Forage and Fodder Tree Selection for Future Challenges—Linking Genebanks to Forage Use, Addis Ababa, 16-20 March 2015

Forage and fodder tree selection for future challenges: Linking users to

genebanksDaniel Debouck, Jean Hanson, Ahmed Amri and Alice Muchugi

purpose(s) of genetic collections

contents of genetic collections

uses (distribution) of genetic collections

Contents

Forage diversity

Grasses

90% of cultivated genera originated

in sub Saharan Africa

Over 1000 species used as feed

Forage legumes and other

herbaceous plants

Most important legumes species

originated in the Americas or the

Mediterranean regions

Food feed crops – Cowpea, Lablab

are African

Fodder shrubs and trees

Most commonly grown

originated in Central America

and sub Saharan Africa

Problems of anti-nutritional

factors

Purpose of CIAT tropical forage collection

to make tropical forage options available to small-holder farmers in lowland tropics

as ground cover

against drought

as living fence

against flooding

Composition of CIAT forage collection

Forages with highest numbers in CIAT genebank

Genus Species No. of Accessions

Stylosanthes guianensis 1,485

Centrosema molle 1,109

Zornia sp. 789

Stylosanthes scabra 765

Desmodium incanum 697

Panicum maximum 514

Aeschynomene americana 451

Desmodium barbatum 446

Desmodium heterocarpon 442

Galactia striata 402

Macroptilium atropurpureum 380

Centrosema macrocarpum 380

Stylosanthes hamata 361

Centrosema virginianum 353

Calopogonium mucunoides 347

Stylosanthes capitata 342

Brachiaria brizantha 307

Centrosema brasilianum 285

Desmodium tortuosum 270

Desmodium gangeticum 269

Stylosanthes viscosa 269

Macroptilium lathyroides 260

Teramnus uncinatus 249

Stylosanthes humilis 249

Pueraria phaseoloides 231

Centrosema plumieri 216

Macroptilium gracile 200

Vigna vexillata 200

Total species: 734

“Top 10” species: 7,100 accessions (31%)

“Top 20” species: 10,394 accessions (45%)

Providing countries: 75

Total accessions: 23,140

subtotal legume accessions: 21,082

subtotal grass accessions: 2,058

Holdings of forage legumes and grasses at ICARDAGenus Family No of acc.

Medicago (Annuals) Fabaceae 8706

Vicia Fabaceae 6229

Pisum Fabaceae 6113

Trifolium Fabaceae 5152

Lathyrus Fabaceae 4220

Astragalus Fabaceae 979

Medicago (Perennials) Fabaceae 853

Onobrychis Fabaceae 744

Scorpiurus Fabaceae 507

Hippocrepis Fabaceae 326

Trigonella Fabaceae 286

Lotus Fabaceae 266

Coronilla Fabaceae 248

Hymenocarpos Fabaceae 236

Melilotus Fabaceae 225

Lupinus Fabaceae 134

Hedysarum Fabaceae 81

Anthyllis Fabaceae 47

Biserrula Fabaceae 40

Ononis Fabaceae 34

Ornithopus Fabaceae 34

Glycyrrhiza Fabaceae 30

Phaseolus Fabaceae 30

Other legumes Fabaceae 44

Avena Poaceae 618

Brachypodium Poaceae 95

Dactylis Poaceae 36

Stipa Poaceae 36

Taeniatherum Poaceae 33

Dasypyrum Poaceae 29

Thinopyrum Poaceae 26

Bromus Poaceae 22

Elymus Poaceae 22

Lolium Poaceae 19

Crithopsis Poaceae 16

Secale Poaceae 10

Others Poaceae 65

Plantago Plantaginaceae 52

Others Others 191

Total 36834

Holdings status of fodder tree accessions at ICRAF

Species Family Accessions

Faidherbia albida Fabaceae 822Calliandra calothyrsus Fabaceae 267Gliricidia sepium Fabaceae 215

Acacia tortilis Fabaceae 202

Acacia nilotica Fabaceae 111

Sesbania sesban Fabaceae 90Leucaena diversifolia Fabaceae 67Acacia seyal Fabaceae 47Leucaena trichandra Fabaceae 38Adansonia digitata Malvaceae 36

Leucaena esculenta Fabaceae 29

Acacia senegal Fabaceae 9

Leucaena leucocephala Fabaceae 7

Acacia angustissima Fabaceae 7Leucaena pallida Fabaceae 4Prosopis africana Fabaceae 4Tamarindus indica Fabaceae 4

Others Fabaceae, Anacardiaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Rhamnaceae 23Total 1,982

Focus of ILRI forage diversity activities

Forages for smallholder livestock systems

• 18640 accessions

• ≈1400 species

• ≈ 600 genera

19%

24%56%

1%

fodder trees

grasses

forage legumes

other forages

Major genera represented in the ILRI genebank

genus num

Trifolium 1512

Vigna 1138

Stylosanthes 1126

Leucaena 773

Sesbania 653

Indigofera 597

Brachiaria 535

Neonotonia 500

Rhynchosia 479

Alysicarpus 460

Macroptilium 419

Panicum 399

Tephrosia 352

Lablab 340

Triticale 339

Teramnus 317

Centrosema 296

Cenchrus 293

Phaseolus 265

Zornia 258

What has been distributed from the CIAT in-trust forage collection?

