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Friday, 24 June 2016

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT) is an international organisation which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several regional centers (Bamako(Mali), Nairobi (Kenya)) and research stations (Niamey (Niger), Kano (Nigeria), Lilongwe (Malawi), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Bulawayo (Zimbabwe)). It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford and the RockefellerFoundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP.
Since its inception, host country India has granted a special status to ICRISAT as a UN Organisation operating in the Indian territory making it eligible for special immunities and tax privileges.
ICRISAT is managed by a full-time Director General functioning under the overall guidance of an international Governing Board. The current Director General is Dr. David Bergvinson. The current chair of the Board is Prof Chandra Madramootoo.[1][2]

ICRISAT
ICRISAT Field.jpg
MottoScience with a Human Face
Formation1972
TypePublic
Location
Key people
David Bergvinson
Parent organisation
CGIAR
Websitewww.icrisat.org
ICRISAT Director General's Journal dgblog.icrisat.org

The Agro-Eco Region: The Semi-Arid Tropics

 The semi-arid tropics (SAT) region is characterised by highly variable, low-to-medium rainfall and poor soils, further characterised by lack of irrigation. In general, the historical average annual rainfall in the SAT is below 700 mm. In agricultural policy terms, this region is considered to be a less favored area (LFA).[3]
Purple Rumped Sunbird in the ICRISAT fields

Research strategy

ICRISAT adopts Integrated genetic and natural resources management as its overarching research strategy. The aim is to combine tested methods of crop commodity research with well established practices in research in natural resources management. The original goal was to use crop improvement research as the basis to improve food availability in drought-prone areas of the tropics. In the last ten years, ICRISAT research, especially in India, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, has tended to emphasise creation and sustenance of rural livelihoods in addition to releasing crop varieties that yield better.[4]

Mandate crops

ICRISAT performs crop improvement research, using conventional as well as methods derived from biotechnology, on the following crops: Chickpea,[5] Pigeonpea,[6]Groundnut[7] Pearl millet[8] Sorghum[9] Finger Millet,[10] and Small millets.
Pearl millet seed production plots at ICRISAT (Patancheru, India), the panicles covered in parchment paper bags to ensure self-pollination in this normally mainly cross-pollinating crop (February 2013).

Research themes and Gene Bank
ICRISAT conducts its research under four themes: Agro-ecosystems development, Harnessing plant biotechnology and bioinformatics, Crop improvement and management, and Institutions, Markets, policy and Impacts
The ICRISAT Genebank serves as a repository for the collection of germplasm of the six mandate crops[11] – sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut; and five small millets – foxtail millet, little millet, kodo millet, proso millet and barnyard millet. The collection has over 119,700 germplasm accessions assembled from 144 countries. Several landraces now conserved in the ICRISAT genebank have disappeared from their natural habitats in Africa and Asia.[12]
Innovations and Impact of ICRISAT Crop Improvement Research
Most of ICRISAT’s crop improvement research is directed at LFAs, At an aggregate level, there is evidence from India that crop improvement research is having favorable productivity and poverty impacts in many LFAs.
Based on an econometric analysis of time-series data for three different types of agricultural areas (irrigated,high-potential rainfed, and low-potential rainfed), non-ICRISAT experts found more favorable marginal returns (measured as Indian rupees of agricultural production per additional hectare planted to modern varieties) for crop improvement research in low-potential rainfed areas than in either high-potential rainfed areas or irrigated areas. Moreover, additional crop research investment in low potential rainfed areas lifts more people out of poverty than in the other two types of areas.[13]
They found that ICRISAT-improved chickpea varieties have been widely adopted in a poor tribal area in Gujarat, India, with favorable impacts on yields, unit production costs, and net returns per hectare. ICRISAT’s package of improved groundnut varieties grown in combination with improved agronomy practices is another example of a commodity- improvement program that has paid off handsomely in an LFA – in this case the semi-arid tropical areas of Central India.
Two major science-based breakthroughs attributed to crop improvement research at ICRISAT relate to Pearl Millet and Pigeonpea. A team of researchers at ICRISAT have released the first-ever, public sector-bred marker-assisted hybrid pearl millet, HHB 67. This was released in India in 2006. It is assessed to have superior agronomic performance and improved tolerance to terminal drought.[14] The first-ever release of a hybrid pigeonpea by ICRISAT researchers has been reported in 2008[15]

Information Products and Services

ICRISAT formally adopted an Open Access policy for its research publications in 2009. It is among a small number of agricultural research organisations to do so. As of June 2010, about 3000 publications are available.

DBT-ICRISAT Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is collaborated with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, to establish a DBT-ICRISAT Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC) at ICRISAT’s global headquarters at Patancheru, near Hyderabad in India.
According to the Director General of ICRISAT, David Bergvinson, the PTTC will strengthen transgenic research for crop improvement by providing a platform, building synergies among institutions. ICRISAT will continue to harness transgenic research to solve problems that cannot be solved through conventional breeding.[16]

ICRISAT Scientists


See Also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

References

  1. ^ "Sci-Tech / Agriculture : ICRISAT chief for cultivation of GM crops". The Hindu. 2012-07-07. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  2. ^ Special Correspondent (2012-04-17). "Today's Paper / NATIONAL : ICRISAT board member retires". The Hindu. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  3. ^ "Sci-Tech / Agriculture : ICRISAT, ICAR jointly to fight climate change". The Hindu. 2012-05-31. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  4. ^ Special Correspondent (2012-06-07). "NATIONAL / KARNATAKA : Government signs MoU with ICRISAT". The Hindu. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  5. ^ Chickpea Crop
  6. ^ Pigeonpea Crop
  7. ^ Groundnut/Peanut Crop
  8. ^ Pearlmillet Crop
  9. ^ Sorghum Crop
  10. ^ Smallmillet/Finger millet Crop]
  11. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/icrisat-introduces-finger-millet-as-mandate-crop/article7721258.ece
  12. ^ "BGI, ICRISAT join hands on genomics research". Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  13. ^ Special Correspondent (2012-05-10). "NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : ICRISAT to help revive Nigeria's groundnut industry". The Hindu. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  14. ^ HHB67 hybrid of Pearl Millet
  15. ^ Erik Stokstad (2007-04-13). "The Plant Breeder and the Pea". Sciencemag.org. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  16. ^ "Sci-Tech / Agriculture : ICRISAT offers training on sweet sorghum enterprise". The Hindu. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2012-09-12.

