Multi-target crop breeding for climate resilience & enhanced nutrition

This solution was shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM
14 May 2021

Description of the innovative solution

Crop breeding has - for many decades - been focused on increasing yield under high input agriculture, with a key focus on rice, maize and wheat which now contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. This has led to less resilient varieties of these staple crops and with lower overall nutrient content. “Stacked” germplasm improvements for priority staple crops has an enormous potential to incorporate both climate resilience traits as well as an improved nutrient content. This innovation focuses on using advanced plant breeding technologies to fast track...

Crop breeding has - for many decades - been focused on increasing yield under high input agriculture, with a key focus on rice, maize and wheat which now contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. This has led to less resilient varieties of these staple crops and with lower overall nutrient content. “Stacked” germplasm improvements for priority staple crops has an enormous potential to incorporate both climate resilience traits as well as an improved nutrient content. This innovation focuses on using advanced plant breeding technologies to fast track the high yield traits in existing varieties, as well as the re-domestication of key crops with high resilience and higher nutrient content.

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Project Sabal
Impact asssessment or evaluation
Investigate consumption of foods prepared with iron-and-zinc-biofortified pearl millet by children on biomarkers of iron status, growth, and immune function.
Shared by IFSS Portal Research Team
Multiple Biofortified Food Crops Project
Impact asssessment or evaluation
Trial of multiple biofortified food-crops (pearl-millet, wheat, sweet potato) in 6-24 month old children in rural and peri-urban south India.
Shared by IFSS Portal Research Team
Exploring assumptions in crop breeding
Scientific paper
Scientific paper characterizing how climate models have previously been used to inform breeding efforts and general principles to improve on.
Shared by IFSS Research Team

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