11-14 February 2019. Jodhpur, India. The 13th International Conference on Dryland Development Presentation of Michael Baum, Director Biodiversity & Crop Improvement Program Jodhpur, India

1. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
icarda.org cgiar.org
A CGIAR Research Center
Field crops breeding for resistance to biotic and
abiotic stresses: achievements & prospects
Michael Baum
Director
Biodiversity & Crop Improvement Program
Jodhpur, India

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The Dry Arc expansion

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ICARDA within the Dry Arc
Arab climate change assessment report 2017:
• +1.9 ⁰C by 2050
• +4.8 ⁰C by 2100
• -100 mm rainfall by 2100
• Doubling of days >40 ⁰C
• Decreasing of underground water
3 Research Platforms
5 Thematic Platforms
3 Integrated Research Programs
7 SDG targeted

4. Crop
genepool
Global
Ranking
% acc.
globally
Barley 2nd 19.0
Wheat 4th 14.6
Chickpea 2nd 23.2
Faba
bean
1st 89.1
Lentil 1st 43.5
Lathyrus 1st 63.6
Medicago 2nd 15.0
Pisum 3rd 12.1
Trifolium 3rd 9.0
Vicia 1st 23.7
Overall 4th 4.0
Crop No of
accs.
Crop No of accs.
Barley 30,225 Pisum spp. 6,131
Bread wheat 15,088 Trifolium
spp.
5,933
Durum wheat 20,540 Vicia spp. 6,556
Primitive wheat 1,214 Faba bean 10,034
Aegilops spp. 5,155 Chickpea 15,195
Wild Triticum 1871 Lentil 13,980
Wild Hordeum 2,563 Wild Cicer 554
Not mandate
cereals
182 Wild Lens 617
Lathyrus spp. 4,458 Range &
Pasture
7,404
Medicago annual 9,160 Others 50
Total 156,910
ICARDA’s most precious treasure
ICARDA hosts more than 156.000 accessions of cereals and
legumes, the vast majority landraces

5. Diversity of the ICARDA durum wheat landraces collection using high density DartSeq markers
K= 2: Differentiation between ethiopicum and durum
K= 3: Differentiation between ethiopicum, North Africa
and AsiaK= 2: Differentiation between ethiopicum and durum
K= 5: Differentiation between ethiopicum, North Africa,
fertile crescent, facultative and East Asia

6. Understand landraces adaptation using allele climate association

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The role of breeding against climate change
Morocco February 2016
Karim Faraj
Drought of the century
Morocco April 2016

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Durum root types for drought tolerance
• Deep roots have a yield advantage under drought of +39%
• Three QTLs controls root angel and these have a significant effect on yield under drought
Root System Architecture and Its Association with Yield under Different Water Regimes in Durum Wheat
El Hassouni et al. Crop Science 2018, 58:1-16

9. Variety Nachit, released in
2017
Adk1/T. dicoccoidesSyr/Lks
• + 42% yield
• Large grains
• Good industrial quality
• Excellent disease package
Morocco – first variety released targeted for deep roots
Nachit

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Barley root types for drought tolerance
• Testing of root angle via clear-pot
• Testing of drought adaptation via dry-down experiment
• 39% r2,with narrow roots being more drought tolerant
• 5H QTL associated with root angle (r2: 8.25%)
R2 = 39%
Drought Tolerance

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Heat tolerance in durum and bread wheat
Ndiayene, Senegal,
2018
Wad Madani, Sudan,
2016
Testing of bread wheat and durum wheat GWAS panels under 31-42° C throughout the season
Durum Wheat Breeding: In the Heat of the Senegal River.
Sall et al. Agricolture, 2018, 8
Heat tolerance of durum wheat (Tritcum durum Desf.) elite germplasm tested along the Senegal River
Sall et al. J Ag Science, 2018, 10:2
Associated with Grain Yield and Its Components in Spring Bread Wheat under Heat-Stressed Environments
of Sudan and Egypt.
Tadesse et al. Crop Science, 2018, 59:199

