Knowledge Management Portal

Lentil is a staple in many diets around the world and growing in popularity as a quick‐cooking, nutritious, plant‐based source of protein in the human diet. Lentil varieties are usually grown close to where they were bred. Future climate change scenarios will result in increased temperatures and shifts in lentil crop production areas, necessitating expanded breeding efforts. We show how we can use a daylength and temperature model to identify varieties most likely to succeed in these new environments, expand genetic diversity, and give plant breeders additional knowledge and tools to help mitigate these changes for lentil producers.

International training course about Cactus Pear Evaluation & Best-Agronomic was conducted in Jordan from 14–18 July 2019. this training was widely covered by the local media and this video is the Jordan today TV news about this event. the main objective of this events were to provide participant information about the cactus pear requirements; Demonstrate cactus best agronomic practices; Learn how to evaluate and describe the different cactus accessions; Share experiences related to cactus cultivation and use in different countries; and Increase awareness about insect pests of cactus pear (cochineal). This training was attended by Twenty-four participants attended: nine trainees from India, 11 from Jordan, one from Iraq, one from Palestine, one from Yemen, and one from Tunisia and delivered by four resource persons from Tunisia, Syria, Italy and Morocco.

Wheat (Triticum sp.) is the main staple food of the Moroccan population. However, the crop is attacked by several pests and diseases. Hessian fly is the most serious pest, causing an average yield loss of 30% yearly. In order to select germplasm that combines both Hessian fly resistance and a high yield potential, an ICARDA bread wheat nursery, HF_SPWYT_MOR_ON of 160 lines, was evaluated for resistance to Hessian fly and for yield potential under greenhouse and in four Moroccan environments: Chaouia, Abda, Doukkala and Tadla, represented by the experimental domains of Sidi El Aidi, Jemaa Shaim, Khemis Zemamra and Deroua. Analysis of variance showed highly significant effects (P<0.0001) ofsite, genotype and their interactions (sitex genotype). The evaluation under greenhouse conditions showed that 87.5% of the nursery was resistant, 9.4% heterogeneous and 3.1% was susceptible. Most of the lines were resistant in the field. These lines are derived from resistant parents, and express antibiosisas a mechanismof resistance. The best grain yields were obtained in the experimental domain of Deroua, 23.7 to 86 q/ha, which is much higher than the national average (18 qls/ha).The lowest were obtained in Khemis Zemamra, 7.7 to 41.3qls / ha.

Largescale land acquisitions have increased in scale and pace due to changes in commodity markets, agricultural investment strategies, land prices, and a range of other policy and market forces. The areas most affected are the global “commons” – lands that local people traditionally use collectively — including much of the world’s forests, wetlands, and rangelands. In some cases land acquisition occurs with environmental objectives in sight – including the setting aside of land as protected areas for biodiversity conservation. On the other hand, current trends and patterns of commercial land acquisition present a major and growing threat not just to local livelihoods and human rights, but also to conservation objectives. There is a potential opportunity here for greater collaboration between conservation interests, and local communities’ land rights interests with their supporters amongst human rights and social justice movements. This Issue Paper documents experiences from the rangelands of Mongolia, Kenya, India, Ethiopia, and other countries, which were presented at a Conference on Conservation and Land Grabbing held in London in 2013.

Jhinuwa is an aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) landrace from the Pokhara Valley of Nepal. A total of 210 accessions comprising seven types of Jhinuwa rice landraces were randomly collected from the rice fields to evaluate inter-and intra-population variability based on agro-morphological traits. The experiment was conducted in factorial randomized complete block design with three replicates in 2005. The first six principal components (PCs) accounted for 76.6 % variation for agro-morphological traits. Major traits that accounted for the variation by six PCs includes days to heading, days to maturity, total grain panicle(-1), fertile grain panicle(-1), culm length, panicle length, milling recovery, head rice recovery, aroma, 1,000 grain weight, sterile grain panicle(-1), grain sterility %, and leaf characteristics. Both principal coordinate analysis and cluster analyses revealed four phenotypic groups, two of which represent Bayarni, Jhinuwa, and Biramphul while the other two account for Tunde and Pakho Tunde. Tunde, Pakho Tunde, Kalo Bayarni, and Seto Bayarni showed higher intraas well as inter-population variation compared to other populations. The phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, broad sense heritability (h(2)B) and genetic advance (GA) as a percent of the mean assessed for 210 accessions revealed high h(2)B and GA estimates for leaf width, leaf length breadth ratio, ligule length, sterile grain panicle(-1), grain sterility % and 1,000 grain weight. The current study demonstrates that improvement in Jhinuwa rice landrace is possible by selecting superior accessions from existing natural populations while selection should be focussed to market traits with higher h(2)B and GA estimates.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Republic of Lebanon have been closely bound together since 1977, when ICARDA was established with the signing of an agreement between the government of Lebanon and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ICARDA emerged from, and expanded, the former Arid Land Agricultural Development (ALAD) Program of the Ford Foundation that operated in Lebanon in the 1960s and 1970s. The objectives of that program remain valid today; to make the best use of limited water resources, to improve production of staple food crops in a region of major food gaps, and to address the complex integration of crop and livestock production in the dry areas. Despite disruptions for various reasons in Lebanon and throughout the region that ICARDA serves, ICARDA and the Lebanese national research program have worked together in areas of mutual interest for more than 30 years. This collaboration has proved to be an enduring and successful partnership that has resulted in clear impact on farming households. This booklet presents highlights of the collaborative projects and activities undertaken over that time. ICARDA works closely with the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) to strengthen agricultural research in Lebanon. In addition, LARI's Terbol and Kfardan research stations, seconded to ICARDA, provide important research sites that complement the crop improvement research and germplasm testing at ICARDA's principle research station at Tel Hadya near Aleppo, Syria. These sites represent agro-ecological conditions not available at Tel Hadya, also providing the Center with off-season sites to advance breeding of segegrating generations, multiply seeds of promising breeding lines, and screen for specific diseases for which conditions at Terbol conducive.