As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to two-thirds of the worldâs food energy intake, and contributing 55 to 70 percent of the total calories in the diets of people living in developing countries, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. CIMMYT scientists tackle food insecurity through improved nutrient-rich, high-yielding varieties and sustainable agronomic practices, ensuring that those who most depend on agriculture have enough to make a living and feed their families. The U.N. projects that the global population will increase to more than 9 billion people by 2050, which means that the successes and failures of wheat and maize farmers will continue to have a crucial impact on food security. Findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which show heat waves could occur more often and mean global surface temperatures could rise by up to 5 degrees Celsius throughout the century, indicate that increasing yield alone will be insufficient to meet future demand for food.
Achieving widespread food and nutritional security for the worldâs poorest people is more complex than simply boosting production. Biofortification of maize and wheat helps increase the vitamins and minerals in these key crops. CIMMYT helps families grow and eat provitamin A enriched maize, zinc-enhanced maize and wheat varieties, and quality protein maize. CIMMYT also works on improving food health and safety, by reducing mycotoxin levels in the global food chain. Mycotoxins are produced by fungi that colonize in food crops, and cause health problems or even death in humans or animals. Worldwide, CIMMYT helps train food processors to reduce fungal contamination in maize, and promotes affordable technologies and training to detect mycotoxins and reduce exposure.
The reported work by wheat scientists paves the way for expanded use of wild grass species, such as Aegilops tauschii (also known as goat grass; pictured here) as sources of new genes for higher grain zinc in wheat. (Photo: CIMMYT)
An international team of scientists applied genome-wide association analysis for the first time to study the genetics that underlie grain zinc concentrations in wheat, according to a report published in Nature Scientific Reports on September 10.
Analyzing zinc concentrations in the grain of 330 bread wheat lines across diverse environments in India and Mexico, the researchers uncovered 39 new molecular markers associated with the trait, as well as two wheat genome segments that carry important genes for zinc uptake, translocation, and storage in wheat.
The findings promise greatly to ease development of wheat varieties with enhanced levels of zinc, a critical micronutrient lacking in the diets of many poor who depend on wheat-based food, according to Velu Govindan, wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and first author of the new report.
âA collaboration among research centers in India, Australia, the USA and Mexico, this work will expedite breeding for higher zinc through use of âhotspotâ genome regions and molecular markers,â said Govindan. âIt also advances efforts to make selection for grain zinc a standard feature of CIMMYT wheat breeding. Because varieties derived from CIMMYT breeding are grown on nearly half the worldâs wheat lands, âmainstreamingâ high zinc in breeding programs could improve the micronutrient nutrition of millions.â
More than 17 percent of humans, largely across Africa and Asia, lack zinc in their diets, a factor responsible for the deaths of more than 400,000 young children each year.
Often used in human disease research, the genome-wide association approach was applied in this study to zero in on genome segments â known as quantitative trait loci (QTLs) â that carry genes of interest for wheat grain zinc content, according to Govindan.
âThe advantages of the genome-wide association method over traditional QTL mapping include better coverage of alleles and the ability to include landraces, elite cultivars, and advanced breeding lines in the analysis,â he explained. âOur study fully opens the door for the expanded use of wheat progenitor species as sources of alleles for high grain zinc, and the outcomes helped us to identify other candidate genes from wheat, barley, Brachypodium grasses and rice.â
Farmers in South Asia are growing six zinc-enhanced wheat varieties developed using CIMMYT breeding lines and released in recent years, according to Ravi Singh, head of the CIMMYT Bread Wheat Improvement Program.
Financial support for this study was provided by HarvestPlus (www.HarvestPlus.org), a global alliance of agriculture and nutrition research institutions working to increase the micronutrient density of staple food crops through biofortification. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of HarvestPlus. It was also supported by CGIAR Funders, through the Research Program on Wheat and the Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Research partners in India and Pakistan greatly contributed to this study by conducting high-quality field trials.
Farmer Eveline Musafari intercrops maize and a variety of legumes on her entire farm. She likes the ability to grow different food crops on the same space, providing her family with more food to eat and sell. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
Honest Musafari, a fifty-year-old farmer from rural Zimbabwe, eagerly picks up a clump of soil from his recently harvested field to show how dark and fertile it is. A farmer all his life, Musafari explains the soil has not always been like this. For years, he and his neighbors had to deal with poor eroding soil that increasingly dampened maize yields.
âMy soil was getting poorer each time I plowed my field, but since I stopped plowing, left the crop residues and planted maize together with legumes the soil is much healthier,â says Musafari. His 1.6-hectare maize-based farm, in the Murehwa district, supports his family of six.
For over two years, Musafari has been one of the ten farmers in this hot and dry area of Zimbabwe to trial intercropping legumes and green manure cover crops alongside their maize, to assess their impact on soil fertility.
The on-farm trials are part of efforts led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and government extension services to promote climate-resilient cropping systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
Increasing land degradation at the farm and landscape level is the major limitation to food security and livelihoods for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, says CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist Christian Thierfelder.
âOver 65 percent of soils in Africa are degraded. They lack the nutrients needed for productive crops. This is a major part of the reason why the regionâs maize yields are not increasing,â he explains. âThe failure to address poor soil health will have a disastrous effect on feeding the regionâs growing population.â
The area where Musafari lives was chosen to test intercropping, along with others in Malawi and Zambia, for their infamous poor soils.
