Large group flies ACCI flag at SAPBS symposium
The ACCI had a strong presence at the 13th Southern African Plant Breeding Symposium this month at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Campus.
More than 20 plant breeding academics and students from the ACCI attended the event, with six members of the department and three alumni giving oral presentations. Eight students and one post-doc gave poster presentations.
PhD candidate Boluwatife OlaOlorun’s poster presentation was judged to be the best. Her topic was: Agro-Morphological Variations of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.) under Variable Ethyl Methanesulphonate Mutagenesis.
The theme of the symposium was Innovating Together – Plant Breeding in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
ACCI oral presentations at the symposium:
Dr Isack Mathew: Genome-wide association study of drought tolerance and biomass allocation in wheat;
Prof Hussein Shimelis: Market-led plant breeding education approaches through adapting best practices from public and private sectors;
Prof Mark Laing: 1. The climate crisis — the global scale of the problem, and how plant breeders can respond; 2. Managing the timeline of your thesis — how to graduate in time;
Kwame Shamuyarira: Combining ability analysis for yield and agronomic traits among F3 lines and wheat under drought-stressed and non-stressed conditions;
Muhammad Yahaya: Comparative analysis of some chemical hybridisation agents in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench);
Athenkosi Makebe: Diversity analysis for grain nutrient content among newly bred Striga-resistant and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.strigae-compatible sorghum genotypes’.
ACCI alumni:
Dr Amelework Assefa (ARC-VOP): Exploration of the industrial potential of cassava in South Africa;
Dr Alina Mofokeng (ARC GC): Genetic variation, heritability and genetic advance in cowpea, based on yield and yield-related traits;
Dr Sharmane Naidoo (SAPPI): Operational use of QLT mapping data in SAPPI hybrid breeding programme
Poster presentations:
Marylyn Christian: Screening of selected wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes for silicon-use efficiency under drought stress;
Mandisa Dlamini: Variance components of yield-related traits of early-medium maturing newly developed maize hybrids;
Sbongeleni Duma: Optimising the number of test sites, crop years and replications to maximise post-release testing efficiencies;
Aleck Kondwakwenda: Screening of Provitamin A maize inbred lines for drought tolerance using Î2-carotene content, morpho-physiological and biochemical traits;
Sithembile Kunene: Selection of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) genotypes for breeding;
Nomathemba Majola: Genotype x environment interaction and stability analysis for nutritional quality in the leaves of selected cowpea genotypes in South Africa;
Silindile Mkhabela: Genetic differentiation of selected drought and heat tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes through simple sequence repeat markers and agronomic traits;
OlaOlorun Boluwatife: Agro-morphological variations of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.) under variable Ethyl Methanesulphonate mutagenesis;
Zamalotshwa Thungo: Assessment of grain quality among elite CIMMYT bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under terminal drought stress.