Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is the fourth most important crop in Nepal having ... more Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is the fourth most important crop in Nepal having multiple benefits but is still neglected by mainstream research and development. The main option to boost its productivity is developing superior varieties through enhanced use of germplasm in breeding programmes. With the objective of enhancing utilization of landraces conserved ex situ, a total of 300 finger millet accessions collected from 54 districts were characterized in three hill locations of Nepal for two consecutive years (2017–2018). Nine qualitative and 17 quantitative traits were recorded, and combined mean data were subjected to multivariate analysis to assess agromorphological diversity. Shannon–Weaver diversity indices (H') showed high diversity (0.647–0.908) among the accessions for qualitative traits except for finger branching and spikelet shattering whereas high diversity (0.864–0.907) was observed for all quantitative traits. The first five principal components (...
Nepal is considered one of the centers of diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is a main st... more Nepal is considered one of the centers of diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is a main staple crop in the country. Pre-breeding is an important activity of genebank to enhance utilization of conserved genetic resources. A total of 107 cold tolerant rice accessions (99 landraces collected from 29 high hill and mountain districts, seven released varieties and newly introduced black rice) were characterized during 2015 and 2016 at National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC), Khumaltar, Nepal. Accessions were shown a month later than normal planting time of Kathmandu valley to induce cold stress during flowering stage. The experiment was managed in direct seeded rainfed condition. Seven quantitative and nine qualitative traits were recorded using standard descriptors for rice and diversity among accessions was assessed. The accessions were found to be diverse using Shannon–Weaver diversity indices (H') for all the quantitative traits (0.822 to 0.882) whereas low to...
Preface Standard descriptors for plant genetic resources are necessary to characterize and evalua... more Preface Standard descriptors for plant genetic resources are necessary to characterize and evaluate them. This descriptor of sponge gourd is developed to standardize the characterization and evaluation of sponge gourd. In addition, this wifi help to communicate among researchers and development workers. This is an outcome of experiences gained from the Global project, Strengthening the scientific basis of in situ conversation of agricultural hiodiversity. Introduction about sponge gourd and descriptor itself are included along with five types of descriptors. Collection form and codes for characterizing and evaluating traits are added for better managing field book during sponge gourd trials. Relevant references are given as supplement resources.
Genetic diversity must be maintained and utilized for sustainable agriculture development. The am... more Genetic diversity must be maintained and utilized for sustainable agriculture development. The amount of genetic diversity in the country depends on the number and diversity of the original ancestors involved in the creation of a germplasm pool, wild relatives and existing landraces. The objective of this research was to study the diversity of wheat gene pool present in the Nepalese bread wheat cultivars and landraces that could help for developing conservation and utilization strategy effectively. We examined the pedigrees of 35 Nepalese wheat cultivars and surveyed the literature for distribution of landraces and wild relatives of wheat. Cultivated landraces of spring and winter type, wild landraces and diploid species of wheat are found in Nepal. There are 35 improved wheat cultivars, 540 landraces and 10 wild relatives of wheat. Crosses between winter and spring wheat gene pools are far more common and offer a new
Red listing mechanism has been developed for wild fauna and flora. There are several documents il... more Red listing mechanism has been developed for wild fauna and flora. There are several documents illustrating red listed wild fauna and flora. But there is a lack of information on the red list and red listing criteria of agricultural crop species, varieties or landraces. For initiating on- farm, in situ and ex situ conservations, red listing is helpful in locating region of crop species, varieties or landraces diversity. The paper reviewed the red listing criteria used for the categorization of wild fauna and flora. Categorization of on-farm crop species, varieties and landraces is based on population, ecological, social, modernization and use criteria. Among them ecological, social and modernization criteria are useful in selecting location for sampling materials for ex situ conservation and appropriate sites for in situ conservation. Modernization and use criteria are suitable for categorization of crop genotypes. Combinations of these criteria are proposed for red listing crop gen...
