ICRISAT recently hosted the East and Southern Africa Sorghum and Pearl Millet Hybrid Parents Research Consortium (SPMHPRC) members at a biannual field day at the KALRO-ICRISAT Kiboko, Kenya research field station on the 20th April 2022. The consortium members from Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe represented four National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners and 8 seed companies, including the CEO of the Seed Traders Association of Kenya.
ICRISAT recently hosted the East and Southern Africa Sorghum and Pearl Millet Hybrid Parents Research Consortium (SPMHPRC) members at a biannual field day at the KALRO-ICRISAT Kiboko, Kenya research field station on the 20th April 2022. The consortium members from Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe represented four National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners and 8 seed companies, including the CEO of the Seed Traders Association of Kenya. The delegates received an overview of sorghum and pearl millet hybrid parents nurseries and advanced OPV trials prior to selecting parents for use in their hybrid development programs. A total of 88 A/B pairs and 24 R-lines of sorghum and 44 A/B pairs and 102 R-lines of pearl millet were available with consortium members considering grain yield, agronomic performance, plant height, maturity, uniformity, flowering synchronization, seed set, insect pest damage and foliar diseases, among other important traits. ...