Dr Rajeev Varshney from the Center of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology, ICRISAT, sheds light on his recent research in an interview with BioTechniques, a MEDLINE peer-reviewed, open access journal. Accelerating and delivering genetic gains in smallholder farmers’ fields is high on international agricultural research agenda, especially in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This will help in improving crop productivity, better yield and higher income for farmers and most importantly achieving food and nutrition security in developing countries.

Genebanks of six global research institutions including ICRISAT have begun a 100-year experiment at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a quest to know how long seeds live. Data from seeds of 13 crops, four of which will be provided by ICRISAT’s genebank in India, will be collected during the experiment. “ICRISAT will bring seeds of chickpea, groundnut, pearl millet and pigeonpea to the experiment during 2022-23. The seeds will be tested initially before being put in the vault for storage at -18 degree Celsius.

Rice is one of the priority crops in the Big4 Agenda in Kenya and a priority value chain in the Agriculture Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS, 2019-2029). Rice consumption has been growing much more rapidly in the country than production and is expected to reach 1,292,000 tons by 2030.

For well over a century, geneticists have relentlessly bombarded the genome of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster with increasingly sophisticated mutagenic agents (1). Collectively, these loss-of-function studies have been astoundingly informative, providing fundamental breakthroughs in nearly all fields of biology (2, 3). Initially, such studies relied on mutagens that attack the genome in quasirandom locations,

To better accomplish its mission by providing improved crop varieties to smallholder farmers, ICRISAT is overhauling its breeding program with regional crop improvement hubs, improved inventory processes, new facilities and capacity building to make them more rapid, efficient and productive.

CGIAR, the world’s largest global agricultural research organization, has this year embarked on a reformulation of its partnerships, knowledge, assets and global presence as “One CGIAR,” aiming for greater integration and impact in the face of the interdependent challenges facing today’s world.

Researchers from NARIC Agricultural Biotechnology Institute in Hungary successfully developed transgene-free potato mutants using CRISPR-Cas9 and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The results are published in BMC Biotechnology. Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer is commonly used in plants. To remove the transgene in the succeeding generations, selfing is applied by breeders. However, this method cannot be applied in several commercial tomato varieties due to self-incompatibility.

Stripe rust, one of the most destructive diseases of wheat, affects the production of the crop worldwide, especially in the United States. The disease can be controlled by chemicals, but these are deemed harmful to humans, animals, and the environment. Application of such chemicals is also very costly, and farmers prefer to grow wheat varieties that resist stripe rust and the development of such varieties is a top priority for wheat breeding programs.

Hiroshima University researchers developed a highly efficient genome editing system for microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica, which is a potential source of biodiesel. Algae gather high concentrations of lipids through photosynthesis and these lipids can be used as feedstocks for sustainable new energies called biodiesels. Nannochloropsis species are microalgae that produce high amounts of lipids

Upon learning that one of the ways they could effectively deal with the challenge of the fall armyworm was using Bt maize, farmers in eastern and Northern Uganda asked the government to allow them to grow this maize. "Why do we have to keep using dangerous pesticides when GM maize can help us fight this fall armyworm?" inquired Eseza Amoit, a farmer from Tororo district in Eastern Uganda.