Knowledge Management Portal

Decision makers may be reluctant to invest in knowledge management (KM) without understanding the value to them or their institution of such investments. KM creates economic value through two direct pathways: (i) by reducing the time and other costs of obtaining knowledge needed for decision making; and (ii) by reducing the uncertainty associated with decision options (or policy alternatives in the case of policy decision making). The first pathway is relatively obvious, but calculating the value of saved time is difficult. The second pathway, however, is an important main source of value; knowledge and access to it reduces the probability that an improper (wrong) decision is taken. There is a large literature on the value of information in decision making, whether public or private, but it is widely accepted that the economic value comes through reduction in uncertainty about the returns to a specific decision (Arrow 1969, Gardner 1999, Lindner 1987).

Drought is one of the most important yield-limiting factors in Morocco. Identification and deployment of drought-tolerant wheat varieties are important to cope with the challenge of terminal moisture stress and increase wheat productivity. A panel composed of 200 elite spring bread wheat genotypes was phenotyped for yield and agronomic traits for 2 years (2020 and 2021) in Morocco under rainfed and irrigated environments. The panel was genotyped using 20K SNPs and, after filtration, a total of 15,735 SNP markers were used for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a mixed linear model (MLM) to identify marker-trait associations (MTA) and putative genes associated with grain yield and yield-related traits under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Significant differences were observed among the elite genotypes for grain yield and yield-related traits. Grain yield performance ranged from 0.97 to 6.16 t/ha under rainfed conditions at Sidi Al-Aidi station and from 3.31 to 9.38 t/h under irrigated conditions at Sidi Al-Aidi station, while Grain yield at Merchouch station ranged from 2.32 to 6.16 t/h under rainfed condition. A total of 159 MTAs (p < 0.001) and 46 genes were discovered, with 67 MTAs recorded under rainfed conditions and 37 MTAs recorded under irrigated conditions at the Sidi Al-Aidi station, while 55 MTAs were recorded under rainfed conditions at Merchouch station. The marker ‘BobWhite_c2988_493’ on chromosome 2B was significantly correlated with grain yield under rainfed conditions. Under irrigated conditions, the marker ‘AX-94653560’ on chromosome 2D was significantly correlated with grain yield at Sidi Al-Aidi station. The maker ‘RAC875_c17918_321’ located on chromosome 4A, associated with grain yield was linked with the gene TraesCS4A02G322700, which encodes for F-box domain-containing protein. The markers and candidate genes discovered in this study should be further validated for their potential use in marker-assisted selection to generate high-yielding wheat genotypes with drought tolerance

Ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei, is the most destructive disease in many chickpea growing countries. Many chickpea varieties were out of production due to increased virulence/aggressiveness of the pathogen in some countries. The aim of this study was to assess variation in pathogenicity of 25 A. rabiei collected in different years from Syria, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, and France. The pathogen phenotyping was done using five genotypes (ILC3279, ILC482, ICC3396, ICC12004, and Genesis090) under controlled conditions (humidity >85, temperature 18-20 °C, light/dark 18:6 h) at the International Center of Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA), Terbol station, Lebanon. Five genotypes carrying different resistant genes have been used in this study, and a highly susceptible genotype (ILC263). was used as a control. A total of 25 sets of these genotypes, each genotype has two replications that have been planted and inoculated with the 25 A. rabiei isolates. The symptoms were measured two times using a 1–9 disease symptoms rating scale (RS) when the susceptible control was RS >6. The result showed high significant differences between genotypes (G) (P<0.001), and isolations (P<0.001). The average of resistance for the five genotypes was 3.5 compared to the susceptible check which scored ≥6. The results indicated 5 isolates were highly aggressive isolates Pathotype 4 & race 4 from Syria, Uz3-2 from Uzbekistan, and FR-2926 & FR-3248 from France). Further large-scale evaluation of these isolates on the AB differential set may help to identify a better understanding of the resistant genes available in chickpeas.