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Heat tolerance in durum and bread wheat
Durum wheat
(Senegal River)
Bread wheat
(Sudan)
Q.Icd.Gy.Biom.01 on chr 4A: LOD of 3.8 and R2 9%
Q.Icd.Biom.TKW.01 on chr 5A: LOD of 5.6 and R2 1%
Flowering time used as co-variate
Ex_c12812_20324622 on chr 4A: LOD of 3.9 and R2 5%
Ex_c2526_24715978 on chr 5A: LOD of 6.1 and R2 6%
Flowering time used as co-variate
Associated with Grain Yield and Its Components in Spring Bread
Wheat under Heat-Stressed Environments of Sudan and Egypt.
Tadesse et al. Crop Science, 2018, 59:199

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Hessian Fly resistance in durum
• Hessian fly (M. destructora) is a devastating insect pest of North Africa
• Resistance derived from Triticum araraticum introgression
• Major QTL on 6BS (LOD 35 by MP and 54.5 by GWAS)
• One marker validated for MAS and available at LGC
BS00072387
Genetic identification of loci for Hessian fly resistance in durum wheat
Bassi et al. Molecular Breeding, 2019

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Hessian Fly resistance in bread wheat
• Resistance derived from Ae. Tauschii introgression in Synthetic wheat
• The gene is located on chromosome 7DS with a homeologue on 7AS
• A bulk-seq approach identified 2 SNPs located at the dirigent-like protein gene (HfrDrd), a
key defense gene.
• KASP markers have also been developed and are now available

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Short duration lentils
• Intensification by inclusion of pulses as cash crop
instead of fallow (potential area 15 million ha)
• New niches such as spring planted crop
• Market opportunities
Replacing fallow season

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Durum Wheat Int. Nursery Bread Wheat selected entries
Farmers in wheat trial Barley trial
Durum, Bread Wheat and Barley Trials at IRP, Amlaha

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Lentil Int. Elite Nusries Exotic lentil material (Bangladesh)
Lentil International Nurseries at Amlaha

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The usual role of breeding against climate change
Tolerance to stresses, increase
productivity per unit of
land/input
ADAPTATION

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A new role for breeding against climate change?
Tolerance to stresses, increase
productivity per unit of
land/input
Carbon/nitrogen fixation, better
fit within agronomy practices,
extended respiration
ADAPTATION
MITIGATION

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Breeding FOR agronomy
• The best genotypes for Conventional Till (CT) and for Zero-till (ZT) are
not the same
• Combine G + GxE + GxM

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A new role for breeding against climate change?
Treatment Plot
(soil C %)
Control
(soil C %)
Change
(soil C %)
Normal-till 0.96 0.89 +0.07
Zero-till 1.05 0.94 +0.11**
Omrabi (narrow) 0.94 0.80 +0.14**
Bellaroi (wide) 0.92 0.88 +0.04
Marchouch 16/17, ZT left, NT right
+0.04%
+0.10%
Testing of carbon fixation in field at the end of the season after removing all solid organic matter
• ZT increase carbon still present at the end of summer by +0.04% after just 1 season (1.5-folds)
• Some genotypes (narrow/deep root system) accumulated 3.5-folds more carbon in the soil than other
• We can breed for climate change mitigation

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A new role for breeding against climate change?
Nitrogen fixation in lentils
• Clustering analysis of different lentil genotypes for
nodulation
• The bottom cluster is super-nodulating
• Currently working on testing different rhizobium strains
and their interaction with super-nodulating genotypes

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Conclusions
• Temperatures are raising faster than originally expected
• Abiotic and biotic resistances remain the key to ensure productivity
• Exploitation of the genebank material for biotic and abiotic stress resistance
• The use of tools such as GWAS can guarantee useful discoveries for breeders, but only if
followed by adequate marker validation for MAS
• ICARDA will invest more time to assess the possibility to continue the “adaptation” breeding
strategy, but in integration with a new “mitigation” approach

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Thank you
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