Mixing it up
When legumes are intercropped with maize they act as a green manure adding nutrients to the soil through nitrogen fixation. Intercropping legumes and cereals along with the principles of conservation agriculture are considered away to sustainable intensify food production in Africa. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)
Planted in proximity to maize, legumes â like pigeon pea, lablab and jack beans â add nitrogen to the soil, acting as green manure as they grow, says Thierfelder. Essentially, they replace the nutrients being used by the cereal plant and are an accessible form of fertilizer for farmers who cannot afford mineral fertilizers to improve soil fertility.
âOur trials show legumes are a win for resource poor family farmers. Providing potentially 5 to 50 tons per hectare of extra organic matter besides ground cover and fodder,â he notes. âThey leave 50 to 350 kg per hectare of residual nitrogen in the soil and do not need extra fertilizer to grow.â
Added to the principles of conservation agriculture â defined by minimal soil disturbance, crop residue retention and diversification through crop rotation and intercropping â farmers are well on their way to building a resilient farm system, says Geoffrey Heinrich, a senior technical advisor for agriculture with CRS working to promote farmer adoption of green manure cover crops.
For years Musafari, as many other smallholder farmers in Africa, tilled the land to prepare it for planting, using plows to mix weeds and crop residues back into the soil. However, this intensive digging has damaged soil structure, destroyed most of the organic matter, reduced its ability to hold moisture and caused wind and water erosion.
Letting the plants do the work
Growing legumes alongside maize provides immediate benefits, such as reduced weeding labor and legume cash crops farmers can sell for a quick income. The legumes also improve the nitrogen levels in the soil and can save farmers money, as maize needs less fertilizer. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)
Musafari says the high price of mineral fertilizer puts it out of reach for farmers in his community. They only buy little amounts when they have spare cash, which is never enough to get its full benefit.
He was at first skeptical green manure cover crops could improve the quality of his soil or maize yields, he explains. However, he thought it was worth a try, considering growing different crops on the same plot would provide his family with more food and the opportunity to make some extra cash.
âIâm glad I tried intercropping. Every legume I intercropped with my maize improved the soil structure, its ability to capture rain water and also improved the health of my maize,â he says.
Thierfelder describes how this happens. Nitrogen fixation, which is unique to leguminous crops, is a very important process for improving soil fertility. This process involves bacteria in the soil and nitrogen in the air. The bacteria form small growths on the plant roots, called nodules, and capture the atmospheric nitrogen as it enters the soil. The nodules change the nitrogen into ammonia, a form of nitrogen plants use to produce protein.
In addition, legumes grown as a cover crop keep soil protected from heavy rains and strong winds and their roots hold the soil in place, the agronomist explains. They conserve soil moisture, suppress weeds and provide fodder for animals and new sources of food for consumption or sale.
Farmers embrace intercropping
Extension worker Memory Chipinguzi explains the benefits of intercropping legumes with cereals to farmers at a field day in the Murehwa district, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)
Working with CIMMYT, Musafari and his wife divided a part of their farm into eight 20 by 10 meter plots. On each plot, they intercropped maize with a different legume: cowpea, jack bean, lablab, pigeon pea, sugar bean and velvet bean. They also tried intercropping with two legumes on one of the plots. Then they compared all those options to growing maize alone.
âSeason by season the soil on each of the trial plots has got darker and my maize healthier,â describes Musafari. âRains used to come and wash away the soil, but now we donât plow or dig holes, so the soil is not being washed away; it holds the water.â
âI really like how the legumes have reduced the weeds. Before we had a major problem with witchweed, which is common in poor soils, but now itâs gone,â he adds.
Since the first season of the trial, Musafariâs maize yields have almost tripled. The first season his maize harvested 11 bags, or half a ton, and two seasons later it has increased to 32 bags, or 1.5 tons.
Musafariâs wife Eveline has also been convinced about the benefits of intercropping, expressing the family now wants to extend it to the whole farm. âIntercropping has more advantages than just growing maize. We get different types of food on the same space. We have more to eat and more to sell,â she says.
The family prefers intercropping with jack bean and lablab. Even though they were among the hardest legumes to sell, they improved the soil the most. They also mature at the same time as their maize, so they save labor as they only have to harvest once.
The benefits gained during intercropping have influenced farmers to adopt it as part of their farming practices at most of our trial sites across southern Africa, CRSâs Heinrich says.
âImmediate benefits, such as reduced weeding labor and legume cash crops that farmers can sell off quick, provide a good incentive for adoption,â he adds.
Honest and Eveline Musafari with extension worker, Memory Chipinguzi. Neighbors have noticed the intercropping trials on the Musafariâs farm and are beginning to adopt the practice to gain similar benefits. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
The majority of African farmers are smallholders who cultivate less than 2 hectares, explains Thierfelder. If they are to meet the food demand of a population set to almost double by 2050, bringing it to over 2 billion people while overcoming multiple challenges, they need much more productive and climate-resilient cropping systems.
New research identifies that the defining principles of conservation agriculture alone are not enough to shield farmers from the impacts of climate change. Complementary practices are required to make climate-resilient farming systems more functional for smallholder farmers in the short and long term, he warns.
âIntercropping with legumes is one complementary practice which can help building healthy soils that stand up to erratic weather,â says Thierfelder. âCIMMYT promotes climate-resilient cropping systems that are tailored to farmersâ needs,â he emphasizes.
âTo sustainably intensify farms, growers need to implement a variety of options including intercropping, using improved crop varieties resistant to heat and drought and efficient planting using mechanization along with the principles of conservation agriculture to obtain the best results.â
Service provider Bedilu Desta and his helper Fekadu Assefa drive a two-wheel tractor and thresher in the village of Gudoberet, Basona district, Ethiopia, in 2015. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
In the last two decades, Africa has taken a leap forward in the development and adoption of agricultural innovations. We have seen an increased use of improved seed, appropriate technologies and agricultural machinery, all adapted to the specific needs of African farmers.
