The Kirkhouse Trust: Successes and Challenges in Twenty Years of Supporting Independent, Contemporary Grain Legume Breeding Projects in India and African Countries

Abstract

This manuscript reviews two decades of projects funded by the Kirkhouse Trust (KT), a charity registered in the UK. KT was established to improve the productivity of legume crops important in African countries and in India. KT's requirements for support are: (1) the research must be conducted by national scientists in their home institution, either a publicly funded agricultural research institute or a university; (2) the projects need to include a molecular biology component, which to date has mostly comprised the use of molecular markers for the selection of one or more target traits in a crop improvement programme; (3) the projects funded are included in consortia, to foster the creation of scientific communities and the sharing of knowledge and breeding resources. This account relates to the key achievements and challenges, reflects on the lessons learned and outlines future research priorities.

Keywords: Africa; Bambara groundnut; common bean; cowpea; crop breeding; dolichos lablab; legumes; marker assisted selection.

Figure 1

Overview of KT’s achievements 2008–2024. Legend for the map: current cowpea improvement programmes (dark green pins; Botswana, Cameroon, Zambia); past cowpea improvement programmes (light green pins; Benin, Burkina Faso, India, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria and Zimbabwe); current common bean improvement programmes (red pins; Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia); past common bean improvement programmes (pink pins; Rwanda and Tanzania); current stress tolerant orphan legumes projects (dark blue pins; Burkina Faso, India, Namibia and Senegal); former stress tolerant orphan legumes projects (light blue pins; Ghana, India (Bangalore) Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda); and teaching laboratories (black pins; Ghana (until 2023) and Zimbabwe). At the time of preparation for this manuscript, KT was reviewing potential new projects in Madagascar, Angola (common bean), and Namibia (cowpea).

Figure 2

Improved dolichos lablab varieties released by the research team led by M. Byre Gowda and S. Ramesh in Bangalore, India. HA 4 (left panel), released in 2008, is a photoperiod insensitive, determinate and short-duration variety. It is ready for the harvest of green pods in 70 to 75 days and dry pods in 100 to 105 days, producing pod fragrance (a culinary trait valued by consumers) throughout the year. HA 4 has a potential yield of 1000–1200 kg/ha for dry seeds and 30,000–35,000 kg/ha for green pods. HA 5 (right panel), released in 2022, was derived from HA 4. It is a photoperiod-insensitive, indeterminate variety with pod fragrance throughout the year, and it produces a higher number of productive branches than HA 4. Its potential yield is 1100–1300 kg/ha for dry seeds and 35,000–40,000 kg/ha for green pods.

Figure 3

Examples of the use of the PhaseolusGenes marker database for various uses in genetics and genomics. The numbers in the figure relate to the number of published studies. General description and potential links [77,78,83,84,85,86,87]. Genetic/genomic analyses and development of new markers for disease resistances: ANT [88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95], ALS [77,96,97,98,99], CBB [100,101], Fusarium root rot [102], halo blight [103,104,105], powdery mildew [106], rust [107]. Genetic/genomic analyses and development of new markers for traits other than disease resistances [108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116]. Genomics: Phaseolus [80,84,117,118,119,120,121,122,123], legumes [124]. Genetic diversity [125,126,127,128,129]. Other Phaseolus species [130], non Phaseolus species [131].

Figure 4

Map showing climate matching relating to average annual precipitation between India and Africa, using WorldClim Version 1.4 datasets for 2.5 min (http://www.worldclim.org, accessed on 27 May 2024). The arrows indicate the two-way exchange of germplasm among STOL partner countries.

Figure 5

STOL germplasm collection evaluated at NM-AIST. These comprised tepary bean (50 accessions), rice bean (280), horsegram (228), moth bean (251), mung bean (106), cowpea (350), Bambara groundnut (53), pigeon pea (148), dolichos lablab (363) and lima bean (50). The number of accessions is shown on the Y axis, and the STOL crop is shown on the X axis.

Figure 6

Promising varieties and germplasm are shared among the STOL partners. The number of accessions shared among countries is shown in the Y axis. The X axis shows the STOL crops contributed by each STOL country.

Figure 7

STOL crops were evaluated in the 2018–19 and 2019–2020 growing seasons. Y-axis: the number of varieties trialled; X-axis: STOL crops tested.

Figure 8

Farmer field day for STOL crops in Mali, 2019.

Figure 9

Box plot of the performance of selected mungbean varieties in the five trial locations in Burkina Faso.

Figure 10

Field location for testing of mungbean and moth bean varieties in Senegal.

Figure 11

GGE biplots for (A) cumulative total pod weight and (B) cumulative total seed weight of the varieties tested in Senegal.

Figure 12

Annual rainfall pattern in the marama bean collecting sites using WorldClim Version 1.4 datasets for 2.5 min (http://www.worldclim.org, accessed on 26 May 2024).

Figure 13

Average seed yield per plant for the marama bean cultivars tested.

Figure 14

KT’s Mobile Lab was photographed upon its arrival in Ghana in 2006 (a); the lab benches were inside the truck (b).