Seed coat chemical markers

ftf-blue-hiRes

Principal Investigator
Venugopal Mendu
Department of Plant & Soil Science, Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI), Texas Tech University
venugopal.mendu@ttu.edu

Co-PIs
Mark D. Burow, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics
Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
md.burow@ttu.edu

Hamidou Falalou, Ph.D., ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, BP 12404, Niamey, Niger
f.hamidou@cgiar.org

Hari Kishan Sudini,
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India
H.Sudini@cgiar.org

Collaborators
Theophilus Tengey, Nicholas Denwar, and Oteng-Frimpong
Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, P. O. Box 52, Tamale, Ghana

Richard Akromah
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
rakromah@yahoo.com

Rajeev Varshney
International Crops Research on Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru,  India
R.K.Varshney@cgiar.org


Developing Aspergillus flavus-resistant peanut using seed coat biochemical markers


Area of inquiry: Varietal Development

Country focus: India, Niger 

Project length: Three years

Budget: $299,740

The project studies the development of the seed coat of peanut and whether increasing naturally occurring biochemicals in the seed coat can increase the resistance to A. flavus, the fungus that can produce aflatoxin.

The aim of the project is to fortify the seed coat with cell wall/antimicrobial compounds to confer pre- and post-harvest A. flavus resistance in peanut.

Specific objectives of the project are to:

1) discover seed coat biochemical(s) associated with A. flavus resistance,

2) develop biochemical Marker Assisted Selection (bMAS) pipeline for breeders in target countries, and

3) develop A. flavus resistant line(s) for field deployment in target countries.