Alumni Thematic Groups
T he DLB “community of practice” Alumni have actively been furthering the objectives of DLB through various engagements. The specific thematic areas are as follows;
Beans
The Beans thematic group is composed of alumni working on all bean related crops including the following types of beans: Common bean, Great Northern Beans, Faba beans, Kidney beans, Navy bean, Pinto beans, Black bean, and Green gram
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High yield and early maturing premium yellow bean for Tanzania
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High yielding Snap bean for good pod quality (medium-tall pod length, high pod diameter, high fiber content and good pod suture string) and yield traits (high pod number) for Ethiopia
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High yielding faba bean tolerant for vertisol for high production area in Ethiopia
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Chocolate spot free faba bean, resistant to faba bean gall, root rot diseases
The Root and tuber thematic group deals with all roots and tuber crops including cassava, Irish potato, sweet potato, yam
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High yielding, drought-tolerant sweet potato with enhanced provitamin A and high dry matter content for a dry area in northern Nigeria
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High yielding sweet potato virus-resistant, a high pro-vitamin content, high dry matter for virus endemic area in southern Nigeria
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High yielding sweet potato variety with high beta carotene (up to 5mg/100g) and high dry matter (+30% of the benchmark) for eastern DR Congo
The Forage and orphan crops thematic group deals with forages and all orphan crops not belonging to any of the other thematic groups. These included and are not limited to Napier grass, brachiara, alfalfa, African yam bean
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High proximate values and minerals, low antinutritional factors for lablab in Uganda
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High nutritious, high yielding and drought tolerant brachiara for east and central Africa
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High yielding, early maturing, short cooking time African yam bean varieties with low anti-nutritional factors for DRC, Ghana and Nigeria
Interest of the Horticultural and Ornamental crops group is on all horticultural and ornamental crops including vegetables, tomato, onion, garlic, coconut, coffee, rose, apple, banana, tea crop
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High yielding coffee varieties with high cup quality for Ethiopia and international markets
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High premium teacup quality for Kenya and international markets
The group deals with all types of maize including sweet corn as well as yellow and white maize.
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High yield, high fiber and cellulose and good ensilage properties for maize in Uganda
The Millets and Wheat thematic group deals with all millets and wheat including pearl millet, finger millet, durum wheat, tef
Examples of targeted product profiles
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High yielding rust-resistant and early maturing tef cultivars for low moisture areas of northern Ethiopia and similar areas
The group include all nuts and peas crops i.e groundnut, Bambara groundnut, cowpea, chickpea, field pea
Examples of targeted product profiles
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Bambara groundnut drought-tolerant, early maturing, high yielding, short cooking time and resistant fusarium wilt for Zimbabwe
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High oleic content, high iron, zinc and protein content for peanut for dryland area in Senegal
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Resistant Aschochyta blight and powdery mildew field pea in Ethiopia
The Rice thematic group includes alumni with interest on all Asian and African rice spaning from japonica, Sativa, and glaberrima to improved rice varieties (hybrid rice)
Examples of targeted product profiles:
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High yielding rice resistant to bacterial blight, African rice gall midge, RYMV and drought tolerant