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Biotechnology for the genetic improvement of the Ethiopian cereal tef:
The overall objective of the project
is to develop a dwarf tef plant which is resistant to
lodging while responding to fertilizer application so
that the seed yield per unit area is
increased.
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Tef (Eragrostis tef) is the major cereal crop of Ethiopia, a country where crop production is at risk. Annually, tef is planted on about 30% of the area allocated for cereal crops. The plant is closely related to finger millet (Eleusine coracana), a grassy plant mainly cultivated in India and Africa. Tef is particularly important because it adapts to diverse climatic and soil conditions. Moreover, it tolerates many pests and diseases. In addition to its nutritional advantage, tef is free of gluten (at least none of the type found in wheat), hence safe for people with severe allergies to wheat gluten or patients with celiac disease. Although growing tef has many advantages, the average yield from this crop is one of the lowest compared to other cereals.
Crop lodging is the major constraint to increasing the yield of tef. The plant has a tall and slender stem which is susceptible to damage by wind and rain. The problem of lodging is aggravated particularly when optimum amount of fertilizer is applied to increase the yield. As a consequence, the yield from the crop is severely reduced in terms of total grain yield and quality. Various conventional breeding techniques implemented in the last 10-20 years in Ethiopia or elsewhere did not result in any candidate tef plant with short stature and/or lodging resistant. On the other hand, the Green Revolution of 1960's in Asia which boosted the yield of wheat and rice was mainly due to the utilization of dwarf mutants which respond to fertilizer application.
The main goal of the current tef biotechnology project is, therefore, to obtain dwarf tef plant(s) which do not fall by wind or upon fertilizer application. The project is aimed to utilize a newly developed non-transgenic approach called TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes). So far, TILLING is successfully implemented in cereal crops such as maize, barley and wheat. Since the genome sequence of tef is not yet known, the information from other crop plants will be used to identify candidate genes responsible for plant height. Once, the gene(s) of interest is isolated from tef, screening for a mutation of a particular gene will be made using a second generation of mutagenized population. Currently, over 5000 first generation mutagenized lines from two inbred lines of tef cultivated at different agroecology in Ethiopia are grown in the glasshouse in Bern.
Annual reports
» Download
project proposal [PDF 243KB]
Research Project Proposal on Biotechnology for the genetic
improvement of the Ethiopian cereal tef: tackling a prominent
yield constraint
» Download
progress report 2006/2007 [PDF 359KB]
The report covers the first one year (June 2006 to June
2007) period of the project, ‘Biotechnology for the genetic
improvement of the Ethiopian cereal tef’ which is financed
by Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA)
and hosted at the laboratory of Prof. Cris Kuhlemeier
in the Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern. |
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