Oral Presentation International Plant Molecular Biology Conference 2024

Hy-Gain: Harnessing apomixis for self-reproducing sorghum and cowpea hybrids for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (#399)

Anna Koltunow 1
  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Sorghum and cowpea were domesticated in Africa and continue to be subsistence crops for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Access to high yielding, quality seed is essential for smallholder income. Hybrids provide higher seed yields and Hy-Gain, a project funded in part by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) aims to deploy apomixis so that high-yielding self-reproducing hybrid sorghum and cowpea seed can be efficiently produced and economically saved by smallholders. Hy-Gain currently comprises a consortium of five partner agencies. This talk focuses on the progress made to induce synthetic apomixis in sorghum and cowpea.