nitrogen to grow properly, but until now there has been no easy way to know how to apply it in an optimum way. Traditionally farmers in the region fertilize before they plant their seed and then again at the first post-planting irrigation. The new approach, developed in conjunction with Oklahoma State University in the United States, uses an infrared sensor to measure the yield potential of wheat plants as they grow.

“I had been looking for something to determine nitrogen requirements for a long time,” says CIMMYT wheat agronomist, Dr. Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio. “This technology was already being used by CIMMYT scientists for other things, such as estimating the yield of different genotypes. It has taken time to calibrate it, but now we have a useful tool to determine the nitrogen a wheat plant needs.”

The sensor is held above the young, growing wheat plants and measures how much light is reflected in two different colors—red and invisible infrared. In technical terms this is called measuring the Normalized Differential Vegetative Index (NVDI). After much testing, Ortiz-Monasterio and his colleagues from Oklahoma State found they could get a handheld computer to calculate the nitrogen requirement of the plants from the two readings.

The demonstration, conducted in the fields of four different farmer-volunteers, showed they could maintain their yields using far less fertilizer. That is because fertilizer residue from over-applications in past seasons can still be utilized by the new crop.

“We used to feed the soil first, before growing the wheat,” says Luders. “Now we know we should feed the wheat.” He and his friends calculated that with just 80 hectares of wheat the nitrogen sensor, which costs about US $400, could pay for itself in a single season.

The demonstration was made possible because farmers in the Yaqui Valley have consistently supported the research work of CIMMYT and of Mexico’s national agricultural research institute, INIFAP, in the area.

There is much more to this technology than a tool to maximize farm income. A recent Stanford University study published by the prestigious science journal Nature showed that each time farmers irrigate their fields, some of the excess nitrogen fertilizer washes into the nearby Sea of Cortez. The heavy load of nitrogen in the water results in blooms of algae which deplete the oxygen in the water. In other parts of the world such algae blooms can do serious damage to local fisheries. If widely adopted in the Yaqui Valley, the nitrogen-optimizing technology should result in less fertilizer washing into the sea.

Runoff of excess nitrogen fertilizer is a problem that will threaten many more sensitive bodies of water around the world, according to Ortiz-Monasterio. “As farming systems intensify to feed more people, we need to increase production but minimize impact on the environment,” he says. So while farmers in the State of Sonora may be the first to benefit, they certainly will not be the last. Just five days before the demonstration in Ciudad Obregon, the first infrared sensor, a result of a USAID linkage grant with CIMMYT and Oklahoma State, arrived in Pakistan. This way, a technology proven in the field in Mexico will go on to assist farmers in poorer parts of the world and help maintain the health of coastal waters at the same time.

For further information, contact Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio (i.ortiz-monasterio@cgiar.org).

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 10, October 2005

In Mexico, the wheat of the conquistadors helps scientists in their battle against drought.

Wheat first came to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors about 500 years ago. Since then, generations of Mexican farmers have tended their wheat fields with traditional varieties that differ little from their forebears by virtue of wheat’s self-pollinating nature. Today, these time-tested wheats represent a new source of genetic diversity that could improve yields in drought-ridden areas by as much as 30 percent.

CIMMYT scientists and their Mexican collaborators have gathered thousands of traditional wheat varieties, called landraces, from diverse locations in Mexico. Farmer and natural selection over five centuries have combined to screen these wheats for drought tolerance under often severe conditions. Researchers are looking to capture the drought adaptive traits of these hearty old-timers and breed them into modern, higher yielding varieties. Of the original 2,100 varietal samples collected, nine are very promising.

“What we found was that the best of these landraces show considerably higher expression for certain drought and heat adaptive traits than common wheat,” says CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds. “Heat and drought stress often go hand in hand. Hot conditions exacerbate drought by evaporating more moisture from the soil, and when plants are dry their temperature rises. But with these traits, we might be able to increase the potential for yield under drought.” Drought plagues more than half of the wheat area in the developing world and so is a high priority for CIMMYT’s Rainfed Wheat Program.

There is a range of traits that can help wheat plants cope with dry conditions. Early in the season, many of the landraces showed an increased ability to accumulate carbohydrates in their stem, reserves that can be used later when the season gets drier for grain growth or to send roots deeper into the soil in search of water. A vigorous and rapidly growing leaf canopy can shade surrounding soil from the sun’s drying rays, thereby conserving soil moisture. Under stress conditions, the wheat spike can contribute to photosynthesis, which in turn promotes better development of the grain. While all of wheat’s organs can play an important role in producing grain in the face of drought, the root system is probably the most vital.

At a depth of 60-90cm below the soil, landraces had a more extensive root system and thus were able to extract more water out of the soil than common wheat. Not only did the landraces find more water, but they also used it more efficiently. “We found an association in these landraces between increased yield and root length density,” Reynolds says. Where there is a more extensive root system, the wheat is able to draw more water and nutrients out of the soil, increasing grain. Tallied up, the potential yield gain from these landraces may be considerable for farmers in dry areas.

“The next step is introducing these traits into the CIMMYT wheat breeding program,” says Reynolds. “Breeding and physiology work very closely to translate new information like this into useful products as quickly as possible by combining new drought adaptive traits with other traits such as disease resistance, good height, and time to maturity.”

For further information, contact Matthew Reynolds (m.reynolds@cgiar.org).