DNA-based molecular markers have been extensively utilized for mapping of genes and quantitative ... more DNA-based molecular markers have been extensively utilized for mapping of genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) of interest based on linkage analysis in mapping populations. This is in contrast to human genetics that use of linkage disequilibrium (LD)-based mapping for fine mapping of QTLs using single nucleotide polymorphisms. LD based association mapping (AM) has promise to be used in plants. Possible use of such approach may be for fine mapping of genes / QTLs, identifying favorable alleles for marker aided selection and cross validation of results from linkage mapping for precise location of genes / QTLs of interest. In the present review, we discuss different mapping populations, approaches, prospects and limitations of using association mapping in plant breeding populations. This is expected to create awareness in plant breeders in use of AM in crop improvement activities.
Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council, 2021
Proso millet is a minor cereal crop commonly cultivated in rain fed marginal uplands particularly... more Proso millet is a minor cereal crop commonly cultivated in rain fed marginal uplands particularly in the mid and far western mountain region of Nepal. It is potential crop for ensuring food and nutrition security and conservation of local crop biodiversity in high mountain region. Traditionally Proso millet (locally as chino) is processed manually on Mortar and Pestle (Okhal) by using muscular power. However, de-husking (pearling) of Proso millet is very tedious job. The traditional method of processing takes 1 hour to dehusk 2 kg – 3 kg of Proso millet for two women and cause lots of physical exertion to them. Therefore, GEF UNEP Local Crop Project in collaboration with Agricultural Engineering Divisionof NARC initiated program in 2017to design, fabricate and test electric Proso Millet de-husking machine (called chino kutak) that is safe and economical in operation for the use of the local farmers of remote Himalayan region. The model-1 designed, fabricated and piloted at Humla (Ch...
The increased intra-varietal diversity has been considered as coping mechanism against unpredicta... more The increased intra-varietal diversity has been considered as coping mechanism against unpredictable environmental factors in crop production. Relatively the risk of crop failure is minimum in landraces than in modern variety mainly because of homogenous population in modern variety. The diversity was estimated and compared between landrace and modern variety of rice and common buckwheat in both quantitative and qualitative traits. Three landraces and three modern varieties of rice were used as self-pollinated crop and experiment was conducted in Jumla. Common buckwheat was used as cross pollinated crop in Kabre consisted of nine landraces and one modern variety. These two experiments were unreplicated and variation was measured at population level. Standard deviation, coefficient of variation and Shannon’ diversity index were estimated and variation between landraces and modern varieties was tested using F-test. Dendogram was drawn considering all observed traits for both the crops...
Naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.) is a traditional, culturally important, climate-resi... more Naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.) is a traditional, culturally important, climate-resilient winter cereal crop of Nepal. Evaluation of the naked barely genotypes for yield and disease is fundamental for their efficient utilization in plant breeding schemes and effective conservation programs. Therefore, to identify high yielding and yellow rust resistant landraces of naked barley for hilly and mountainous agro-ecosystem, twenty naked barley landraces collected from different locations of Nepal, were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications during winter season of 2016 and 2017 at Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. Combined analysis of variances revealed that NGRC04902 (3.46 t/ha), NGRC00886 (3.28 t/ha), NGRC02309 (3.21 t/ha) and NGRC06026 (3.10 t/ha) were the high yielding landraces and statistically at par with the released variety 'Solu Uwa' (3.15 t/ha). The landraces namely NGRC00837 (ACI Value: 1.86) was found resistant to yellow r...
Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese s... more Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese society as well as in other countries of Indian Subcontinent. With the objectives of collecting, analyzing and documenting Basmati related information in Nepal, we visited different sites; carried out key informant surveys; organized focus group discussions, online interaction and discussion meetings; requested all relevant offices/ persons/ stakeholders through phone, website, and letter to share information; organized high level official meeting, and Basmati rice expert meeting; documented video documentary and did online as well as library search. Because of its high market value at global level, many countries and organizations have been attempting to get intellectual property rights (mainly patent and geographical indication tag) on Basmati rice. India applied for GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU) in July 2018, and Nepal submitted opposition letter along with proofs a...
