DURABLE LATE BLIGHT RESISTANT POTATO VARIETIES THROUGH BIOTECHNOLOGY

Published on 6 October 2010

Research Areas

Crops

Countries

Kenya

Timeline

Start Date: 1 November 2009 | End Date: 1 September 2015

Overview

Ever since the well-known Irish famine in the 19^th century, late blight continues to be a devastating disease of the potato worldwide unless controlled by fungicides. Their cost and threat on farmers’ health make efforts to develop resistance to this disease our top priority at the International Potato Center (CIP). We propose to engineer resistance to late blight in potato using direct transfer of several resistance (R) genes from the potato germplasm (wild species that are difficult to use in breeding but relate to the wild potato germplasm).

The LBr Potato project was initially started in 2007 at the CIP biotech facilities (Applied Biotechnology Laboratory) in Peru. It is, however, targeting important regions of potato production in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, direct transfer of R genes into African-relevant varieties and subsequent testing has to take place in the targeted countries. We propose to focus on Kenya considering the importance of potato to poor farmers, the operational bio-safety regulation, and the excellent biotechnology facilities at Biosciences east and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub.

Research Partners

• ARI - Advanced Research Institute
• RUFORUM, Uganda

Tags

Genetic engineering, late blight, Potato