Effect of Feeding Bio-fortified Maize on Performance and Slaughter Parameters in Vanaraja Birds

Background: The normal maize contains high zein fraction and devoid of lysine and tryptophan thus making lysine as second limiting amino acid in it. The opaque-2 and floury-2 mutants produce higher levels of lysine and tryptophan. Through plant breeding programme, bio-fortified maize (Provitamin-A enriched) is being produced. Therefore, the study was conducted to determine the effect feeding different bio-fortified maize based diets in Vanaraja birds.Methods: The experiment was conducted during January to April 2018 at ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research. For the purpose, 175 day old chicks were randomly divided into 5 dietary groups each having 7 replicates with 5 birds each. Five experimental diets were formulated to contain normal maize (Diet 1), Vivek Hybrid 9 (Diet 2), APQH9 (Diet 3), Vivek QPM 9 (Diet 4) and white maize (Diet 5). The experimental diets fed ad libitum to all the chicks up to 6 weeks (nursery phase) and recorded performance parameters.Result: Improved feed efficiency was recorded in the group fed diet with APQH9 (Diet 3) compared to other experimental diets. The decrease in abdominal fat and increased breast muscle among the birds fed diet contained Vivek QPM 9 (Diet 4) and APQH9 (Diet 3) was recorded in comparison to other dietary groups. Hence, it is concluded that the birds fed QPM and QPM + Provit A showed an improved feed efficiency, reduced abdominal fat and increased breast muscle in Vanaraja birds during nursery phase.

GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ACCESSIONS OF Stylosanthes spp. USING MORPHOAGRONOMIC DESCRIPTORS

ABSTRACT: The great diversity of plants in the Brazilian Semiarid environment represents a vital natural resource for the human populations of these areas. Many of these plants have been subject to extractivism and among these, the species of the genus Stylosanthes, which have occurrence in this region, show great potential, however, studies on this topic are limited, and little is known about the existing variability among these plants. Therefore, further study is necessary, to facilitate the development of cultivars. This might reduce the scarcity of fodder supply in this region, but to commence a plant breeding programme, it is essential to identify genetic variability. Therefore, this study evaluated 25 accessions of Stylosanthes spp., to identify the most suitable candidates to be parents in a plant breeding programme for the semiarid region of the state of Bahia. Two experiments were carried out in different sites in an experimental design of randomized blocks with four replicates, with a spacing of 3.0 × 8.0 m. A large amount of genetic diversity was observed among accessions and the genotypes BGF 08-007, BGF 08-016, BGF 08-015 and BGF 08-021 were the most divergent in the overall evaluation. For the structuring of segregating populations, it is recommended to combine the genotypes BGF 08-016, BGF 08-015, BGF 08-007 and BGF 08-006, and for the interspecific crosses, a hybrid from the accession BGF-024 with the accessions BGF 08-016 or BGF 08-015. This might generate superior individuals for mass descriptors, which are the most important for animal forage breeding.

ADOPTION OF INTEGRATED FOOD-ENERGY SYSTEMS: IMPROVED COOKSTOVES AND PIGEONPEA IN SOUTHERN MALAWI

SUMMARYWe analyse the adoption of an Integrated Food-Energy System (IFES) in southern Malawi. The IFES combined the improved cookstove (chitetezo mbaula in Chichewa), designed to reduce demand for fuelwood, with the pigeonpea variety Mthawajuni, which increased both food supply and supply of fuelwood from pigeonpea stems. Adoption of the improved cookstove was found to be higher among households that were better off and where women had greater control over decision-making. However, adoption of the IFES was not associated with reduced demand for fuelwood from forests and hills or reduced frequency of collection. IFES adopters might have high fuelwood consumption because they were better off, but fuelwood consumption in better-off households did not differ significantly between IFES adopters and non-adopters. Pigeonpea increased food supply for adopter households, including children aged less than five years. Consequently, the IFES has had mixed results, improving food supply but not reducing demand for fuelwood. Households ranked early maturity, fuelwood and yield as the three most important reasons for preferring Mthawajuni over other varieties of pigeonpea. The plant breeding programme for pigeonpea in Malawi should evaluate improved varieties not only for earliness and grain yield but also for the production of fuelwood. Improved varieties with desirable market traits have had limited success in the absence of reliable markets and price incentives.

