Zaria, Nigeria
December 29, 2011
Source: Plant Breeding News, December 2011
Contributed by Shehu G. Ado
The Institute for Agricultural Research Samaru, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria has released twelve new crop varieties for enhanced regional food security and improved income.
The new crop varieties developed, tested and released by the Institute in December, 2011 are: six Maize varieties, three Sorghum varieties, two Cowpea varieties and one Groundnut variety. The Maize and Cowpea varieties have been developed in collaboration with IITA Ibadan scientists while the Sorghum and Groundnut varieties have been developed in collaboration with ICRISAT scientists. The new crop varieties will offer new choices for growers not only in Nigeria but also in the West and Central Africa Sub-region. The varieties could expand market opportunities for food processing entrepreneurs in the Sub-region.
The six new maize varieties, according to IAR senior breeder, Professor S.G. Ado, are in addition to the 27 varieties released in December, 2009. Sammaz 34 and 36 were developed at IAR Samaru while Sammaz 32, 33, 35 and 37 were developed at IITA Ibadan.
Some of the new varieties were improvement over previously released varieties as a result of fortification with quality protein or incorporation of resistance to abiotic (drought) and biotic (Striga) stresses. Both drought and Striga pose serious challenges to maize production in Sub-saharan Africa.
With these new maize varieties, food security and nutrition security of the region is expected to improve significantly in line with the Millennium Development Goals. Two of the varieties are extra-early maturing (85 days after planting), two are medium maturing (95days after plating) while the remaining two are late maturing (120days after planting). All the new varieties are relatively high yielding with potential yields of 4-6t/ha.
The three sorghum varieties released were Samsorg-42 (white seeded), Samsorg-43 (Yellow Seeded) and Samsorg-44 (White seeded). The varieties are suitable for production in the sudan and guinea savanna ecologies. The cowpea varieties released were: Sampea 13 (dual purpose) and Sampea 14 (drought tolerant). In addition to high grain yields, Sampea 13 and Sampea 14 are resistant to Striga and Alectra which are serious constraints to cowpea production especially in the dry savanna agro-ecological zones. With increase in agricultural intensification, the incidence of parasitic weeds is expected to increase and therefore resistant varieties of crops are necessary to provide cheap and sustainable means of control.
The Groundnut variety released was Samnut 24. It is suited to northern guinea and sudano-sahelian ecological Zones.
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