Research

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.

Our 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.