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NEWS: Bill & Melinda Gates, Rockefeller Foundations Form Alliance to Help Spur 'Green Revolution' in Africa The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) are forming a new Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The new alliance will fund research and development work in order to overcome barriers and improve agricultural productivity and smallholder farmer well-being throughout the African continent. Two organizations, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Programs for a Green Revolution in Africa (ProGRA) are being created to achieve this vision. AGRA will be a high profile organization with public charity status committed to reducing hunger and poverty in Africa through agricultural development targeted to resource-poor farmers. ProGRA is a supporting organization to AGRA that will receive substantial funding from the Rockefeller and Gates foundations and others for redistribution to improve the productivity and profitability of small-scale farming in Africa. The first major initiative of ProGRA will be a Program for Africa’s Seed System (PASS) that operates in 20 African countries. PASS includes five projects with a total cost of $150 million over five years. The projects include, 1) The Fund for the Improvement and Adoption of African Crops (FIAAC), 2) Education for African Crop Improvement, 3) The Seed Production for Africa Initiative, 4) The Agro-Dealer Development Program, and 5) PASS General Operating and Monitoring and Evaluation. Read the full press release at http://www.africancrops.net/news/july06/agra1.pdf, and the complete description of the Alliance for A Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), http://www.africancrops.net/news/sept06/agra.htm. Comments about this news article can posted and shared through the African Crops Message and Discussion Board. ====================================== NEW PUBLICATION Namayanja, A., Buruchara, R., Mahuku, G., Rubaihayo, P., Kimani, P., Mayanja, S. and Eyedu, H. 2006. Inheritance of resistance to angular leaf spot in common bean and validation of the utility of resistance linked markers for marker assisted selection outside the mapping population. Euphytica, September 2006. Read the abstract and full article at http://www.springerlink.com/content/l55031258756x313. Comments about this article can posted and shared through the African Crops Message and Discussion Board. Other correspondences should be directed to Annette Namayanja, email: annetnama@yahoo.com or anamayanja@naro-ug.org. Abstract: Inheritance of resistance to angular leaf spot (ALS) disease caused by Phaeoisariopsis griseola (Sacc.) Ferr was investigated in two common bean cultivars, Mexico 54 and BAT 332. Both Andean and Mesoamerican backgrounds were used to determine the stability of the resistance gene in each of the two cultivars. Resistance to P. griseola was phenotypically evaluated by artificial inoculation with one of the most widely distributed pathotypes, 63–39. Evaluation of the parental genotypes, F1, F2 and backcross populations revealed that the resistance to angular leaf spot in the cultivars Mexico 54 and BAT 332 to pathotype 63–39 is controlled by a single dominant gene, when both the Andean and Mesoamerican backgrounds were used. Allelism test showed that ALS resistance in Mexico 54 and BAT 332 to pathotype 63–39 was conditioned by the same resistance locus. Resistant and susceptible segregating populations generated using Mexico 54 resistant parent were selected for DNA extraction and amplification to check for the presence /absence of the SCAR OPN02 and RAPD OPE04 markers linked to the Phg-2 resistance gene. The results indicated that the SCAR OPN02 was not polymorphic in the study populations and therefore of limited application in selecting resistant genotypes in such populations. On the other hand, the RAPD OPE04 marker was observed in all resistant individuals and was absent in those scored susceptible based on virulence data. Use of the RAPD OPE04 marker in marker-assisted selection is underway. ======================================= UPCOMING CONFERENCES Third General Meeting on Biotechnology, Breeding & Seed Systems for African Crops (ICV3), 26-29 March, 2007, Maputo, Mozambique. The conference is organized by The Rockefeller Foundation and the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM). Deadline for registration is 15 September 2006. Visit the conference internet page: http://www.africancrops.net/rockefeller/icv3. International Conference on Indigenous Vegetables and Legumes (IVs 2006), 12 to 15 December 2006, ICRISAT- Patancheru, Hyderabad, India. The conference is jointly organized by AVRDC, IPGRI, ICRISAT, GHI and ISHS. Information about the conference is available on the conference website, www.ivs2006.org. ======================================= FELLOWSHIPS Biotechnology Fellowships for Postdoctoral Research in India. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Ministry of Science and Technology, India (www.dbt.gov.in) and the Third World Academy of Sciences (www.twas.org) have instituted a fellowship programme for foreign scientists from developing countries who wish to pursue postdoctoral biotechnology research in India. The deadline for receipt of all requests is 31 October of each year. Read full announcement and application form at: http://www.africancrops.net/news/sept06/DBT-TWAS_Postdoc.pdf. ======================================= EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES CIMMYT is seeking Postdoctoral Fellows in Maize Breeding (Ref. 2006/02), contact Dr. Marianne Banziger at m.banziger@cgiar.org; Crop Information Specialist (Ref. 2006/03), contact Dr. Graham McLaren at g.mclaren@cgiar.org or Dr. Jonathan Crouch at j.crouch@cgiar.org; Maize Molecular Breeding (Ref. 2006/04), contact Dr. Yunbi Xu at y.xu@cgiar.org or Dr. Jonathan Crouch at j.crouch@cgiar.org; and Socioeconomics (Ref. 2006/05), contact Dr. John Dixon at j.dixon@cgiar.org. Full announcements for these positions is available at http://www.africancrops.net/news/sept06/jobs.htm. Deadline for applications is 15 October 2006. ICRISAT seeks a Molecular Geneticist/Technical Coordinator to provide technical coordination of a sub-Saharan Africa project on the use of MAS in crop improvement. Applicants should have a PhD in Biological Sciences, Genetics, Molecular Biology or a related field, with at least two to four years working experience in molecular markers. Full announcement: http://www.africancrops.net/news/sept06/molecular-geneticist.doc. ======================================== EMAIL REQUESTS FOR ARTICLES ACNS readers with limited access to internet can request the full articles of the items covered in the current, past and future newsletters. Send your email to: africancrops@wananchi.com specifying which particular item you would like sent to you by email or post. ======================================== A Call for articles, September-October 2006 Issue We invite articles, announcements and other information for the next issue of AFRICAN CROPS NEWS SERVICE that comes out in the third week of October 2006. To see previous newsletters, go to: http://www.africancrops.net/news ======================================== About The African Crops News Service!The African Crops News Service covers current research and developments in improvement of African crops and seed systems. The service compliments the africancrops.net website to enhance further the sharing of news and information from projects supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and those by other organizations. The service team welcomes short articles and information on your project and organization, research networks and country for inclusion in the upcoming issues of the newsletter. Read more on the African Crops News Service at http://africancrops.net/news/ ======================================== Send inquiries, information and suggestions about AFRICAN CROPS NEWS SERVICE to: The Manager Africancrops.net C/o FORMAT P.O. Box 79 Village Market 00621 Nairobi, Kenya Email: africancrops@wananchi.com To unsubscribe from receiving this newsletter, send an email with subject “UNSUBSCRIBE” to africancrops@wananci.com. ====================================== Disclaimer: This document is produced for the sole role of sharing useful information that can only be used for academic and development purposes only. We make no warranty, express or implied, of its completeness and therefore assume no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, reliability or usefulness of any information or process disclosed. |
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