Five amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) accessions from central and southern region of Malawi were characterised at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources using agro-morphological traits. A total of thirteen descriptors, defined by Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), were used to characterise the amaranth accessions under study. Field experiments were carried out for two seasons in August to November, 2018 and January to March, 2019. The experiments were laid out in a Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD), which was replicated four times. The qualitative (plant growth habit, leaf colour, inflorescence colour, stem colour, inflorescence spininess, seed colour) and quantitative traits (plant height, stem girth, leaf length, leaf width, inflorescence length, days to 80% flowering, grain yield, leaf yield, and days to 80% maturity) evaluated were significant in defining the uniqueness of different amaranth accessions evaluated. Significant differences (P < 0.05) obtained from analysis of variance were observed in all the parameters studied. Correlation analysis was conducted using Genstat statistical package version 18 while cluster analysis was done using R statistical software. The agro-morphological characterisation results showed a wide range of variation for most of the qualitative characters. Wide variability was present in all the qualitative characters except for plant growth habit where all the accessions exhibited erect plant growth habit. These results point to high possibility of genetic diversity of amaranth accessions in Malawi, it could be exploited in future breeding purposes and deserving conservation.
Weevils damage about a quarter of the sweetpotato harvest in Uganda and induce the accumulation of toxic compounds in the healthy-looking parts of damaged storage roots. We have introduced new genes that produce anti-weevil proteins in the sweetpotato storage root through biotechnology. We may have found few with some resistance to weevils. In parallel, we are testing a new strategy to weaken specific genes of the weevils to block their development. These two strategies will eventually be combined into widely-cultivated sweetpotato varieties in SSA.
Sweetpotato weevils are the most devastating pests of sweetpotato causing yield losses ranging from 60 to 100%. Their cryptic nature, where the larvae is found within plant tissues render them difficult to manage especially using chemicals control. Development of weevil resistant sweetpotato was conducted by crossing a transgenic event CIP410008.7 as a female parent with three Ugandan cultivars as male parents. Crossing event CIP410008.7 with New Kawogo, Tanzania and NASPOT1 gave 57, 32 and 19 seeds respectively. A total of 86 F1 progenies were analysed for the presence of cry7Aa1 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Expected 608 bp bands were amplified in progenies that contained the cry gene. The gene was integrated at different frequencies in the F1 progenies of different families: CIP410008.7 x New Kawogo (47.2%), CIP410008.7 x Tanzania (52%) and CIP410008.7 x NASPOT1 (44.4%). Chi-square test showed that all the three families followed a 1:1 segregation cry7Aa1 gene ratio. This study shows the transfer of a transgene from genetically modified event into elite sweetpotato lines.
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