As leaders gather at the African Green Revolution Forum this month, it is time to discuss the best way to take this progress even further, so small farmers across the continent can reap the benefits of sustainable intensification practices and produce more food.
How can we spread access to these technologies and resources and put them into the hands of Africaâs half a billion farmers? How can we best align the efforts of governments, agribusiness and academia? How can we unlock Africaâs agricultural potential and achieve the Malabo Declaration to end hunger by 2025?
It all starts with a seed. Access to quality seed â that stands up to drought, resists diseases and pests, and has nutritional value â helps family farmers adapt to climate change. Bundled with sustainable agronomic practices and technologies, these seeds have the power to unleash an economic shift that could lift millions of Africans out of poverty.
To make this happen, a strong seed system is imperative. Local seed companies need adequate and reliable foundation seed, as well as access to elite germplasm they can include in their own breeding programs. They also want to use new hybrid varieties and improve their certified seed production. Only then they will be able to sell low-cost improved seed to smallholders with low purchasing power and limited market access.
Climate-resilient seeds
The negative effects of climate change have been felt throughout Africa, particularly for maize farmers. The staple for more than 200 million resource-poor people, maize crops have increasingly been affected by changing climate conditions.
To address this challenge, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is developing a breeding pipeline of maize varieties, which are deployed by small and medium-sized local agribusinesses. Working in partnership with national governments, private companies and nonprofits, CIMMYT has so far released nearly 300 climate-resilient maize varieties, adapted to the different agroecologies in Africa.
Despite severe El Nino-induced droughts, farmers growing new maize varieties that withstand heat and drought have yielded twice as much as those with common commercial varieties, helping them ensure household food security. In Ethiopia, the estimated economic value of increased maize production due to climate-resilient varieties reached almost $30 million.
In other cases, biofortified food crops are helping to improve nutrition and fight âhidden hungerâ, by adding micronutrients to peopleâs diets. For example, nutritious orange maize containing higher amounts of vitamin A is already growing in several southern African countries, preventing children from stunting and losing eyesight.
Modern seed production technologyis providing African seed companies with efficient and affordable ways to develop quality seed and get it to farmers.
Through strong public-private partnerships, the amount of climate-resilient maize grown by African farmers has more than doubled over the last eight years, benefiting an estimated 53 million people. The increased volumes of improved seed reaching farmers now is encouraging, but far from adequate.
When innovation meets collaboration
Traditionally, new varieties can take up to 20 years to reach farmers, but new technologies are helping to speed up the breeding process. Data from flying drones loaded with cameras and other sensors can cut the time to monitor crop health from days to minutes.
The establishment of the regionâs first double haploid facility in Kenya reduces the cost and time for breeding work â it enables rapid development of homozygous maize lines and fast-tracks the release of new varieties. It was essential in the emergency response to the deadly Maize Lethal Necrosis, as breeders could release new varieties in just three years, instead of seven. The facility, open to public and private breeders, is currently being used to develop maize varieties that could resist the fall armyworm pest.
New types of small agricultural machines are helping to increase productivity, save time and reduce farmersâ workload. For example, two-wheel tractors allow smallholders to farm with more precision, conserve valuable resources and, ultimately, produce more. Renting agricultural equipment and providing mechanization services is also becoming a way for young entrepreneurs in rural areas to earn a living while giving access to powerful farming tools to family farmers who could not afford them otherwise.
Last June, representatives from dozens of African seed companies and national agricultural research institutions convened in Zimbabwe to establish the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) in Africa, similar to those already operating in Asia and Latin America. The consortium offers a systematic way to identify and share pre-release maize germplasm, which partners can use in their own breeding.
To address all these issues and democratize access to agricultural innovation, collaboration is crucial. Through past experience, we have learned that partnerships need to be more ambitious and that knowledge needs to be shared across borders. Any new solution must incorporate the expertise and action of national extension systems, private sector companies and other relevant stakeholders.
Donors need to consider long-term funding mechanisms that can operate at a regional and global scale.
Letâs build on the existing success and take it even further. Together, we can build robust seed systems and equip African farmers with the technology they need to envision a safe and sustainable future.
Martin Kropff is the director general of CIMMYT and Stephen Mugo is CIMMYT’s regional representative in Africa.
CIMMYT maize germplasm bank staff preparing the order for the repatriation of Guatemalan seed varieties. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) maize germplasm bank recently received an award in recognition of its contributions towards the Buena Milpa initiative in Guatemala, which aims to enhance the sustainability of maize systems in the country. Denise Costich, head of the maize germplasm bank, received the award on behalf of CIMMYT during the event âMaize of Guatemala: Repatriation, conservation and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity,â held on September 7, 2018, in Guatemala City.
The seed varieties stored in the CIMMYT germplasm bank were of vital importance in efforts to restore food security in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan, which swept through Guatemala in 2005, leading to 1,500 deaths. Many farmers lost entire crops and some indigenous communities were unable to harvest seed from their traditional maize varieties, known as landraces. Generations of selection by farmers under local conditions had endowed these varieties with resistance to drought, heat, local pests and diseases. Such losses were further exacerbated by the discovery that the entire maize seed collection in Guatemalaâs national seed bank had been damaged by humidity; the seeds were vulnerable to insects and fungus and could not be replanted.
In 2016, drawing upon the backup seed stored in its maize germplasm bank in Mexico, CIMMYT sent Guatemalan collaborators seed of 785 native Guatemalan maize varieties, including some of the varieties that had been lost. Collaborators in Guatemala subsequently planted and multiplied the seed from the historic CIMMYT samples, ensuring the varieties grow well under local conditions. On completion of this process, the best materials will be returned to local and national seedbanks in Guatemala, where they will be available for farmers and researchers to grow, study and use in breeding programs.