Wikipedia 
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SWEET SORGHUM

Sweet sorghum is any of the many varieties of the sorghumgrass whose stalks have a high sugar content. Sweet sorghum thrives better under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and syrupproduction. Sweet sorghum syrup is sometimes called "molasses" or "sorghum molasses" in some regions of the U.S., but the term molasses more properly refers to a different sweet syrup, made as a byproduct of sugarcane or sugar beet sugar extraction.[1][2][3][4]
A jar of sweet sorghum syrup

Cultivation

Sweet sorghum has been widely cultivated in the U.S. since the 1850s for use in sweeteners, primarily in the form of sorghum syrup. By the early 1900s, the U.S. produced 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of sweet sorghum syrup annually. Making syrup from sorghum (as from sugar cane) is heavily labor-intensive. Following World War II, with the declining availability of farm labor, sorghum syrup production fell drastically. Currently, less than 1 million US gallons (3,800 m3) are produced annually in the U.S.
In India it was introduced in early 1970s by Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute.[5] [6]Presently it is grown on large area as a fodder crop.
Most sorghum grown for syrup production is grown in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee.[7]

Uses

Sorghum syrup and hot biscuits are a traditional breakfastin the Southern United States. Sorghum syrup is also used on pancakes, cornmeal mush, grits and other hot cereals. It can be used as a cooking ingredient with a similar sweetening effect as molasses, though blackstrap molasses still has a higher nutritional value than sorghum syrup in most regards.[8]
Horse-driven, antique sorghum-cane juicer being operated at an organic farm in central North Carolina, for syrup production
Adding freshly squeezed juice to a simmering pan of syrup on an open fire, much as it was done in the 19th century
Madhura sweet sorghum syrup sold in India
In the U.S. since the 1950s, sorghum has been raised primarily for forage and silage, with sorghum cultivation for cattle feed concentrated in the Great Plains (Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska are the leading producers) where insufficient rainfall and high temperature make corn production unprofitable.
Grain sorghum has also been used by the ethanol industry for quite some time because it yields about the same amount of ethanol per bushel as corn. As new-generation ethanol processes are studied and improved, sorghum's role may continue to expand.[9] Texas A&M University ran trials to ascertain the best varieties for ethanol production from sorghum leaves and stalks in the USA.[10]
In India and other places, sweet sorghum stalks are used for producing biofuel by squeezing the juice and then fermenting into ethanol.[11] The crop is particularly suitable for growing in dryland conditions, as it only extracts one-seventh of the water used by sugarcane.[12]
A study by researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) found that growing sweet sorghum instead of grain sorghum could increase farmers' incomes by US$40 per hectare per crop because it can provide food, feed, and fuel. With grain sorghum currently grown on over 11 million ha in Asia and on 23.4 million ha in Africa, a switch to sweet sorghum could have a considerable economic impact.[13]

References

  1. ^ Rapuano, Rina. "Sorghum Travels From The South To The Mainstream." NPR. NPR, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.npr.org/2012/09/12/160946531/sorghum-travels-from-the-south-to-the-mainstream>.
  2. ^ Bitzer, Morris. Sweet Sorghum for Syrup. Publication. N.p.: U of Kentucky, 2002. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CCD/introsheets/swsorghumintro.pdf>
  3. ^ Curtin, Leo V. MOLASSES - GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. Publication. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and University of Florida, n.d. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://rcrec-ona.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/publications/molasses-general-considerations..pdf>.
  4. ^ Ventilated. "Guidance on Sorghum Production – March 19, 2008." Indiana State Department of Health Division of Consumer Protection Food Protection Program Guidance on Sorghum Production – March 19, 2008 (2008): 1-6. IN.gov. Indiana State Department of Health: Division of Consumer Protection: Food Protection Program, 19 Mar. 2008. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://www.in.gov/isdh/files/Guidance_on_Sorghum_final_3-18-2008pdf_entered_6_2012.pdf>
  5. ^http://www.researchgate.net/publication/2915226_Sweet_sorghum_RD_at_the_Nimbkar_Agricultural_Research_Institute_(NARI)
  6. ^ http://www.thebetterindia.com/17381/amazing-crop-used-as-fuel-paper-delicious-bread-spread-sweet-sorghum/
  7. ^ http://ffanewhorizons.org/did-you-know-facts-about-sweet-sorghum/
  8. ^ "Sorghum Syrup". Spiritfoods. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  9. ^ "Sweet sorghum – Opportunities for a new renewable fuel and food industry in Australia". RIRDC. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  10. ^ Ceres and Texas A&M to Develop and Market High-Biomass Sorghum for BiofuelsArchived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ "Sweet Sorghum : A New "Smart Biofuel Crop"". Agriculture Business Week. 30 June 2008.
  12. ^ "Icrisat embarks on biofuels initiative for dryland farmers". International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Mar 14, 2007. Retrieved 30 April2016.
  13. ^ Sweet sorghum for food, feed and fuel New Agriculturalist, January 2008.

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