A baseline study of vicine–convicine levels in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) germplasm

Vicine and convicine are anti-nutritional compounds that accumulate in the cotyledons of faba beans. When humans consume beans with high levels of these compounds, it can cause a condition called favism in individuals harbouring a deficiency in the activity of their glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. When faba beans are used in animal feeds, there can be effects on performance. These concerns have resulted in increasing interest within plant breeding in developing low vicine and convicine faba bean germplasm. In order to facilitate this objective, we developed a rapid and robust screening method for vicine and convicine, capable of distinguishing between faba beans that are either high (wild type) or low in vicine and convicine. In the absence of reliable commercial reference materials, we report an adaptation of a previously published method where a biochemical assay and spectral data were used to confirm the identity of our analytes, vicine and convicine. This method could be readily adopted in other facilities and open the way to the efficient exploitation of diverse germplasm in regions where faba beans play a significant role in human nutrition. We screened a collection of germplasm of interest to a collaborative plant breeding programme developing between the National Institute for Agricultural Botany in the UK and L'Institut Nationale d'Agronomie de Tunisie in Tunisia. We report the results obtained and discuss the prospects for developing molecular markers for the low vicine and convicine trait.

PARTICIPATORY PLANT BREEDING IN WATER-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS

Drought is one of the major factors limiting crop production worldwide. Dry areas are a much less homogeneous population of target environments than areas with high and reliable rainfall. In this paper we argue that a decentralized participatory plant breeding programme can address the complexity of dry areas, characterized by high and repeatable genotype × locations and genotype × years within locations interactions, more efficiently and effectively than a centralized non-participatory plant breeding programme. This is because varieties can be tailored not only to the multitude of target environments typical of dry areas, but also to diverse clients needs. In addition, varieties can be delivered in a shorter time and with a higher probability of adoption. Decentralized participatory plant breeding also has beneficial effects on biodiversity because selection is for specific adaptation rather than for broad spatial adaptation. The paper gives examples of methodological aspects including the modes of farmer selection, the precision of the trials, the efficiency of selection, the response to selection, the role of the type of germplasm and the role of molecular breeding in a participatory breeding programme. The paper gives the example of drought-resistant barley lines identified through extensive field testing and selection in a decentralized participatory breeding programme, and concludes that this type of plant breeding may be better targeted, more relevant and more appropriate for poor farmers in marginal areas.

MEASURES OF REPEATABILITY OF GENOTYPE BY LOCATION INTERACTIONS USING DATA FROM BARLEY TRIALS IN NORTHERN SYRIA

Genotype × environment interaction plays an important role in the identification of genotypes with high and stable yields. The environmental components of such interaction can be attributed to location (spatial) and year (temporal) factors. This study considers a specific aspect of the location factor, i.e. that locations not geographically close to each other are likely to vary in terms of the conditions that determine the effect of the year factor, even during the same calendar year. In these situations, the year effects are considered to be random variables within each location. This study addresses the question of whether genotype × location interactions are consistent (or repeatable) over time: a question which is crucial when defining the target environments in a plant breeding programme and when deciding the optimum environment for selection. Using three sets of data from field experiments, various computation methods were developed to estimate variance components; the methods and estimates are presented here. Using the bootstrapping procedure to sample one year from each location within a given calendar year, we obtained bootstrap replicated values of genotype × location interaction and their summary statistics, including the coefficient of variation (CV). We suggest that the CV can be used to measure the repeatability of genotype × location interactions. A Genstat program that can be used to perform the required computations is available from the authors upon request.