Quick Win Projects

The Climate Resilient Cereals Innovation Lab (CRCIL) advances partner country-led, upstream climate-resilient cereal breeding systems to fully harness the benefits of cutting-edge agricultural science and technology, serving the needs of farmers in the U.S. and around the world.

CRCIL is committed to advancing research and enhancing climate resilience traits in pearl millet, rice, sorghum, and wheat.

By using advanced breeding tools and methods, we aim to accelerate the development of improved cereal germplasm more quickly, more cost-effectively, and with greater impact. With the world’s population projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, producing greater yields with similar or fewer inputs will be vital to food security.

To launch our efforts, CRCIL connected partners in Senegal, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh with U.S. university experts for initial research activities called Quick Wins. These initial activities cover the CRCIL area of inquiry, including allele discovery, validation, and transfer to elite breeding lines for pearl millet, rice, sorghum, and wheat.

Designed to be implemented in the first 18 months of the CRCIL program, these activities provide a springboard for future research and generate quick wins within the research portfolio.

CRCIL selected each project based on consideration of National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) priorities for climate-resilient germplasm enhancement. Each project had a NARI PI or co-PI who directed local project implementation. To enhance NARI's capacity, CRCIL linked U.S.-based researchers with NARI partners, providing access to advanced science and bringing 21st-century, cutting-edge tools to research locations worldwide.

In addition to addressing local priorities, the projects also will benefit U.S. farmers by expanding the trait library available for breeding crops to address changing growing conditions that negatively impact yields.

Our work to discover, validate, and transfer more resilient traits into key food security crops is crucial for cereal breeders and farmers worldwide. Early projects, like these Quick Wins, prime our program to deliver the necessary tools and knowledge for improving crop varieties in the years to come.

You can learn more about each of the initial research activities by clicking the links below for each cereal grain.

• Pearl Millet Quick Win Project

  The Millet Quick Win project focused on a diversity study of the genes involved in pearl millet flowering time in West Africa. The project was led by ISRA-CERAAS researchers Oumar Diack and Adama Faye, as well as Cornell University researchers from Breeding Insight, including Moira Sheehan, Craig Beil, Madhav Subedi, and A.J. Ackerman.

  ISRA-CERAAS conducted trials at Bambey, Nioro, Sinthiou, and Sefa to test flowering time in more than 270 different pearl millet accessions. Tissue samples were sent to the U.S. for analysis at Breeding Insight. Each accession is being sequenced at 20X whole-genome coverage. This data set will be the global premiere collection of genomic information for pearl millet.

  The project established a database of haplotypes for flowering time in diverse pearl millet accessions. The information will be used for a functional analysis of pearl millet flowering time as observed during phenotyping.

  Flowering time in pearl millet is an adaptation strategy for drought tolerance as it allows plants to escape from the end-of-season rainfall breaks characteristic of the Sahelian region in Senegal. 

  The identification of these alleles enables the introduction of traits for early-flowering pearl millet varieties into existing varieties, ensuring reproductive activities occur earlier in the plant's lifecycle and improving yields under drought conditions. This data will also provide a better understanding of the genetics behind flowering time, which will facilitate comparative genomics between sorghum and other crop species.

• Rice Quick Win Project

  The Rice Blast Quick Win project focused on developing a Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) rice germplasm panel for haplotype characterization and validation of blast resistance genes. Dr. Iftekhar Kandakar from the BRRI and Dr. Adam Famoso of Louisiana State University led the project.

  Climatic stresses exacerbate plant diseases, and rice blast is one of the most detrimental diseases to rice production. In Bangladesh, chemical control through fungicide application is the leading management practice for controlling rice blast, as most varieties lack genetic resistance. This project aims to address the blast challenge that farmers face across Bangladesh.

  Through collaboration with BRRI and LSU, 460 rice lines were screened for resistance to rice blast. Of those, CRCIL researchers identified 18 rice varieties with broad resistance to rice blast with known molecular markers. 

  Once validated in BRRI fields, Bangladeshi scientists can utilize these genetic resources to inform trait selection for blast resistance in future varieties. Testing LSU’s marker panel against lines used in Bangladesh further validates LSU’s panel and bolsters the United States’ ability to identify pathogen resistance.

• Sorghum Quick Win Projects

  CRCIL research teams completed three Sorghum Quick Win projects in Ethiopia and Senegal. 
  
  Ethiopia

  The Drought Adaptation Enhancement Sorghum Quick Win Project in Ethiopia focused on enhancing local sorghum landraces for drought adaptation through genomic-enabled selection for maturity genes and stress-adaptive traits. The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research’s Tokuma Guta led the project with assistance from Moira Sheehan and Meseret Wondifraw from Breeding Insight at Cornell University.

  The project furthered previously funded work completed in partnership with other global experts and supported by U.S. government investments, including the previous Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab, which was also based at Kansas State University. 