Jointly hosted by the government of Guatemala through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the recent ceremony signified the official delivery of the repatriated seed into the national system. Attendees celebrated the importance of maize in Guatemala and witnessed the presentation of repatriated maize collections to local and national Guatemalan seedbank authorities, including the Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (ICTA).
âSupporting the seed conservation networks, on both the national and community levels in countries like Guatemala, is a key part of the mission of the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank,â said Costich. âOur collaboration with the Buena Milpa project has enabled the transfer of both seed and seed conservation technologies to improve the food security in communities with maize-centered diets.â
The Buena Milpa initiative in Guatemala is improving storage practices in community seed reserves: tiny, low-tech seed banks meant to serve as backups for villages in cases of catastrophic seed loss. So far, Buena Milpa has enabled 1,800 farmers to access community seed reserves. In addition, 13,000 farmers have applied improved practices and technologies.
The CIMMYT maize germplasm bank, headquartered in Mexico, serves as a backup for farmers and researchers in times of catastrophic seed loss by safeguarding maize genetic diversity, a crucial building block in global food security.
For the first time ever, a research team of more than 40 scientists has genetically characterized values of exotics in hexaploid wheat. CIMMYT scientists, together with partners in Demark, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK, used next-generation sequencing and multi-environment phenotyping to study the contribution of exotic genomes to pre-breeding lines. Research required collaborative development, evaluation, and deployment of novel genetic resources to breeding programs addressing food security under climate change scenarios in India, Mexico, and Pakistan.
The team generated large-scale pre-breeding materials, which have been evaluated for important traits such as grain yield, quality, and disease resistance. Pre-breeding and haplotype-based approaches revealed useful genetic footprints of exotic lines in pre-breeding germplasm. Results of the study, recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, show that some DNA from exotic germplasm improved the biotic and abiotic stress tolerances of lines derived from crosses of exotics with CIMMYTâs best elite lines.
The practical successes of large-scale, impact-oriented breeding work will be useful to other wheat breeding programs around the world, and the information generated could be used to boost global wheat productivity.
Sukhwinder Singh, wheat lead on CIMMYTâs SeeD Project, explains that pre-breeding is in-demand and the resources developed through this study can serve as tools to address upcoming challenges in wheat production more efficiently, as desirable alleles from exotics have been mobilized into best elite genetic background. Breeding programs can now use this material to deliver outcomes in shorter timeframes by avoiding the lengthy process of searching for exotics first.
This research was conducted as part of the Seeds of Discovery and MasAgro projects in collaboration with the Borlaug Institute for South Asia, and was made possible by generous support from Mexicoâs Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), the Government of Punjab, and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat.
Check out other recent publications by CIMMYT researchers below: Â
Applications of machine learning methods to genomic selection in breeding wheat for rust resistance. GonzĂĄlez-Camacho, J.M., Ornella, L., Perez-Rodriguez, P., Gianola, D., Dreisigacker, S., Crossa, J. In: Plant Genome v. 11, no. 2, art. 170104.
Bayesian functional regression as an alternative statistical analysis of highâthroughput phenotyping data of modern agriculture. Montesinos-LĂłpez, A., Montesinos-LĂłpez, O.A., De los Campos, G., Crossa, J., Burgueño, J., Luna-VĂĄzquez, F.J. In: Plant Methods v. 14, art. 46.
Effect of ppd-a1 and ppd-b1 allelic variants on grain number and thousand-kernel weight of durum wheat and their impact on final grain yield. Arjona, J.M., Royo, C., Dreisigacker, S., Ammar, K., Villegas, D. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 9, art. 888.
Genomic-enabled prediction accuracies increased by modeling genotype Ă environment interaction in durum wheat. Sukumaran, S., JarquĂn, D., Crossa, J., Reynolds, M.P. In: Plant Genome v. 11, no. 2, art. 170112.
Mexican tropical cream cheese yield using low-fat milk induced by trans-10, cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid: effect of palmitic acid. Granados-Rivera, L.D., Hernåndez-Mendo, O., Burgueño, J., Gonzalez-Munoz, S.S., Mendoza-Martinez, G.D., Mora-Flores, J.S., Arriaga-Jordan, C.M. In: CyTA-Journal of Food v. 16, no. 1, p. 311-315.
While traveling through Africa and stopping at CIMMYTâs regional offices, I had the pleasure of meeting the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and discussing ways of enhancing agricultural productivity in the face of erratic rains expected in the 2018-19 farming season.
CIMMYT’s director general Martin Kropff (right) greets the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, at Munhumutapa Offices in Harare. (Picture by Tawanda Mudimu)
A Maasai woman holding a baby (center) attends the plenary session of the GLF Nairobi 2018. (Photo: Global Landscapes Forum)
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) â The latest event of the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) took place on August 29-30 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the topic of forest and landscape restoration in Africa. To tackle the urgent issue of deforestation and land degradation, the sessions and panels covered topics as diverse as community-led restoration, how to address social inclusion in land management, or how to work with supply chain actors to achieve sustainable landscapes and better livelihoods for local communities.
Landscape degradation directly affects 1.5 billion people. Local communities are usually the first ones to experience the negative effects of this problem on their livelihoods, access to water and loss of topsoil and farm productivity.
Sustainable landscapes play a role in CIMMYTâs work. In Ethiopia, CIMMYTâs research in collaboration with CIFOR showed that a landscape approach can improve the nutrition and resilience of farming families. The transfer of organic matter and nutrients from forest patches to farmersâ fields, through livestock manure and fuelwood, enriches the soils and increases the zinc and protein content of wheat grain.
