USAID and ICRISAT to Develop Drought and Heat Tolerant Sorghum Varieties

An international team led by the University of Georgia's Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory will work toward sustainable intensification of sorghum production, with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The team will use new genomic tools to increase rates of sorghum improvement to meet long-term population growth, and investigate production systems that promote sustainable farming, particularly preservation and restoration of soil resources and water quality. The project also plans to develop perennial sorghum varieties adapted to key agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) stations in Africa and headquarters in India will actively participate in the project by coordinating and leading the major goal on improving sorghum's drought and heat tolerance, and will have active involvement in the goal of improving ratooning ability in sorghum. ICRISAT Director General William D. Dar said "The smallholder farmers in the drylands will be the final beneficiaries of this research, contributing to move them from impoverished subsistence farming to prosperous market orientation."

For more details about this project, read the news release at: http://www.icrisat.org/newsroom/latest-news/happenings/happenings1591.htm#1.