Biotech tools improve pearl millet. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Principally based on Projects R5487, R6451 and R7375. Genes can now be inserted into pearl millet to make them more tolerant to heat and drought, and more resistant to disease. Millet is a staple cereal and important animal feed in the hot dry regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and India. High temperatures often kill millet seedlings. This means that the crop has to be re-sown and so doesn't ripen before the rains end. When the rains end early, millet produces very little grain or leaf. Plus, up to a third of the crop is often lost to downy mildew. The genes that help plants withstand the three main threats—heat, drought and mildew—could vastly improve harvests. They are already being used in India by government and international research laboratories.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (10 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
PSP23, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 27.