Breeding-Biostimulant: an innovative approach for enhanced drought tolerance of the climate-resilient Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in Uganda and Zambia

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor - (L.)Moench.), a photosynthesis efficient C-4 cereal crop, is a major staple food crop playing a crucial role in food security in Uganda and Zambia, and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in general. More than 60% of the agricultural area in SSA is prone to frequent drought. Changes in climate conditions are increasing drought severity making future predictions alarming.

Sorghum is a climate-resilient crop preferred by smallholder farmers, particularly during dry seasons, but drought continues causing significant yield nutritional quality losses and threatening food security.

Hence, there is an urgent need to improve the drought tolerance of sorghum and enhance the tolerance of the crop in a sustainable way.

This project focuses on contributing to the UN development goals, improving food security and reducing poverty, using cutting-edge plant breeding tools and plant-derived biostimulants to enhance drought tolerance in sorghum. It also incorporates climate-smart practices to boost sorghum production during the dry season.

This project aims to apply the ‘Breeding-Biostimulant’ approach to enable sorghum to cope with severe drought stress and sustainably improve production, by 1) understanding drought tolerance; 2) genetic association studies; 3) developing and validating markers 4) introducing new drought resistance genes; 4) Circular bio-economy based Climate-smart practices.