PI:

Contact details

P. O. Box MP 163, Harare, Zimbabwe

Grantee:

Amount:

Duration:

Three Years

Project Outputs

• CZR3, CZR4, & CZR8, were released by the Agricultural Technology Clearing Committee (ATCC), Malawi on November 7, 2002.  These hybrids were formed using combinations of inbred lines that were identified to be good for various stresses by REGNUR collaborators. 

• Ugandan releases: OPVs Longe 4 (LP 16) and Longe 5 (Obantapa) in 2000; 3-way cross hybrids Longe 6H, Longe 7H and Longe 8H in November 2002.

• Formation and/or testing of hybrids using NARS lines and CIMMYT single crosses/OPVs/lines by various NARS: Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique.

• Work plans were formulated for a collaborative effort where the NARS would develop disease resistant and abiotic stress tolerant inbred lines using a combination of NARS germplasm and CIMMYT germplasm (pedigree breeding).  This approach is especially important for broadening the germplasm base of the NARS and to sustain their breeding program for a long time as it would ensure a continual supply of new inbred lines.  This effort is already underway in the NARS of Zimbabwe and Mozambique and is about to begin in the NARS of Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.

• Visiting scientists in 2003: Two Kenyan REGNUR collaborators visited the Zimbabwean National Program and CIMMYT.  They were introduced to both the programs and were also trained to use the computer program "Fieldbook" which generates pedigrees of newly formed combinations and enables efficient management of nurseries, trials and seed inventory.

• A two-day workshop (March 2003) was held in INIA-Maputo to train 8 collaborators (scientists and technicians) to use "Fieldbook".

• Completed computerized inventorying of INIA (Mozambique) germplasm and current season nurseries.  A similar effort is on-going with the NARS of Zimbabwe, Malawi, Muguga-Kenya, Kakamega-Kenya.

• A user's manual for the computer program "Pedigree" was developed.  This program is an extension of and complements the nursery and trial management features of "Fieldbook".

• REGNUR has strengthened the existing collaborative links with Coordinated Ecosystem Breeding (CEB) and Southern Africa Drought and Low Fertility (SADLF) projects.  New germplasm is being developed/identified by the NARS using a system of germplasm sharing, exchange and testing using the REGNUR-CEB network.  REGNUR links to SADLF comes by the way of mother-baby trials where germplasm developed by REGNUR collaborators is being tested on farmers' fields.