Nepal has released and registered a total of 623 genetically uniform (mono genotyped) varieties. ... more Nepal has released and registered a total of 623 genetically uniform (mono genotyped) varieties. These varieties were developed by both conventional and classical plant breeding, biotech-assisted plant breeding, and participatory plant breeding methods. However, these varieties have been shown to vary in their yield performance over the years and locations. Smallholder farmers dominate agriculture with 53% of the land-owning households with their land holding size of less than 0.5 ha in Nepal. Farmers are increasingly losing their own saved seeds. There have been impacts of weather variability, often modern crop varieties are not available to suit with these changing conditions. Farmers are looking for crop varieties that can better adapt to these changing conditions, and seeds of which can be saved for the next season planting. Evolutionary Plant Breeding (EPB), which creates and maintains a high degree of genetic diversity (i.e. polymorphic population), is a choice for breeders an...
The April 25 earthquake (with 7.6 Richter scale) and its subsequent aftershocks have had both dir... more The April 25 earthquake (with 7.6 Richter scale) and its subsequent aftershocks have had both direct and indirect impact on people’s livelihoods, agriculture and agrobiodiversity. The major effect of disaster was in remote hills and mountains where production system was rainfed, risk-prone, subsistence and people’s livelihoods depended on agriculture and biodiversity of traditional crops. According to the estimates of the Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) of the Government of Nepal, the total value of direct and indirect impact of the earthquake to Nepalese economy was close to USD 7 billion, equivalent to one-third of country’s GDP. The agriculture sector suffered total damage and loss of USD 255 million, with maximum losses (86%) in mountainous and hilly areas of affected areas. The earthquake had also secondary effects triggering human and nature induced landslides, land degradation, flooding, drying up of water sources, avalanches and disease epidemics. It also have had long-...
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is the fourth most important crop in Nepal having ... more Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is the fourth most important crop in Nepal having multiple benefits but is still neglected by mainstream research and development. The main option to boost its productivity is developing superior varieties through enhanced use of germplasm in breeding programmes. With the objective of enhancing utilization of landraces conserved ex situ, a total of 300 finger millet accessions collected from 54 districts were characterized in three hill locations of Nepal for two consecutive years (2017–2018). Nine qualitative and 17 quantitative traits were recorded, and combined mean data were subjected to multivariate analysis to assess agromorphological diversity. Shannon–Weaver diversity indices (H') showed high diversity (0.647–0.908) among the accessions for qualitative traits except for finger branching and spikelet shattering whereas high diversity (0.864–0.907) was observed for all quantitative traits. The first five principal components (...
Nepal is considered one of the centers of diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is a main st... more Nepal is considered one of the centers of diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is a main staple crop in the country. Pre-breeding is an important activity of genebank to enhance utilization of conserved genetic resources. A total of 107 cold tolerant rice accessions (99 landraces collected from 29 high hill and mountain districts, seven released varieties and newly introduced black rice) were characterized during 2015 and 2016 at National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC), Khumaltar, Nepal. Accessions were shown a month later than normal planting time of Kathmandu valley to induce cold stress during flowering stage. The experiment was managed in direct seeded rainfed condition. Seven quantitative and nine qualitative traits were recorded using standard descriptors for rice and diversity among accessions was assessed. The accessions were found to be diverse using Shannon–Weaver diversity indices (H') for all the quantitative traits (0.822 to 0.882) whereas low to...
Preface Standard descriptors for plant genetic resources are necessary to characterize and evalua... more Preface Standard descriptors for plant genetic resources are necessary to characterize and evaluate them. This descriptor of sponge gourd is developed to standardize the characterization and evaluation of sponge gourd. In addition, this wifi help to communicate among researchers and development workers. This is an outcome of experiences gained from the Global project, Strengthening the scientific basis of in situ conversation of agricultural hiodiversity. Introduction about sponge gourd and descriptor itself are included along with five types of descriptors. Collection form and codes for characterizing and evaluating traits are added for better managing field book during sponge gourd trials. Relevant references are given as supplement resources.
