Application of Genetic Engineering for Control of Bacterial Wilt Disease of Enset, Ethiopia’s Sustainability Crop
Enset is one of the Ethiopia’s indigenous sustainability crops supporting the livelihoods of about 20 million people. Among the key constraints of enset production is bacterial wilt disease. With ineffectiveness of conventional control, genetic engineering now presents viable options. This review discusses enset cultivation and recent developments addressing the control of bacterial wilt disease in enset and related crops like banana to help design effective strategies.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2IblkBg
Maize bioengineering with c-repeating binding factor 1 (CBF1) as a technique for desiccation toleration
Maize is the most widely cultivated main crop in Africa with more than 300 million people relying on it as their principal diet fount. Africa is a desiccation inclined continent with a serious implication on smallholder farmers who rely on rain-fed agriculture. Desiccation causes crop fiasco, famine and poverty and this is being aggravated by climate change. This study explores bioengineering for generating desiccation tolerant maize.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2KD2FR1
Identification of donors for low-nitrogen stress with maize lethal necrosis (MLN) tolerance for maize breeding in sub-Saharan Africa
A major challenge to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa is low-fertility soils with poor nitrogen (N)-supplying capacity. This study screened over 400 elite inbred lines to identify new sources of tolerance to low-N stress and maize lethal necrosis (MLN) for introgression into Africa-adapted elite germplasm. It is the first large scale study to identify maize inbred lines with tolerance to low-N stress and MLN in eastern and southern Africa.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2FGR0L5