While agronomy tends to look at the fieldâs scale, a landscape perspective may also be important for more efficient pest control, as CIMMYTâs research with Wageningen University found. A useful learning as agriculture experts look at ways to combat emerging pests like the fall armyworm.
Voices of the Landscape Plenary at the GLF Nairobi 2018. (Photo: Global Landscapes Forum)
Better soil and rights
Participants in GLF Nairobi 2018 called for concrete collective action to restore degraded landscapes.
Having real-time accurate dashboards of land degradation could help governments and development organizations build coherent policies and restoration programs. Mark Schauer from the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative explained why soil is important and how monetizing the costs and benefits of sustainable soil management practices could help decision-makers build more sustainable food systems. Sharing data in transboundary contexts is a challenge but can be overcome, as the Eastern Africa Forest Observatory (OFESA) has shown.
Asking uncomfortable questions is necessary to support the people who depend the most on landscapesâ health. Milagre Nuvunga from the MICAIA Foundation in Mozambique recommended to put womenâs rights at the center of landscape restoration programs. Several testimonies reminded that women living in patriarchal societies often do not have land rights, so land will go back to the husbandâs family in case of death or divorce. Even if they know the benefits of landscape restoration, âwhy would women careâ to invest time and energy on it if their rights are not secured, she asked.
Matthew Rouse, a researcher with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has been named the winner of the 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. Rouse is recognized for his essential leadership efforts to contain and reduce the impact of Ug99, a devastating new race of the stem rust pathogen that poses a serious threat to the worldâs wheat crops and food security.
The Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application is presented annually to a young extension worker, research scientist or development professional who best emulates the dedication, perseverance, and innovation demonstrated by Norman Borlaug while working in the field with Mexican farmers in the 1940s and ’50s.
âWhen I learned that I was selected for the Borlaug Field Award, I was humbled by both the legacy of Norman Borlaug and by the fact that any impact I made was a part of collaborations with talented and hard-working individuals at USDA-ARS, the University of Minnesota, CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, and other national programs,â Rouse said.
Rouse has been an essential collaborator for a wide range of crucial projects to protect the worldâs wheat crops. His research supports more than 20 breeding programs in the U.S. and 15 wheat genetics programs around the world, including those at CIMMYT. As the coordinator of ARSâs spring wheat nursery project in Ethiopia and Kenya, he has provided Ug99 resistance genes to breeders worldwide, accelerating the process for incorporating enhanced stem rust protection into wheat varieties.
Rouse also collaborated with CIMMYT in 2013, when a race of stem rust unrelated to Ug99 caused an epidemic in Ethiopia. He rapidly assembled a team of scientists from CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and USDA-ARS, and developed a research plan to establish four stem rust screening nurseries. This led to the selection of promising new wheat breeding lines by Ethiopian and CIMMYT scientists and the rapid 2015 release of the variety âKingbirdâ in Ethiopia, which was shown to be resistant to four of the most dangerous races of stem rust in addition to Ug99.
After 13 years of research, an international team of more than 200 scientists recently cracked the full genome of bread wheat. Considering that wheat has five times more DNA than humans, this is a significant scientific breakthrough. The complete sequencing provides researchers with a map for the location of more than 100,000 genes which, experts say, will help accelerate the development of new wheat varieties.
Philomin Juliana, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in wheat breeding at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) talks about the relevance of the new map for the center, whose genetics figures in the pedigrees of wheat varieties grown on more than 100 million hectares worldwide.
Are you already using this resource, and how?
We have anchored the genotyping-by-sequencing marker data for about 46,000 lines from CIMMYTâs first-year wheat yield trials (2013-2018) to the new, International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) reference sequence (RefSeq v1.0) assembly of the bread wheat genome, with an overall alignment rate of 64%. This has provided valuable information on the location of key genome regions associated with grain yield, disease resistance, agronomic traits and quality in CIMMYTâs wheat germplasm, identified from genome-wide association mapping studies.
We have also used the new reference sequence to understand the impact of marker densities and genomic coverage on the genomic predictability of traits and have gained a better understanding of the contributions of diverse chromosome regions (distal, proximal, and interstitial) towards different phenotypes.
How will use of the new wheat reference sequence help CIMMYT and partners to develop improved wheat for traits of interest?
There are so many ways we can use this new tool! It provides valuable insights into trait genetics and genomics in bread wheat and will help us to more quickly identify candidate genes associated with traits of interest and to clone those genes. We will also be able to design molecular breeding strategies and precisely select and introgress target regions of the genome.
More generally, the reference sequence already has a range of markers â among them, simple sequence repeats (SSR), diversity array technologies (DArT) markers, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) â anchored to it, which will facilitate comparisons between mapping studies and the quick development and validation of useful new markers.
It will also help to apply tools like gene-editing to obtain desired phenotypes and will allow us to better characterize the genetic diversity in CIMMYTâs wheat, to identify useful genes in key CIMMYT parent lines and rapidly introgress them into breeding lines.
With the annotated whole genome information, breeders can design crosses focused directly on desired combinations of genomic regions or predict the outcome of crosses involving gene combinations.
It will definitely speed varietal testing in partner countries through quick and accurate molecular screens for the presence of desired genes, instead of having to perform multiple generations of field testing.
Finally, it will help us to detect molecular-level differences between CIMMYT varieties released in different countries.
Which traits are being targeted by CIMMYT and partners?
