International Institute of Tropical Agriculture,PMB 5320, badan,Oyo State,NigeriaMini-biographyDong-Jin (DJ) Kim has been trained as a chemist by B.Sc. & M.Sc. at Seoul National University, and Ph.D. at The University of Chicago (1994). After his Ph.D. study on Striga signaling, he had done extensive research on the Medicago genomics at Texas A&M and UC-Davis until he joined IITA-Nairobi in 2005. His research interests include comparative legume genomics, user friendly marker kit for MAS application, and plant disease diagnostics kit development. Capacity building in the area of molecular technology and bioinformatics, and developing a simple protocol for the African scientists are the focus of his current research.
IITA’s legume researches: diversity, breeding and genomicsDong-Jin Kim, Dominique Dumet, Christian Fatokun, Satoru Muranaka, Sarah Hearne, Morag Ferguson, Maria Kolesnikova-Allen
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
dj.kim@cgiar.orgLegumes are major sources of protein in human diet and animal feed. Their importance in the staple diet of the resource-poor population in Africa has increased over recent decades. Plant genetic resources are the basic building blocks for crop improvement programmes whose research encompasses the goals of improved yield, quality and stress tolerance.
IITA’s genebank is one of the oldest among the genebanks of international agricultural research centers. We continue to collect, conserve, maintain, characterise, research, document, and distribute germplasm of a wide range of crops and their wild relatives. The legume collection in IITA genebank includes 15468 cowpea, 1881 bambara groundnut, and 1503 wild Vigna species, and 1747 soybean accessions. More than 40,000 samples of accessions have been distributed from the IITA genebank in the last ten years.
Extensive use of genetic resources has resulted in considerable progress in cowpea breeding. A range of varieties has been developed, combining diverse plant type and maturity with resistance to several diseases, insect pests, and parasitic weeds, as well as for yield and quality of grain and fodder. In addition, IITA has developed varieties for intercropping with maize, cassava, yam, millet, and sorghum to benefit smallholder farmers who practice intercropping and use little or no manure, ley or inorganic nitrogen inputs. Some of these improved cowpea varieties have been released in several countries.
Recent progress in legume genomics provides an opportunity to enhance the legumes breeding programme. The identification and implementation of more informative markers and molecular tools will underpin faster and more reliable MAS as well as improve our understanding of the genetic diversity of the germplasm.
In this presentation, the ongoing research programmes including diversity assessment, SNP marker identification and Striga-resistant cowpea breeding will be described and ideas for cowpea gene flow studies and diversity assessments of bambara groundnut and wild Vigna will be discussed.
