Participatory plant breeding (PPB) seeks to involve farmers more closely in crop improvement in order to improve the impact of breeding efforts. While detailed discussions exist around appropriate methodologies for conducting PPB, little attention has been directed towards analysing breeding institutions. Such an analysis is necessary, both to understand the possible reasons for poor breeding i...

This article, using an institutional and political ecological perspective, analyses the role of knowledge networks supporting peasant seed groups in France. These promote a dynamic approach to agrobiodiversity restoration, developing new models collaborative “peer-to-peer genetics” distributed participatory breeding. Our analysis focuses here on small grain cereal breeding group. Based detailed...

www.bioversityinternational.org Assessing the genetic variability of crops is required to identify and develop cultivars (cultivated varieties) suitable for speci c growing conditions and speci c economic, social and environmental needs. Modern breeding relies on the identi cation of DNA regions that control complex traits of agronomic interest, such as resistance to drought, yield and plant he...

A symposium was hosted 10 to 11 Mar. 2005 at Michigan State University to discuss the future of plant breeding education at public institutions. Plant breeding remains a vibrant, multidisciplinary science characterized by its ability to reinvent itself by absorbing and utilizing novel scientific findings and technical approaches. A contemporary breeding curriculum should include hands-on experi...

In Niger, the growth in local demand for milk and meat makes it necessary to consider genetic improvement of the indigenous cattle. At the Toukounous breeding station, the Azawak zebu has undergone over 50 years of line breeding for milk and meat production traits. To understand the adoption potential of improved Azawak sires in Niger, this study proposes to estimate the values that cattle keep...