{"id":4191,"date":"2015-05-29T15:19:47","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T20:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.generationcp.org\/sunsetblog\/?p=4191"},"modified":"2015-05-29T16:48:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T21:48:26","slug":"brazilian-corporation-of-agricultural-research-finds-kindred-spirit-in-gcp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.generationcp.org\/sunsetblog\/2015\/05\/29\/brazilian-corporation-of-agricultural-research-finds-kindred-spirit-in-gcp\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian Corporation of Agricultural Research finds kindred spirit in GCP"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little over a decade ago, a PhD student in Brazil was poring over sorghum genes, trying to isolate one that helps plants withstand acidic soils<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Sorghum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scientists at the Brazilian Corporation of Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA)<\/a> had been researching plants that can grow well in acidic soils since the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have done within the Generation Challenge Programme,\u201d explains Jurandir Magalh\u00e3es<\/a>, now a senior scientist for EMBRAPA, as he reflects back on the past decade, \u201cis speed up maize and sorghum breeding for acidic soil adaptation\u201d.<\/p>\n

EMBRAPA partnered with the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (GCP)<\/a> to advance plant genetics so as to breed aluminium-tolerant crops<\/a> that will improve yields in harsh environments, in turn improving the quality of life for farmers.<\/p>\n

Almost 70 percent of Brazil\u2019s arable land is made up of acidic soils. That means the soil has toxic levels of aluminium and low levels of phosphorous \u2013 a lethal combination that makes crop production unsustainable. Aluminium toxicity in soil comes close to rivalling drought as a food-security threat in critical tropical food-producing regions. This is because acidic soils reduce root growth and deprive plants of the nutrients and water they need to grow.<\/p>\n

Robert Schaffert \u2013 EMBRAPA\u2019s longest-serving sorghum breeder \u2013 had developed mapping populations for aluminium tolerance in sorghum; these populations were the basis for the work supported by GCP.<\/p>\n

During the first four years of the 10-year Programme, Jurandir was able to identify and clone the major aluminium-tolerance gene in sorghum \u2013 AltSB<\/sub><\/em> \u2013 using these mapping populations. The cloned gene has since enabled researchers across Africa and Asia to quickly and efficiently breed improved sorghum and maize plants that can withstand acidic soils.<\/p>\n

Jurandir, speaking today about the work to advance sorghum genetic resources, says: \u201cWherever there are acidic soils with aluminium toxicity and low phosphorous availability, our results should be applicable.\u201d<\/p>\n

His story with EMBRAPA is one of many where GCP-supported projects have been instrumental in helping global research centres achieve their goals, which ultimately will help farmers worldwide.<\/p>\n

Common objectives<\/h3>\n

Jurandir is now a research scientist in molecular genetics and genomics at the EMBRAPA Maize & Sorghum research centre. He and colleagues at the centre partnered with scientists in Africa, Asia and the US to identify and clone genes in sorghum, maize and rice<\/a> that confer resistance or tolerance to stresses such as soil acidity, phosphorus efficiency, drought, pests and diseases.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Maize growing in Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne important focus of GCP was linking basic research to applied crop breeding,\u201d Jurandir says. \u201cThis is also the general orientation of our programme at EMBRAPA. We develop projects and research to produce, adapt and diffuse knowledge and technologies in maize and sorghum production by the efficient and rational use of natural resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cGCP provided both financial support and a rich scientific community that were useful to help us attain our common objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

EMBRAPA\u2019s work on cloning the AltSB<\/sub><\/em> gene would prove to be one of the first steps in GCP\u2019s foundation sorghum and maize projects, both of which sought to provide farmers in the developing world with crops that will not only survive but thrive in the acidic soils where aluminium toxicity reduces crop production.<\/p>\n

Leon Kochian<\/a> of Cornell University<\/a> in the US was Jurandir\u2019s supervisor at the time when they applied for GCP funding. Leon was a Principal Investigator for various GCP research projects, researching how to improve grain yields of crops grown in acidic soils.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breeders are so important,\u201d says Leon about the importance of supporting institutes such as EMBRAPA to advance plant genetics. \u201cUltimately, they are the clich\u00e9 of \u2018the rubber hits the road\u2019. They\u2019re the ones who translate what we\u2019re trying to figure out into the actual crop improvements. That\u2019s really what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why EMBRAPA is a unique institution. Their mission is to get improved seed out, new germplasm out, for the farmers. They have the researchers in sorghum and maize breeding [Robert Schaffert and Sidney Parentoni] and molecular biology [Jurandir Magalh\u00e3es and Claudia Guimar\u00e3es].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Maize farmers in Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Great minds think alike<\/h3>\n

