Forage germplasm

Diversity assessment

Phenotypic characterization

Environmental

adaptation

Nutritional evaluation

Agronomic evaluation

Seed production

capacity

Best bet forages

Productive and adapted

forages for users

USE

Germplasm conservation Medium term orthodox seed storage at 8°C in Addis Ababa

Most original collection and long term orrthodoxseed storage at -20 °C in Addis Ababa

Field genebank for grasses with short-lived seeds or low seed production in Zwai and Debre Zeit

Safety backup of original collections in Centro Internacional de Agricultura

Tropical in Colombia and Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway

Information Global catalogue of forage germplasm available to improve access to and support improved

use and adoption of forages

Fact sheets on key species

Databases, decision support tools and web sites developed for improving conservation,

management and use of forage diversity

Knowledge base http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/

Expert knowledge system http://www.tropicalforages.info

Google sites web page http://sites.google.com/site/napiergrassdiseaseresistance/home

Forage crop registry http://icarda-genebank.icarda.cgiar.org/crs/forage/public/

Accession information http://192.156.137.110/forage/frgdsearch.asp

Phenotypic characterization Morphological characterization using standard descriptors

Diversity assessment Approaches and molecular methodologies for quantifying variation, developing

core collections, identifying duplicates and confirming taxonomic identity

Agronomic evaluation Diversity in yield, plant components and adaptation

Disease tolerance and drought traits in Napier

SAVE STUDY

Nutritional evaluation Studies in variation in nutritional parameters

Seed production Seeds of 60 best bet forages produced to support technology transfer in sub-Saharan Africa

Selection of forages and action research with farmers

NARS partners trained in forage management and forage seed production

Challenge: How can the forage collection best serve poor smallholder livestock keepers?

Model or representative forage species

selected for research based on:

Importance as forage or food-feed crop

Link to other work in ILRI

Work in partnership and complementary

Large amount of variation

Knowledge gaps

Representation in ILRI collection

Outputs:

0.1

Pglaucum3

Pglaucum2

Pglaucum4

14982

16902

16835

16834

16840

16838

16621

16783

14355

14389

16793

16799

16837

14984

15357

16811

16813

16815

16819

16791

16785

16787

16786

16789

16792

16795

16798

16800

16801

16803

16806

16804

16836

16821

15743

16818

16814

16817

16816

16839

16812

16790

16805

16807

14983

16788

16794

16782

16810

16784

16822

16802

16808

16809

16796

16797

Hybrids

? Breeders lines

Breeders lines

Southern Africa

East Africa

Genetic relationship and disease susceptibility between accessions of Napier grass

susceptible

Forage germplasm Forage accessions conserved, documented and

disseminated according to international standards

under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic

Resources for Food and Agriculture

3000 samples per year distributed free of charge

for forage research and development worldwide

Regeneration Seeds regenerated for storage when viability or stocks are low

Disease free seeds of 800 accessions regenerated per year

Monitoring viability during storage Legume seeds monitored at 10 year intervals

Grass seeds monitored at 5 year intervals

Accessions with low viability scheduled for regeneration

Germination regimes identified for breaking dormancy

Monitoring health Legume seedlings tested for virus before planting or during growing season

Napier grass tested for Napier stunt disease after each cut

Infected plants removed from field

Virus elimination using thermotherapy and meristem culture

Disease screening for anthracnose for accessions of Stylosanthes once

during storage

Infected seeds discarded

Capacity NARS capacity in forage conservation, characterization, research and

development strengthened

Training manuals on genebank management

Individual graduate training

Group training

Forage type

Number of

accessions

Grasses 4564

Herbaceous legumes 10859

Fodder trees 3517

Other forages 270

Total 19210

Actions to respond to challenge:

Cowpea

Napier grass

Lablab

Sesbania

USING DIVERSITY FOR FORAGE DEVELOPMENT

Partners: SGRP, SLP, Bioversity, CIAT, ICARDA, CSIRO, Australia, Rothamsted Research, UK, KARI, Kenya,

NARO, Uganda, TALIRO, Tanzania, IPMS, EMDTI, MoA and EIAR, Ethiopia Forage Diversity Contact: Dr Alexandra Jorge, Email: a.jorge@cgiar.org

Donors: World Bank (Global public goods projects), ACIAR, DFID,

ASARECA, Global Crop Diversity Trust