1. Tropical Legumes I:
Improving Tropical Legume Productivity for
Marginal Environments
in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

2. • Characterise diversity and develop germplasm for genetic
studies
• Generate genomic resources for genetic studies and breeding
• Identify molecular markers and genes for biotic stress resistance
• Identify molecular markers and genes for drought tolerance
• Enhance locally adapted germplasm with target traits
• Orthologous genetic markers for cross-genome analysis
• Comparative analysis of the Arachis-species complex.
• Estimating genome divergence at orthologous loci
TLI Phase I: Objective and Activities
Focus: 4 crops – beans, chickpeas, cowpeas & groundnuts,
and for each….

3. Objectives of TLI Phase II
 Validation of molecular markers and testing of molecular
breeding approaches in drought-prone environments for traits
important to sub-Saharan African farmers
 Precision phenotyping to guarantee accurate marker–trait
associations, and to refine selection indices used by breeders
 Data integration of all data-producing research activities in TLI,
Phases I and II, to ensure availability of high-quality, curated
and publicly available data
 Enhancing breeding capacity for programme partners in Africa
 Combined endeavor with building capacity for drought tolerance
breeding through the detailed study of cross-legume
phenotyping and on data management by cataloguing all
data generated in the project

4. TLI–PHASE II: IMPORTANT
OUTPUTS

5. TLI–Phase II: important outputs
 Genomic resources
 Genetic stocks: reference sets, synthetics, MARS, MAGIC,
MABC, AB-QTL & CSSL populations
 Markers for traits and QTLs
 Improved germplasm
 Methodologies and screening protocols
 Trained scientists
 DB and DM strategy in place
 Improved infrastructure

6. Genomic resources
All 4 crops:
 Development of SNP and SSR markers
 Diverse genetic maps from bi-parental and consensus
maps
 Mapped QTLs for biotic and abiotic traits and candidate
genes associated
 Physical maps
 Sequencing of their genome

7. Genetic stocks: Trait pyramiding
MARS (Marker assisted recurrent selection)
 Bean:
 1 population of ~200 lines
 Phenotyping in 2 countries (Colombia and Ethiopia)
 Cowpea:
 4 ongoing populations (~300 lines)
 IITA, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Senegal
 Chickpea:
 2 populations
 Phenotyping in 3 countries (Ethiopia, India and Kenya)

8. Genetic stocks: Trait pyramiding
MAGIC (Multiparent advanced generation intercross)
 Beans (8 parents)
 Seed type, abiotic stress, drought adaptation, yield potential,
earliness, biotic stress
 648 lines tested for drought tolerance
 Cowpeas (8 parents)
 Yield potential under marginal conditions, abiotic and biotic
stresses
 300 lines
 Chickpeas (8 parents)
 Drought-tolerant and widely adapted germplasm, FPVs in
diverse regions, high-yielding
 1,200 lines

9. Genetic stocks
Synthetics for Groundnut
 6 synthetics developed
 Resistance to rust, LLS, ELS, seed size, yield potential
 2 populations developed
 Brazilian cultivar
 Senegalese cultivar
 Under evaluation
 2 new populations under development
 Senegalese cultivar

10. Genetic stocks
 CSSL (Chromosome segment substitution lines)
 Synthetic line x elite
 78 lines available and under multi-location phenotyping
 Several traits: drought, biotic stresses, yield components
 AB-QTL populations
 2 populations
 RIL populations
 At least 5 populations

11. Development of improved version
of local cultivars
MABC (Marker assisted backcrossing)
 Beans
 5 populations undertaken, but adaptation low so abandoned
 Cowpeas
 11 populations (BF, IITA, Mozambique, Senegal, UCR)
 Drought, biotic stress (flower thrips, Striga, nematodes and
Macrophomina phaseolina )
 Chickpeas
 11 populations (ICRISAT, India, Ethiopia, Kenya)
 Introgression of the region controlling root QTL and drought
 Groundnuts
 13 populations
 Resistance to rosette, ELS and rust

12. Development of improved cultivars
MAS (Marker assisted selection) - Bean
 Disease resistance
 Virus
 Postharvest deterioration (storage insects)
 Bacteria
 Fungus
 Insects

13. CAPACITY BUILDING AND
PARTNERSHIP

14. Development of new populations
through partnership
 For the development of CSSL and AB-QTL: EMBRAPA (Brazil)
sent synthetic lines to ISRA/CERAAS, Senegal
 ICRISAT sent synthetic lines to ISRA/CERAAS for development
of new CSSL populations
 Empowerment of NARS for development of MARS and MABC
populations under the leadership of CIAT, ICRISAT (residential
and long-duration training) and UCR (mentoring)

15. Fully or partially TL1-supported PhD and
Masters Students
Crop
Degree
programme
Number Country
Beans MSc 2 Ethiopia, Malawi
Beans PhD 5
Ethiopia, Mozambique,
South Africa, Zimbabwe
Chickpeas MSc 5 Ethiopia, Kenya
Chickpeas PhD 7 Australia,Ethiopia, Kenya
Cowpeas PhD 10
Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Ghana, Mozambique,
Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
USA
Groundnuts MSc 2 Mali, Tanzania
Groundnuts PhD 4 Malawi, Niger, Senegal
Total MSc 9 5
Total PhD 26 12

16. Challenges
 Organising and using phenotypic data generated on
hundreds of accessions at multiple locations for several biotic
constraints and for grain yield
 Logistics to perform good MARS (reliable phenotypic data,
large GxE effect, limited secondary traits, limited seed
production, fast genotyping turnover)
 Data analysis capacity for all teams
 Data management implemented by all teams
 Use of IBP tools by all teams
 Limited human-resource capacity in NARS in modern
breeding
 Staff turnover

17. Conclusion and perspectives
 Evolving role of partners over time with NARS now leading
several key activities with ARI and CG scientists mentors
 Successful and effective examples of technology change,
bridging the upstream–downstream research gap:
 Cowpea MARS (North South)
 Groundnut introgression line (South South)
 Chickpea MABC (South South)
 Successful proof of concept that MB can have impact on legume
productivity
 Impressive set of outputs generated
 Integration of TLI and TLII is being done, but needs to be
reinforced in the last year of the project

18. Thank you!