Total accessions (1980-2014): 13,506 (58.4%)

Total samples (1980-2014): 89,573

Accessions distributed to CIAT users (1980-2014): 9,886 (and 40,288 samples)

Accessions distributed to external users (1980-2014): 11,022 (and 49,285 samples)

Countries receiving germplasm (1980-2014): 110

Countries providing germplasm (1980-2014): 75

Top five countries receiving germplasm (1980-2014) (samples, on a total of 89,573, or 29.2%):

Colombia 16,062 17.9%

Brazil 4,513 5.0%

Peru 2,083 2.3%

Venezuela 1,845 2.1%

Mexico 1,661 1.8%

Time periods Total accessions internal users Total accessions external users

1980-1984 2,707 2,520

1985-1994 7,386 6,781

1995-2004 2,640 3,211

2005-2014 837 3,440

CIAT total samples distributed 1980-2014

Colombia

rest of LAC

Africa

SSE Asia

rest of the World

Colombia: 16,062 (32.6%)

rest of Latin America: 18,829 (38.2%)

Africa: 4,299 (8.7%)

South Southeast Asia: 2,608 (5.3%)

rest of the World: 7,487 (15.2%)

countries of Africa and SSE Asia do not use the collection as LAC countries!

demand of internal of users has slowed down as compared to external users

What has been distributed from the CIAT in-trust forage collection?

for which users (accessions)?

1980-1989

NARS

Universities

Farmers

CGIAR

Reg Org

Com Co.

2005-2014at the beginning most recent period

farmers have become the most important users, on top of NARS!

question: have NARS reduced their work as compared to universities?

question: has CGIAR reduced its work between the two periods?

question: has the commercial sector increased its work between the two periods?

58.3%

21.8%

18.1%

21.7%

11.1%

43%

7.2%

1.3%1.2%8.4%

What has been distributed from the CIAT in-trust forage collection?

for which purposes (accessions)?

1980-1989

Agronomy

Basic research

Training

Applied research

2005-2014

at the beginning most recent period

Breeding

question: have agronomy and training lost importance between the two periods?

applied research (e.g. entomology) has gained importance over time

basic research (e.g. legume/ grass taxonomy) has not lost momentum

breeding of a few forage species has gained importance over time

53%

1.4%

19.8%65.5%

17.4%

17%

14.9%9.7%

Seed distributed by ICARDA genebank (2009-2014)

Year Collaborators

outside

ICARDA

Collaborators

inside

ICARDA

Safety

duplication

Svalbard

Repatriatio

n

Used for

GRS

activities

Total

prepared

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Total

2251

280

2245

1109

923

76

-

6884

1639

131

80

578

180

5826

-

8434

4963

15568

-

-

162

-

241

20934

53

-

1279

4

-

-

176

1512

3276

3735

2171

500

907

485

1938

13012

12182

19714

5775

2191

2172

6287

2355

50776

Seed samples distributed by ICRAF Genebank (2006-2014)

Year ExternalInternal (ICRAF) Grand Total

2006 23 0 232007 68 0 682008 71 2 732009 107 0 1072010 127 2 1292011 116 4 1202012 155 14 1792013 159 13 1722014 234 70 304Grand Total 1,060 105 1,175

Number of samples per species distributed by ICRAF Genebank (2006-2014)

Species\Years 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014Grand Total

Calliandra calothyrsus 6 21 29 32 18 14 42 55 33 250

Leucaena trichandra 4 12 13 17 11 13 26 41 29 166

Gliricidia sepium 2 4 5 5 31 30 44 18 21 160

Sesbania sesban 2 8 12 12 18 13 13 21 23 122

Faidherbia albida 0 0 0 10 27 24 14 3 12 90

Chamaecytisus palmensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 18 9 32

Leucaena diversifolia 3 5 1 7 7 1 3 0 1 28

Acacia senegal 0 4 1 5 1 4 7 5 1 28

Tamarindus indica 3 4 3 3 2 3 6 1 1 26

Ziziphus mauritiana 1 0 5 2 1 5 2 2 3 21

Leucaena leucocephala 0 0 0 5 5 4 3 1 1 19

Adansonia digitata 0 2 1 3 2 2 4 3 0 17

Others 2 8 3 6 6 7 10 4 170 216

Total 23 68 73 107 129 120 179 172 57 1,175

Distribution from the ILRI genebank by user

19%

4%

9%

65%

3%

aris

commercial

farmers

nars

other

Distribution from the ILRI genebank by region

How can we increase the use of the CIAT in-trust forage collection?

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/urg

numbers of visits:

8,289 7,917

12,750

10,4369,400

5,858

to enable requests from cell phones!

to put at forefront data useful to users

ICARDA new collected Forages, pastures and rangeland species, 2009-2014

CropSamples collected

Annual Medics349

Clover633

Grasspea96

Pastures and rangeland 787

Pea28

Vetch149

Total2003

Activities to support forage use in ILRI

• Diversity in Napier grass

– Phenotyping for biomass under drought– Genotyping using SSRs

• Diversity in Buffel grass

• Phenotyping for biomass under drought and cold environments

• Nutritional diversity

– Improved diagnostics for forage diseases

– Forage seed production of promising genotypes

– Forage seed agribusiness development

Concluding remarks

the four genebanks keep large options in legumes unmatched elsewherer

(tremendous assets in post CBD context, when N fertilizers are expensive)

the four genebanks do not distribute to the expected high levels

the distribution is regional and with a strong neighborhood effect

users have been shifting over time, with farmers and commercial sector gaining

purposes have shifted over time, with agronomy declining and breeding gaining

there is a need for another mindset in genebanks: not curators, but users!