Jurandir\u2019s EMBRAPA colleague Claudia Guimar\u00e3es,<\/a> a plant molecular geneticist focusing on maize, says GCP promoted \u2018products\u2019, which also echoed the mission statement of EMBRAPA\u2019s Maize & Sorghum research centre.<\/p>\n

The centre\u2019s mission is to: \u2018Generate, adapt and transfer knowledge and technology that allows for the efficient production and use of maize, sorghum, and natural resources as well as promotes competitiveness in the agriculture sector, sustainable development, and the well-being of society.\u2019<\/p>\n

GCP, says Claudia, \u201cwanted to extract something else from the science \u2013 products \u2013 the idea of a real, touchable product. You have to have progress: germplasm, lines, markers; they are quite practical things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe major goal of GCP is to deliver products that can improve people\u2019s lives worldwide. So it needs to be readily available and useful for other scientists and for the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

GCP wanted to ensure that research products could and would be adopted, adapted and applied for the ultimate benefit of resource-poor farmers. The Programme therefore set out to catalyse interactions between the various players who are needed to bridge the gap between strategic research in advanced labs and resource-poor farmers.<\/p>\n

GCP and EMBRAPA were both working towards tangible applied outcomes, says Claudia: \u201cGCP was not only giving you money, they are really serious about what are you doing: \u2018Did you deliver everything you promised?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Claudia delivered. She and her team at EMBRAPA were able to find an important aluminium-tolerance gene in maize similar to the sorghum gene. This outcome provided the basic materials for molecular-breeding programmes focusing on improving maize production and stability on acidic soils in Africa and other developing regions.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Maize trials in the field at EMBRAPA. The maize plants on the left are aluminium-tolerant while those on the right are not.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Multifaceted and tangible results<\/h3>\n

Through further GCP funding, EMBRAPA researchers Robert Schaffert and Sidney Parentoni were able to work together with two researchers from Kenya, Dickson Ligeyo and Samuel Gudu<\/a>, to develop a breeding programme to combine the improved Brazilian germplasm with locally adapted Kenyan materials. A new base of improved germplasm was established for Kenyan breeders, which allowed the development of varieties adapted to acidic soils in Kenya.<\/p>\n

Sidney, a maize breeder for GCP projects and now the deputy head of research and development for EMBRAPA Maize & Sorghum, says that the benefits of being part of GCP are multifaceted: \u201cIt was very important, not only for EMBRAPA as an institute, but also individually for each of the participants that had the opportunity to interact with partners in different parts of the word,\u201d says Sidney.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
A Kenyan farmer with her sorghum crop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEach of them adds a piece to build the results achieved by GCP, which from my perspective promoted a number of advances in the areas of genetics and breeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnologies such as root image scanning developed at Cornell [University] were transferred to EMBRAPA and allowed us to do large-scale screening in a number of maize and sorghum genotypes with large impacts in phosphorous-efficiency studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cScientists from Africa were trained in breeding and screening techniques at EMBRAPA, and Brazilian scientists had the opportunity to go to Africa and interact with African researchers to jointly develop strategies for breeding maize and sorghum for low-phosphorous and acidic soils.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese trainings and exchanges of experiences were very important for the people and for the institutions involved,\u201d says Sidney.<\/p>\n

Sustainable partnerships to break ground for groundnut<\/h3>\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
Groundnut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soraya Leal-Bertioli is a researcher in the EMBRAPA Genetic Resources & Biotechnology centre. She works on groundnut (also known as peanut), and formed part of the GCP team working on groundnut with tolerance to drought and resistance to diseases and fungal contamination. She concurs that GCP united researchers from all over the globe in a common goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cGCP not only identified groups, but it went out, searched for people and invited contributions, offered resources to get them together. GCP brought partnerships to a whole new level,\u201d Soraya says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLast time I checked there were 200 partners in 50 countries. No one is able to do that. It required a lot of money, a lot of resources, but the way it was dealt with in GCP was: \u2018Let\u2019s reach out for the main players, the ones who have the technology, and also the ones who can use the technology\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cGCP used the resources for the benefit of the community and brought everybody together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soraya says the traditional way of funding research often had \u2018no structure\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes a university or funding body receives a large amount of money and decides to build something, a new institute in the middle of the jungle somewhere, but they don\u2019t have anybody to run it; it is not sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat GCP did was help to provide the structure and the agents for the whole system. They helped train the people to run the whole system. This is a very sustainable model, which is very likely to give good results in a much shorter time frame than other programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Soraya \u2013 and other members of the team \u2013 discuss the complex personality of groundnut and groundnut research in our video series:<\/em><\/p>\n