Biochar amendment can alter native soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization via the priming effect (PE); however, its direction, intensity, and controls over a broad geographic scale are not clear, undermining the predictions of SOC dynamics as impacted by biochar inputs. Here, we synthesized 5,720 measurements of CO2 effluxes from 329 soil samples with and without 13C/14C labeled-biochar additions to quantify the spatial pat terns and temporal dynamics of the PE and assess the underlying environmental drivers. Across all data, biochar amendment has led to a slight but significant positive PE (i.e., 56 mg C kg− 1 soil), with stronger PEs in natural ecosystems than in agricultural soils. Negative PE occurred in the short term (i.e., <9 days after biochar addition) and subsequently shifted to a strong positive PE (i.e., 364–966 days) and remained in an insignificant PE thereafter (i.e., >1450 days). Notably, soils from rainfed croplands had the lowest negative PE (− 28.76 mg C kg− 1 soil). Grass-derived biochar produced at a low pyrolysis temperature (i.e., 300–400 ◦C) induced the strongest positive PE (244 mg C kg− 1 soil). The results of our structural equation model indicated that biochar pyrolysis temperature and soil C:N ratio had the largest negative and direct association with biochar-induced PE, whereas incubation temperature and microbial biomass C exerted the greatest positive and direct effects on the PE. Variance partitioning analyses further revealed that both biochar and soil properties together accounted for 73% of the explained variance in biochar-induced PE. Overall, these results add to our understanding of biochar induced SOC priming as impacted by different land-use types, soils, and biochar properties. The amendment of wood-derived biochars produced at high pyrolysis temperatures (>500 ◦C) to rainfed croplands could serve as a promising strategy to achieve maximum soil C sequestration

A Diversified Cropping System (DCS) results in a more resilient and productive cropping system. In this case, chickpeas were introduced as a relay intercrop between established lines of lentils. This not only had no negative effect on lentil yields, but also enabled the harvest of an extra crop: chickpeas.

Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris) of chickpea is the major limitation to chickpea production worldwide. Host plant resistance is the major component in the management of fungal diseases in chickpea. This study was conducted with the aim to find new sources of resistance chickpea genotypes against fusarium wilt. The experiment was conducted in 2017-2018 at the sick plot at the International Center of Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA), Terbol station, Bekaa valley, Lebanon. The experiment was laid out in an augmented block design (ABD), and the high susceptible check (ILC482) was repeated after each tenth row. The total number of the genotypes used in this study was 974, they included (34) accessions from the genebank, and (940) breeding lines from the chickpea breeding program at the ICARDA. Finally, 45 promising lines without symptoms were selected to be distributed through the chickpea fusarium wilt Nursery (CFWN) in 2021 for further testing in different locations. This is an important material in chickpea to enhance fusarium wilt chickpea resistance in the future.

The presentation is linked to the role of agrobiodiversity in Tajikistan for the world food security roundtable discussion at COP27

Dorper and Hu sheep exhibit different characteristics in terms of reproduction, growth, and meat quality. Comparison of the genomes of two breeds help to reveal important genomic information. In this study, whole genome resequencing of 30 individuals (Dorper, DB and Hu sheep, HY) identified 15,108,125 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Population differentiation (Fst) and cross population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH) were performed for selective signal analysis. In total, 106 and 515 overlapped genes were present in both the Fst results and XP-EHH results in HY vs DB and in DB vs HY, respectively. In HY vs DB, 106 genes were enriched in 12 GO terms and 83 KEGG pathways, such as ATP binding (GO:0005524) and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (oas04151). In DB vs HY, 515 genes were enriched in 109 GO terms and 215 KEGG pathways, such as skeletal muscle cell differentiation (GO:0035914) and MAPK signaling pathway (oas04010). According to the annotation results, we identified a series of candidate genes associated with reproduction (UNC5C, BMPR1B, and GLIS1), meat quality (MECOM, MEF2C, and MYF6), and immunity (GMDS, GALK1, and ITGB4). Our investigation has uncovered genomic information for important traits in sheep and provided a basis for subsequent studies of related traits.