We are using the new reference sequence to understand better the molecular bases of grain yield, heat and drought tolerance, rust resistance, flowering time, maturity, plant height, grain and flour protein, and various other quality traits.
Philomin Juliana
A recipient of Monsantoâs Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program Award, Juliana completed a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University in 2016. Her work at CIMMYT seeks to identify the genetic bases of key traits in CIMMYT wheat germplasm and to assess high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping to increase the rate of genetic gain for yield in the centerâs bread wheat breeding. In this work, she partners with the Cornell-led Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) project and Jesse Poland of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Kansas State University. Her research also forms part of USAIDâs Feed the Future projects.
Aflatoxins are harmful compounds produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus, which can be found in the soil, plants and grain of a variety of cereals and commodities including maize, nuts, cottonseed, spices and dried fruit. The toxic carcinogenic qualities of aflatoxins pose serious health hazards to humans and animals when contaminated crops are ingested. These health risks include cancers of the liver and gallbladder, stunted development in children, premature births and abnormal fetal development.
Not all strains of A. flavus produce aflatoxins however, so it is important to be able to detect and distinguish between A. flavus strains that are benign (atoxigenic) and those that produce dangerous toxins (aflatoxigenic). Current methods of detection are often complicated by the fact that the fungal strains display very similar physiological and molecular traits, thus a new approach is required.
In the study, a novel approach to detect and distinguish A. flavus strains was tested. Using soil samples from a CIMMYT experimental maize field in Mexico, fungal isolates were chemically treated in-line with a method recently developed in Japan, resulting in a color change indicative of toxicity. The method was found to be effective and accurate in the detection of the aflatoxigenic strains of the fungus.
This study is foundational work in the development of a simple, cost-effective and efficient method of detecting aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus, which will help inform growers about the potential aflatoxin contamination of their crops. This is of particular importance in the developing world, where the resources for effective control of the fungus are often lacking.
To read the original study, âDetection of Aflatoxigenic and Atoxigenic Mexican Aspergillus Strains by the DichlorvosâAmmonia (DVâAM) Methodâ, please click here.
Original citation: Kushiro, M.; Hatabayashi, H.; Yabe, K.; Loladze, A. Detection of Aflatoxigenic and Atoxigenic Mexican Aspergillus Strains by the DichlorvosâAmmonia (DVâAM) Method. Toxins2018, 10, 263.
Maize ear infected with Aspergillus flavus. (Photo: Maize Pathology Laboratory/CIMMYT)
Check out other recent publications by CIMMYT researchers below:
Genetic analysis of tropical midaltitude-adapted maize populations under stress and nonstress conditions. 2018. Makumbi, D., Assanga, S., Diallo, A., Magorokosho, C., Asea, G., Regasa, M.W., BĂ€nziger, M. In: Crop Science v. 58, no. 4, p. 1492-1507.
Interactions among genes Sr2/Yr30, Lr34/Yr18/Sr57 and Lr68 confer enhanced adult plant resistance to rust diseases in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) line ‘Arula’. 2018. Randhawa, M.S., Caixia Lan, Basnet, B.R., Bhavani, S., Huerta-Espino, J., Forrest, K.L., Hayden, M., Singh, R.P. In: Australian Journal of Crop Science v. 12, no. 6, p. 1023-1033.
Practical breeding strategies to improve resistance to Septoria tritici blotch of wheat. 2018. Tabib Ghaffary, S.M., Chawade, A., Singh, P.K. In: Euphytica v. 214, art. 122.
Sashaydiall : A SAS program for haymanâs diallel analysis. 2018. Makumbi, D., Alvarado BeltrĂĄn, G., Crossa, J., Burgueño, J. In: Crop Science v. 58, no. 4, p. 1605-1615.
Soil bacterial diversity under conservation agriculture-based cereal systems in indo-gangetic plains. 2018. Choudhary, M., Sharma, P.C., Jat, H. S., Dash, A., Rajashekar, B., McDonald, A., Jat, M.L. In: 3 Biotech v. 8, art. 304.
A new 3-D animation video published yesterday shows farmers how to scout for and identify the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).
The video shows scouting techniques and highlights the importance of identifying any pest damage at the early stages of crop growth. If the fall armyworm is present, integrated pest management practices can help farmers protect against this pest.
Farmers should avoid applying an indiscriminate amount of chemical pesticides, as that will lead to the fall armyworm building resistance to pesticides. It may also cause harm to people and to the environment.
The video was produced by Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO), funded by USAID and developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Michigan State University.
A fall armyworm found on maize plants in Khamman district, Telangana state, India. (Photo: ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research)
The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, a devastating insect-pest, has been identified for the first time on the Indian subcontinent. Native to the Americas, the pest is known to eat over 80 plant species, with a particular preference for maize, a main staple crop around the world. The fall armyworm was first officially reported in Nigeria in West Africa in 2016, and rapidly spread across 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Â Sightings of damage to maize crops in India due to fall armyworm mark the first report of the pest in Asia.
Scientists from the College of Agriculture at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (UAHS) confirmed the arrival of the pest in maize fields within campus grounds in Shivamogga, in the state of Karnataka, southern India. Both morphological and molecular techniques confirmed the identity as FAW.
A pest alert published on July 30 by the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), further confirmed a greater than 70% prevalence of fall armyworm in a maize field in the district of Chikkaballapur, in the state of Karnataka. Â Unofficial reports of incidence of FAW are rapidly emerging from several states in India, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana.
The pest has the potential to spread quickly not only within India, but also to other neighboring countries in Asia, owing to suitable climatic conditions.
