New Facility to Strengthen Maize Breeding in Africa

A maize doubled haploid (DH) facility will be established at CIMMYT's Global Maize Program. DH technology reduces the cost and time for breeding work with the rapid development of homozygous maize lines that fast tracks development and release of elite maize varieties, the report said. The DH facility is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and will built at the Kiboko Experimental Station on land provided by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).

The facility will also serve as a training hub for scientists and technical personnel from various national programs in Africa, as well as small and medium-sized seed companies that may not have advanced breeding facilities. It will also support and enhance CIMMYT's capacity to generate DH lines for effective use in Africa-based breeding programs such as the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa, Water Efficient Maize for Africa, Improved Maize for African Soils, and the Maize HarvestPlus in Africa. The Maize DH Africa Project will both establish the facility and refine the DH technology in collaboration with the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

See the complete news at http://blog.cimmyt.org/?p=10226.