In addition to providing the major calories in human diets required to sustain life, plants are also the major source of health-beneficial agents, such as vitamins and minerals required for vital physiological processes. The major staple crops however, do not provide the essential vitamins and minerals in adequate quantities and quality. A sustainable way to ensure that adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals can be obtained from diets is to develop crops that provide the required amounts in their edible tissues. Induced mutations are a proven tool in creating desirable genetic variability in plants that translate to enhanced accumulation of essential minerals; synthesis of precursors of vitamins; modified quantities and qualities of starch, proteins and oils as well as secondary plant metabolites that play critical roles in improving human health and nutrition. This CRP will utilise efficient phenotypic screens and genotypic markers to trawl through mutant collections of selected model crops to identify putative mutants in traits of interest for incorporation into breeding programmes. Both the resulting genetic resources and the methodologies for identifying them constitute the main expected outputs from this proposed CRP. It is expected that plant scientists will adopt the putative mutants and hence facilitate the processes for breeding for improved nutritional quality in staple crops. Additionally, the screening methodologies (phenotypic and molecular) that will be validated with model crops will be adapted to suit other crops and quality constraints.
To improve varieties of local crops with increased yield and crop quality, enhanced levels of micronutrient contents, other nutritional factors and market-preferred traits through induced mutation techniques and supportive biotechnologies.
To understand and identify genes involved in the biosynthesis of nutritional quality enhancing factors, and to develop efficient screening methods to facilitate the genetic improvement of nutritional quality. To transfer knowledge and technologies of beneficial mutants associated with nutritional factors from model crops to improve nutritional quality and yield into crops of socio economic importance to participating member states, specifically pepper, soybean groundnut, sweet potato, sorghum, wheat and maize.
• Development of hands-on protocols for screening and analysis of mutant populations
• Development of new germplasm collections through mutation assisted breeding in barley, sorghum, sweet potato, maize, wheat, tomato, potato, pepper, rice, soybean
• Release of one rice mutant variety and two maize mutant inbred lines with improved nutritional quality
• Development and commercialization of products from rice, wheat and barley mutant lines with health benefits
• Facilitated access to advanced analytical techniques
• Improvement of mutation rate in tomato through application of re-mutagenesis
• Increased knowledge of the metabolic pathways and genes affecting phytate, carotenoids, tocopherol, flavonoids and resistant starch biosynthesis
• Increased knowledge of methods to improve nutritional quality of model and targeted crops
• Dissemination of research results to the academic community through lectures to students, presentations at workshops and conferences and 40 scientific publications (papers and book chapters)
• Development of national and international collaboration
• Dissemination of information from this CRP through outreach activities including farmers days, academic and public lectures, community workshops, public exhibitions, policy and media briefings
• Sharing of knowledge and expertise within the CRP for mutual benefit
• Production of 8 PhD theses, 19 MSc theses, 8 BSc theses, on research directly contributing to this CRP
• Two CSIs trained in advanced techniques in agreement holders laboratories
• Access to other funding sources through successes of this CRP
• Enabled inter-disciplinary collaborations between crop scientists and nutritionists/health professionals
Improving the delivery and bioavailability of essential vitamins and minerals to address nutritional deficiencies in an increasing number of people worldwide