Contributions

FP4.4 Science Quality

The gestation period (8-10 years) from trait prioritization to variety release, against a background of changing environments and economies, reduces the scale of impacts felt for most GLDC crops. So breeding pipelines must be fast-tracked. For SSA, where limited availability of improved varieties compromises productivity, breeding programs must escalate the development and delivery of well-targeted varieties at scale. Development and testing of Target Population Environments (TPE) using big data of climate and soil enables FP4 to work across crops and agroecologies to inform environment targeting and scaling out. FP4 recognizes that CGIAR is the key source of genetic material for most developing economies; hence investments are guided by five strategic questions:

1. 
   What are the new and strategic demands on GLDC crops that need to be addressed and how can these inform GLDC breeding programs?
   
2. 
   How can the development of a new generation of demand-informed resilient varieties be fast-tracked in target geographies and how can they be harnessed at scale?
   
3. 
   How can the CGIAR and other global knowledge centers harness their repertoire of high-end science innovations and the improving NARES capability to increase efficiency of breeding pipelines?
   
4. 
   How can the CGIAR crop improvement programs develop and deliver a new generation of varieties and agronomy that will secure and stabilize harvests under changing production environments and climate change?
   
5. 
   How can access to improved innovations (seed and allied technologies) be augmented to complement improved varieties with benefits for food, nutrition and income security, while securing the natural resource base especially for smallholder agriculture?
   

FP4 will respond to the first research question through FP1-FP3 and the second using legacy CGIAR investments. Resilient and productive varieties, developed under the Generation Challenge Program²⁴³, Tropical Legumes²⁴⁴, HOPE²⁴⁵ and other projects, will be released and promoted in the next 2-3 years. Although the third and fourth research questions are medium to longer-term issues for FP4 and FP5, and involve the exploitation of genomic and genetic resources (germplasm) to augment breeding programs, the key in the approach is alignment of activities related to this question to product concepts. Examples of such resources are molecular markers for key traits, germplasm resources (mini core collections, reference sets and elite germplasm for cereals and legumes), male-sterile lines for hybrid seed production (sorghum, pearl millet), introgression lines from wide hybridization (legumes e.g. groundnuts), and hybrid technology in pigeonpea. Hybrid technology for cereals will harness heterosis for yield stabilization in semi-arid environments, building on ICRISAT-piloted models in India on pearl millet and sorghum as the starting crops. Hybrids and promising germplasm for vegetable pigeonpea, pop-sorghum and confectionery groundnut to be tested are those directly needed by consumers and the food processing industry. This will drive demand for improved hybrid seed, given the strict proprietary requirements of the food industry. Research question five is a new area for the CGIAR, in which FP4 will leverage FP3, to clarify drivers and opportunities for delivery of new varieties at scale.



FP4 seeks to secure at least a 1.7% genetic gain for the selected crops based on modern varieties. In Table FP 4.1, annual yield improvements of 10% have been demonstrated and form the legacy leading into FP4. In general, GLDC crops have not benefited much from advances that enhance genetic gains compared to other crops such as rice and maize1, 9. FP4 harnesses ongoing breeding pipelines to deliver new varieties in the short term while refining emerging priorities through FPs 1-3 for new varieties. CGIAR legacy tools such as the Integrated Breeding Platform²⁴⁶, rapid generation advancement, double haploidy, genomic selection, high throughput phenotyping and genotyping, genomics and genetic resources, etc., will accelerate genetic gains. Shuttle breeding and genomics-enabled improvement including transgenics will be used to deliver a new suite of varieties and hybrids more precisely and efficiently to the target environments. FP4 will also introgress new variability generated through FP5 and other investments such as GCP-and the TLI, TLII and TLIII projects 12,13 to broaden the genetic base of varieties as well as improve phenotyping and selection intensity, with greater relevance for target environment, users and markets. Genomic resources (markers and genes) will be introgressed into farmer-preferred and adapted material to secure harvests²⁴⁷. FP4 will also improve experimental field conditions deploying cloud computing based data analysis and management as well as field plot management (mechanization, irrigation, better experimental design). A legacy of past and on-going R&D investments and several bilaterals on climate change and crop resilience research will be used.

FP4.5 Lessons Learned and Unintended Consequences