Mutation Breeding and Efficiency Enhancing Technologies for Resistance to Striga in Cereals

This open access book is a compilation of protocols developed through a Coordinated Research Project of the Joint FAO/IAEA Center of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, specifically focused on mutation breeding for resistance to Striga. The book consists of three sections; (i) a general introduction on Striga biology and impact and mutagenesis in cereal crops; (ii) protocol chapters focusing on field, screenhouse and laboratory screening and diagnostic for resistance to Striga asiatica and S. hermonthica in sorghum, upland rice and maize, and; (iii) efficiency enhancing technologies such as rapid crop cycling, doubled haploid production and genomics for mutation discovery and marker development. These chapters were written by well recognized experts in Striga biology and physiology, and cereal breeders. The book is intended to serve as a unique reference and guide for plant breeders and geneticists engaged in breeding for resistance to Striga in cereals.

Striga as a constraint to cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa and the role of host plant resistance -- Physical mutagenesis in cereal crops -- Screening for resistance to Striga hermonthica in mutagenized sorghum and upland rice in Burkina Faso -- Mutation breeding for resistance to Striga hermonthica in sorghum and rice for sustainable food production in Sudan -- Phenotyping for resistance to Striga asiatica in rice and maize mutant populations in Madagascar -- An agar-based method for determining mechanisms of Striga resistance in sorghum -- Histological analysis of Striga infected plants -- Striga germination stimulant analysis -- Identification of closely related polymorphisms with Striga resistance using next generation sequencing -- Rapid cycling and generation advancement for accelerated mutation breeding in sorghum -- Anther culture of rice for accelerated development of doubled haploid Striga resistant germplasm.