  The primary focus was on marker-based screening of a Multi-parent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population developed from local sorghum landraces for early flowering, maturity, and stress-adaptive traits. 

  The MAGIC panel was planted for generational advancement, and tissue samples were collected on the 100 MAGIC founder lines. These samples were shipped to CRCIL researchers at Cornell for whole-genome sequencing.  Researchers identify alleles by genotyping the founder landraces and then conducting phenotypic evaluation of the progeny to pinpoint the specific regions of the DNA responsible for the desirable trait.

  The impact of this project extends beyond the Quick Win. Researchers can continually study the resources developed for other climate resilience traits and use the data to create tools that accelerate the integration of favorable traits into already robust, widely used sorghum varieties. 

  U.S. farmers also face difficulties related to changing climate conditions. Identifying, validating, and transferring these alleles into the U.S. sorghum seed system will enable U.S. farmers to produce higher yields and meet the demand for sorghum.
  
  Senegal

  IRSA-CERAAS led a Sorghum Quick Win project aimed at enhancing sorghum's adaptation to environmental constraints in West Africa. 

  The project built upon work initiated by the former Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab, which developed near-isogenic lines (NILs) for stay-green and striga resistance alleles. Using a marker-assisted backcross (MABC) selection, the NILs were generated from the West African Backcross-Nested Association Mapping Panel (BCNAM). 

  The project assessed 50 promising sorghum lines across multiple sites in Senegal–Babey, Roff, Darou, and Sinthiou—of which 25 included post-flowering drought-tolerant, stay green alleles and 25 contained the striga resistance (Lgs-I) allele. 

  These lines can be used directly in the sorghum breeding programs upon favorable performance reviews. CERAAS, a leader in regional cereal research, distributed the lines to partners in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo to conduct the same assessment, allowing for an even greater geographic impact for these climate-resilient traits.

  Adapting sorghum to changing environmental conditions also benefits U.S. farmers. Developing stable, high-yielding varieties preferred by end users and adapted to different agro-ecological zones broadens U.S. farmers’ ability to grow sorghum successfully.
  
  

  Crop modeling for sorghum was the focus of another Quick Win Project in Senegal. Researchers adapted an existing maize-based crop model for sorghum. Charlie Messina at the University of Florida and Modou Mbaye with ISRA-CERAAS led the project. 

  The project had three objectives:

  • Activate a sorghum model tailored for CRCIL geographies and germplasm in West Africa.
    
    
  • Build a simulation system to characterize the current and future Target Population of Environments (TPE), assess yield potentials, and quantify productivity and resiliency gaps.
    
  • Demonstrate the utility of these tools for germplasm enhancement, specifically for sorghum in West Africa. These methods are already widely utilized in the maize industry in the US, Australia, and European countries.

  The rates of genetic gain in sorghum in Africa are the lowest in the world, and sorghum is a critical crop across the continent. Unlocking the potential of sorghum across Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to address food security and supply necessary resources for sorghum around the globe.

  Breeding Gap Analysis (BGA) and Trait Profiling Assessment (TPA) will be used to understand the causes of slowed genetic gain and identify gaps between current and potential future yields.

  The team made significant progress in implementing an information technology infrastructure to run models at scale on the University of Florida's supercomputer (HiPerGator), connecting with world experts in sorghum modeling, developing state-of-the-art methodologies for sorghum breeding, and undertaking field research to train models in Senegal.

  The team utilized the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model because it had already been tested for the West Africa region, thereby saving both time and money. The BGA and TPA assessments can reveal the biophysical limits of sorghum production and identify management and breeding pathways that can help shift these limits to achieve greater yield production. The team in Senegal is conducting field trials needed to validate the crop simulation model. 

  Once validated, these crop models can be adapted for use in other geographic locations to develop sorghum growth models, which can be helpful for U.S. farmers.

• Wheat Quick Win Project

  The Wheat Quick Win project focused on trait discovery and allele validation from wild wheat genetics across a wide range of environments. The project was conducted in Senegal and Ethiopia, led by researchers from K-State’s Wheat Genetics Research Center, EIAR, and ISRA-CERAAS. 

  The project focused on identifying heat resistance within germplasm composed of 100 varieties from K-State that have been introgressed with wild wheat relatives for abiotic stress tolerance, 100 varieties from the Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and 50 varieties from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA). 

  Heat and drought are two of the most significant effects of changing climatic conditions, and both stresses can have adverse impacts on crop production. The project screened for heat and drought stress, seeking lines that carry alleles for climate resilience. 

  By combining multiple regions, information gained can inform future breeding decisions to improve wheat heat and drought tolerance. Once the traits are identified, plant breeders can introduce them into elite germplasm to improve wheat resistance to environmental factors that affect farmers worldwide, including those in the U.S.