Farmer perceptions, knowledge, and management of fall armyworm in maize production in Uganda.

(J.E. Smith), fall armyworm (), a polyphagous Noctuid pest, was first reported in Uganda in 2016.

Adaptation of perennial flowering phenology across the European range of .

Flowering phenology is important in the adaptation of many plants to their local environment, but its adaptive value has not been extensively studied in herbaceous perennials. We used as a model system to determine the importance of flowering phenology to fitness of a herbaceous perennial with a wide geographical range. Individual plants representative of local genetic diversity (accessions) were collected across Europe, including in Spain, the Alps and Scandinavia.

Genetic diversity and population structure of Uganda's yam (Dioscorea spp.) genetic resource based on DArTseq.

Assessing the genetic diversity of yam germplasm from different geographical origins for cultivation and breeding purposes is an essential step for crop genetic resource conservation and genetic improvement, especially where the crop faces minimal attention. This study aimed to classify the population structure, and assess the extent of genetic diversity in 207 Dioscorea rotundata genotypes sourced from three different geographical origins. A total of 4,957 (16.

Exploration of Alternative Approaches to Phenotyping of Late Leaf Spot and Groundnut Rosette Virus Disease for Groundnut Breeding.

Late leaf spot (LLS), caused by (Berk. & M.A Curt.

Influence of Cassava Morphological Traits and Environmental Conditions on Field Populations of .

High populations of species in the whitefly complex Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) were reported to cause severe damage to cassava in East and Central Africa. However, reasons for population increases are not well understood. We investigated the effect of cassava morphological traits, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity (RH) on the abundance of .

Factors Influencing Genomic Prediction Accuracies of Tropical Maize Resistance to Fall Armyworm and Weevils.

Genomic selection (GS) can accelerate variety improvement when training set (TS) size and its relationship with the breeding set (BS) are optimized for prediction accuracies (PAs) of genomic prediction (GP) models. Sixteen GP algorithms were run on phenotypic best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) and estimators (BLUEs) of resistance to both fall armyworm (FAW) and maize weevil (MW) in a tropical maize panel. For MW resistance, 37% of the panel was the TS, and the BS was the remainder, whilst for FAW, random-based training sets (RBTS) and pedigree-based training sets (PBTSs) were designed.

Continuous Storage Root Formation and Bulking in Sweetpotato.

This study investigated the phenotypic variation of continuous storage root formation and bulking (CSRFAB) growth patterns underlying the development of sweetpotato genotypes for identification of potential varieties adapted to piecemeal harvesting for small scale farmers. The research was conducted between September 2016 and August 2017 in Uganda. Genotypes from two distinct sweetpotato genepool populations (Population Uganda A and Population Uganda B) comprising 130 genotypes, previously separated using 31 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used.

Genome-wide association study identified candidate genes controlling continuous storage root formation and bulking in hexaploid sweetpotato.

Background: Continuous storage root formation and bulking (CSRFAB) in sweetpotato is an important trait from agronomic and biological perspectives. Information about the molecular mechanisms underlying CSRFAB traits is lacking.

Results: Here, as a first step toward understanding the genetic basis of CSRFAB in sweetpotato, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using phenotypic data from four distinct developmental stages and 33,068 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and insertion-deletion (indel) markers.

Recombination fraction and genetic linkage among key disease resistance genes ( //"P.ult") in common bean.

Anthracnose (), Angular leaf spot () and root rot are important pathogens affecting common bean production in the tropics. A promising strategy to manage these diseases consists of combining several resistance (R) genes into one cultivar. The aim of the study was to determine genetic linkage between gene pairs, /, on bean-chromosome Pv08 and /"P.

Maize Combined Insect Resistance Genomic Regions and Their Co-localization With Cell Wall Constituents Revealed by Tissue-Specific QTL Meta-Analyses.

Combinatorial insect attacks on maize leaves, stems, and kernels cause significant yield losses and mycotoxin contaminations. Several small effect quantitative trait loci (QTL) control maize resistance to stem borers and storage pests and are correlated with secondary metabolites. However, efficient use of QTL in molecular breeding requires a synthesis of the available resistance information.

Demography and mating system shape the genome-wide impact of purifying selection in .

Plant mating systems have profound effects on levels and structuring of genetic variation and can affect the impact of natural selection. Although theory predicts that intermediate outcrossing rates may allow plants to prevent accumulation of deleterious alleles, few studies have empirically tested this prediction using genomic data. Here, we study the effect of mating system on purifying selection by conducting population-genomic analyses on whole-genome resequencing data from 38 European individuals of the arctic-alpine crucifer We find that outcrossing and mixed-mating populations maintain genetic diversity at similar levels, whereas highly self-fertilizing Scandinavian show a strong reduction in genetic diversity, most likely as a result of a postglacial colonization bottleneck.