Key Success Factors and Challenges on How to Integrate Genotyping and Modern Phenotyping Tools to Improve the Efficiency, Accelerate, and Lower the Cost of a Breeding Program in Haiti

Chibas is an institute involved in breeding for the subhumid and dryland tropics and more specifically for Haiti.  Chibas has ongoing programs breeding multipurpose sweet sorghum (grain, stem sugars and forage), edible Jatropha (oil and high protein meal as a soymeal substitute), and has just initiated new programs in common beans, peanuts and perennial pigeon pea.

Working on orphan perennial crops such as edible Jatropha and perennial pigeon pea, Chibas is increasingly using novel technologies such as genotyping by sequencing and modern phenotyping tools such as NIR to shorten the duration of our selection cycles and to reduce the cost of breeding.  We will showcase how these technologies have allowed us in just five years to (1) study Jatropha curcas genetic diversity and to simultaneously (2) develop a working male sterility system, (3) introgress the male sterility and edible alleles in different populations, and (4) also develop heterotic genepools to carry out a reciprocal recurrent selection scheme.  In adopting these technologies the limiting factor is not so much the cost of these technologies (we actually save time and money); it has more to do with the lack of adequate human resources, working in a cash deprived research environment and the lack of funding for international collaborative research program that allow this transfer of, and access to, technology (access to a genotyping by sequencing platform for example).  Challenges and solutions to using these technologies in a breeding program in Haiti will be presented.