Our Impact
Enhanced flowering techniques developed for cassava breeding
Many important cassava genotypes do not flower at all under natural field conditions and it has been impossible for breeders to tap for good alleles from these genotypes.
NextGen research into photoperiod manipulation, plant growth regulators, and pruning methods has produced cassava plants that feature 15 times as many fruit and seeds as control varieties.
Read MoreOur Approach
The Research Division partners with the Breeding Division to improve NextGen’s ability to deliver high-valued varieties rapidly and efficiently. Under the leadership of Jean-Luc Jannink, this division develops and implements technological advances throughout the project, answers technology and research questions from breeders, and proposes new technologies breeders might not have considered.
The Research Division is comprised of breeders and personnel at BTI, Cornell, USDA-ARS, Makerere University, CIAT, and Embrapa. Its deliverables make their greatest impact when they are deployed by the breeders in the field and lab.
Research Division activities include: flowering and seed set, breeding scheme optimization, Cassavabase development, genomic prediction and decision analysis support, and bioinformatics for improving prediction accuracies.
NextGen Annual Meeting Research Division update
Research Team
Luciano Braatz de Andrade
Cornell University
Ed Buckler
Cornell University
Bethany Econopouly
Cornell University
Peter Hyde
Cornell University
Evan Long
Cornell University
Tracie Matsumoto
USDA-ARS
Lukas Mueller
BTI
Joyce Nakatumba
Makerere University
Joanna Norton
University of Hawai’i
Solomon Nsumba
Makerere University
Michelle Okoma
Cornell University
Tim Setter
Cornell University
Samar Sheat
DSMZ
Chris Simoes
BTI
Sharon Wages
University of Hawai’i
Stephan Winter
DSMZ
Marnin Wolfe
Cornell University