Leaf damage from fall armyworm on maize plants in Khamman district, Telangana state, India. (Photo: ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research)
âThe strategies outlined in this manual can be of great importance to farmers in India when dealing with this insect pest. FAW is indeed one of the most destructive crop pests, and there is no option than to adopt an integrated pest management strategy to effectively tackle this complex challenge,â said B.M. Prasanna, director of MAIZE and the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT. âMAIZE and partners are dedicated to finding solutions to this problem that will protect the food security and incomes of smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa.â
Other regions are at risk as well. Researchers have warned of the potential impacts if FAW spreads to Europe, where customs inspectors have already reported having discovered and destroyed the pest on quarantined crops imported from Africa on several occasions.
Global experts on maize and key stakeholders in Asia will gather together in Ludhiana, India, on October 8-10, 2018, for the 13th Asian Maize Conference to discuss pressing issues to the crop across the continent, including the spread of fall armyworm. The conference, organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), CIMMYT, MAIZE, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), is expected to attract more than 250 participants from almost all the major maize-growing countries in Asia.
A new study shows Earth Overshoot Day â the point at which the consumption of earthâs resources exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate â is arriving faster. Thirty years ago, Earth Overshoot Day was October 15. Twenty years ago, it was September 30, and ten years ago, it was August 15. This year, August 1 marked the earliest date ever recorded.
In âHow changing the worldâs food systems can help to protect the planet,â CGIAR System Organization Executive Director Elwyn Grainger-Jones says one of the greatest pressure points pushing the planet to its limits is the food system. The way food is grown, produced, transported and consumed has serious consequences on the quantity and quality of earthâs natural resources. Grainger-Jones says there are numerous initiatives around the world working to transform food systems to have lower environmental footprints.
In a major wheat growing region of Mexico, CIMMYT researchers are studying how to more precisely apply nitrogen to significantly lower emissions and runoff without affecting yield.
Read the full article to learn more about this study and what other CGIAR centers are doing to close the resource gap.
The Cargill-CIMMYT Award supports initiatives that tackle food security challenges in Mexico through long-term solutions. Winners have successfully increased the production of nutrient-rich food and made it available to people.
This year, the jury selected the most innovative projects in three categories:
Farmers: Carlos BarragĂĄn, for the project âDe la milpa a tu platoâ (âFrom the field to your plateâ). Based in the state of Oaxaca, this initiative promotes food security and sustainability in small-scale farming systems.
Opinion Leaders: FundaciĂłn Mexicana para el Desarrollo Rural, for the project Educampo. This project supports poor maize smallholders who live in marginalized communities to make their farming more productive and profitable.
Researchers: Mario LĂłpez, for the project âTechnology for bean production.â This initiative incremented production from 2 to 9 tons per hectare, disseminated agricultural technologies and increased the use of improved seed.
Winners were awarded a total of $25,000. The Farmers and Researchers categories received $10,000 each and the Opinion Leaders category was supported with $5,000.
A panel of experts from the agricultural and food sectors selected the winners from a shortlist of 30 projects across the country. The jury included representatives from Cargill Mexico, CIMMYT, Grupo Bimbo, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, Mexicoâs Agriculture Council and Mexicoâs Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.
About Cargill
Cargillâs 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive.
We combine 153 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side-by-side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture. For more information, visit Cargill.com and our News Center.
About Cargill Mexico
Cargill Mexico aims to contribute in improving agricultural productivity, satisfying and fulfilling the expectations of the domestic industry. In addition to adding value to human and animal nutrition and thus encourage economic development, Cargill Mexico reinvests its profits in several new businesses in the country. Cargill has 9 business units that have operations in Mexico, it employs more than 1,750 people in 13 states and has a total of 30 facilities, including a corporate office in Mexico City. For more information, visit Cargill.com.mx, and our News Center.
About CIMMYT
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.
Ashley Muzhange eats sadza with her family in rural Zimabwe. Her sadza is made with vitamin A orange maize, a variety improving the nutrition of children and families in the nation. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
In the rural Chiweshe Communal Area, about two hours north of Zimbabweâs capital Harare, 18-month-old Ashley Muzhange tucks into a bowl of vitamin A orange maize sadza. Sadza, a thickened porridge made from finely ground maize grain with a side of stewed vegetables, is the staple dish for rural families.
Ashleyâs sadza is made from biofortified maize, conventionally bred by researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) under the work of HarvestPlus to contain a higher amount of nutritious vitamin A.
Recent prolonged drought pushed malnutrition to levels not seen in over 15 years, with almost 33,000 children in need of urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations Childrenâs Fund (UNICEF). Many experience micronutrient deficiencies, since their diets lack the vitamins and minerals required for growth and development.
Ashley’s mother, Lilian Muzhange, prepares fritas made with vitamin A orange maize grown on their family farm. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
According to the World Health Organization, 35.8 percent of preschool aged children suffer from vitamin A deficiency. The leading cause of preventable blindness in children, it compromises the immune system increasing the risk of death from diseases like measles, diarrhea and respiratory infections.
Biofortification increases the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through conventional plant breeding or agronomic practices. When consumed regularly, biofortified crops generate measurable improvements in health and nutrition. The process develops crops rich in nutrients for consumers as well as the agronomic characteristics like drought and disease resistance valued by farmers. It is considered a sustainable way to bring micronutrients to populations with limited access to diverse diets.
Even though baby Ashley is unaware her sadza not only fills her stomach, but also provides her with a dose of vitamin A, her family is conscious of the benefits.
âThis orange maize assures me that my daughter gets a nutritious meal and means we donât only rely on the supplements provided by the government,â said Lilian Muzhange, her mother.
