Reversing the Trend: Bottom-Up Approach to Increasing Plant Breeding Efficiency in Africa

Increasing crop yields in Africa is a necessity as well as a realistic objective. New genetic/genomic knowledge and technologies have the potential to be major contributors to this endeavor, provided they can impact on-the-ground breeding decisions and can be realistically implemented.

Several relatively simple genotype-based approaches can have a significant and very short-term impact on genetic gain, for both simple and complex traits. Examples include improved management of elite germplasm, large-scale screening for simple traits, improved simple trait conversion processes, or pedigree verification. Key factors for the successful implementation of such approaches include availability of medium-density genome-wide markers, highly diagnostic trait-specific genotypic assays, access to low-cost genotyping, and access to non-destructive seed-based genotyping.

Preparing the ground for approaches that will have an impact on genetic gain on a longer term should also be considered. In that respect, collecting and organizing phenotypic and pedigree data so that enough of it, of good enough quality, can be available in a few years for the development and use of models in breeding (whether genome-wide or locus-specific) is a must. This is all the more important when high quality phenotypic data is difficult to collect.