Striga-Resistant Sorghum Varieties for Africa

Scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Kenya have successfully identified and transferred genes that confer resistance to the parasitic weed Striga using marker-assisted selection. Also known as witchweed, Striga infests some 50 million hectares of cereal crops, specifically maize, sorghum and millet and costs Africa some US $7 billion crop loss annually.

“Scientists have searched for the solution to Striga damage using a variety of methods, but without much success,” says Dionysious Kiambi, ICRISAT scientist. “Through marker assisted selection, we have determined the precise segments of the sorghum genome known to confer Striga-resistance and have transferred them to farmer-preferred varieties through conventional breeding with very promising results”. The use of genetic markers enabled scientists to precisely transfer only the weed resistance genes from the N13 sorghum variety to farmer-preferred sorghum cultivars without jeopardising important agronomic qualities such as drought-tolerance and high yields.

For more information, contact Catherine Mgendi (c.mgendi@cgiar.org) or visit http://www.icrisat.org/media/med2008.htm