Orange the color of health
The farming family first began trialing the biofortified vitamin A orange maize in 2015 and are now growing it in place of traditional white maize. The nutritious variety contains high levels of beta-carotene, a vitamin A precursor that produces the rich orange color and once ingested is converted into the micronutrient, acting as an antioxidant to protect cells.
âOur family now prefers the new vitamin A orange maize over the white maize, as it has great health benefits for my children and granddaughter and the taste is delicious. The sadza truly is better,â said Ashleyâs grandfather Musonza Musiiwa. âI was also pleased the variety is drought tolerant. Despite a dry spell in January my maize was able to yield a good harvest.â
Orange maize conventionally bred to contain high amounts of vitamin A is fighting child malnutrition in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT)
Rural diets mainly consist of what farming families can grow, which is predominantly maize, said CIMMYT maize breeder Thokozile Ndhlela. The majority of rural households do not meet minimum dietary diversity, reliant on a cereal-based diet where meat is a rarity, the Zimbabwe Food and Nutrition Council finds.
âWhite maize traditionally used for the staple sadza is predominantly starch and very low in nutritional value,â said Ndhlela, who leads CIMMYTâs biofortified breeding efforts in Zimbabwe. âBiofortifying this staple crop ensures consumers have access to nutritious food season after season as farmers continue to grow it.â
Musiiwa not only sees the health and agronomic benefits of vitamin A orange maize, but has also identified its economic opportunity. The farmer is planning to increase the amount he grows to capitalize on the market he believes is set to grow.
Getting vitamin A maize into farmersâ fields and onto plates
Sakile Kudita, HarvestPlus researcher, explains the benefits of of vitamin A orange maize to seed company and government representatives. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
For the new biofortified maize to be part of the food system it must be commercialized creating a full value chain, said Sakile Kudita, a demand creation researcher with HarvestPlus, a program improving nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified food crops.
âVitamin A orange maize needs to be a product millers take up and processed foods are made of, so that seed companies have an incentive to keep producing seed and farmers have an incentive to grow more than just for consumption but also sale in order to generate income,â she said.
The efforts of HarvestPlus and CIMMYT to engage government, food processors and seed companies at field days, where they learn about the nutritional and agronomic benefits and taste the orange maize have yielded success, said Kudita. Working with the government, four biofortified varieties have been commercialized since 2015.
Prime Seed Co, a subsidiary of the regional certified seed company Seed Co, was the first company commissioned by the government to commercialize vitamin A orange maize in Zimbabwe and now sells the variety Musiiwa uses in his field.
Prime Seed Co worked with CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and the Zimbabwe government to release the first vitamin A orange maize variety onto the market. Photo: Thoko Ndhlela/ CIMMYT
âThrough our partnership with CIMMYT and HarvestPlus we are developing a market for vitamin A orange maize in Zimbabwe,â said Masimba Kanyepi, a sales manager at Prime Seed Co. âWe have seen our sales improve since launching the first variety and expect an increase.â
Kanyepi is confident the market will grow following a new government regulation requiring all processed maize products to contain added micronutrients, including vitamin A, through fortification.
Food industry representatives taste-test foods made with vitamin A orange maize at an open day. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
âAdding vitamin A to maize at the processing stage is expensive for food companies due to the cost of importing the vitamin from overseas,â said Kanyepi. âBuying vitamin A orange maize grown by local farmers already biofortified at the same price as the white variety makes economic sense.â
Food companies see the saving with Zimbabwe manufacturer, Cairns Foods, confirming itâs taking steps to include biofortified maize in its cereals and biofortified beans in its canned products.
With food processors and millers buying vitamin A orange maize there is demand for farming families like the Musiiwas to grow more, ensuring not only a boost to their health but also their livelihood, said Kudita.
Breeding for a more nutritious future
Vitamin A orange maize in a farmer’s field. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
The crop diversity found in the maize species is key to nutritional gain. The plant grows in distinct environments and has developed a diverse range of valuable traits including nutritional properties.
Following a lengthy analysis of thousands of samples in the CIMMYT Maize Germplasm Bank researchers discovered native landraces and varieties from South and Central America containing increased levels of beta-carotene, explained Ndhlela. These were included in breeding programs in Africa and crossed with local varieties to ensure they were fit for the subtropical climate and were tolerant to local biotic and abiotic stresses.
Working alongside Zimbabweâs national breeding program Ndhlela continually monitors, improves and combines dozens of characteristics, which include high yield potential, nitrogen use efficiency, and tolerance to drought, into new varieties that meet farmersâ preferences.
The most recent biofortified varieties contain about 39 percent more vitamin A compared to the first, she said.
âCIMMYTâs support through free access to maize germplasm and breeding expertise has allowed us to continue developing this nutritious maize,â said Prince Matova, a maize breeder with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Agriculture. âIn the next few years we expect to release two more varieties.â
At the end of the day, farming is a business and farmers value varieties with high yield, adapted to stress conditions. The breeders are currently trialing new vitamin A maize varieties with the hope of identifying those with the potential to yield as much as the traditional white varieties and are already garnering positive feedback from farmers.
CIMMYT maize breeder Thoko Ndhlela shows food industry representatives the agronomic benefits of vitamin A orange maize in the field. Photo: Matthew O’Leary/ CIMMYT
CIMMYTâs biofortified vitamin A maize breeding is  supported by HarvestPlus. HarvestPlus improves nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals, and providing global leadership on biofortification evidence and technology. HarvestPlus is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by its 15 research centers in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. The HarvestPlus program is coordinated by two of these centers, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
HarvestPlusâ principal donors are the UK Government; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the US Governmentâs Feed the Future initiative; the European Commission; and donors to the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. HarvestPlus is also supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