Genetic diversity must be maintained and utilized for sustainable agriculture development. The am... more Genetic diversity must be maintained and utilized for sustainable agriculture development. The amount of genetic diversity in the country depends on the number and diversity of the original ancestors involved in the creation of a germplasm pool, wild relatives and existing landraces. The objective of this research was to study the diversity of wheat gene pool present in the Nepalese bread wheat cultivars and landraces that could help for developing conservation and utilization strategy effectively. We examined the pedigrees of 35 Nepalese wheat cultivars and surveyed the literature for distribution of landraces and wild relatives of wheat. Cultivated landraces of spring and winter type, wild landraces and diploid species of wheat are found in Nepal. There are 35 improved wheat cultivars, 540 landraces and 10 wild relatives of wheat. Crosses between winter and spring wheat gene pools are far more common and offer a new
Red listing mechanism has been developed for wild fauna and flora. There are several documents il... more Red listing mechanism has been developed for wild fauna and flora. There are several documents illustrating red listed wild fauna and flora. But there is a lack of information on the red list and red listing criteria of agricultural crop species, varieties or landraces. For initiating on- farm, in situ and ex situ conservations, red listing is helpful in locating region of crop species, varieties or landraces diversity. The paper reviewed the red listing criteria used for the categorization of wild fauna and flora. Categorization of on-farm crop species, varieties and landraces is based on population, ecological, social, modernization and use criteria. Among them ecological, social and modernization criteria are useful in selecting location for sampling materials for ex situ conservation and appropriate sites for in situ conservation. Modernization and use criteria are suitable for categorization of crop genotypes. Combinations of these criteria are proposed for red listing crop gen...
DNA-based molecular markers have been extensively utilized for mapping of genes and quantitative ... more DNA-based molecular markers have been extensively utilized for mapping of genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) of interest based on linkage analysis in mapping populations. This is in contrast to human genetics that use of linkage disequilibrium (LD)-based mapping for fine mapping of QTLs using single nucleotide polymorphisms. LD based association mapping (AM) has promise to be used in plants. Possible use of such approach may be for fine mapping of genes / QTLs, identifying favorable alleles for marker aided selection and cross validation of results from linkage mapping for precise location of genes / QTLs of interest. In the present review, we discuss different mapping populations, approaches, prospects and limitations of using association mapping in plant breeding populations. This is expected to create awareness in plant breeders in use of AM in crop improvement activities.
Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council, 2021
Proso millet is a minor cereal crop commonly cultivated in rain fed marginal uplands particularly... more Proso millet is a minor cereal crop commonly cultivated in rain fed marginal uplands particularly in the mid and far western mountain region of Nepal. It is potential crop for ensuring food and nutrition security and conservation of local crop biodiversity in high mountain region. Traditionally Proso millet (locally as chino) is processed manually on Mortar and Pestle (Okhal) by using muscular power. However, de-husking (pearling) of Proso millet is very tedious job. The traditional method of processing takes 1 hour to dehusk 2 kg – 3 kg of Proso millet for two women and cause lots of physical exertion to them. Therefore, GEF UNEP Local Crop Project in collaboration with Agricultural Engineering Divisionof NARC initiated program in 2017to design, fabricate and test electric Proso Millet de-husking machine (called chino kutak) that is safe and economical in operation for the use of the local farmers of remote Himalayan region. The model-1 designed, fabricated and piloted at Humla (Ch...
The increased intra-varietal diversity has been considered as coping mechanism against unpredicta... more The increased intra-varietal diversity has been considered as coping mechanism against unpredictable environmental factors in crop production. Relatively the risk of crop failure is minimum in landraces than in modern variety mainly because of homogenous population in modern variety. The diversity was estimated and compared between landrace and modern variety of rice and common buckwheat in both quantitative and qualitative traits. Three landraces and three modern varieties of rice were used as self-pollinated crop and experiment was conducted in Jumla. Common buckwheat was used as cross pollinated crop in Kabre consisted of nine landraces and one modern variety. These two experiments were unreplicated and variation was measured at population level. Standard deviation, coefficient of variation and Shannon’ diversity index were estimated and variation between landraces and modern varieties was tested using F-test. Dendogram was drawn considering all observed traits for both the crops...
Naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.) is a traditional, culturally important, climate-resi... more Naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.) is a traditional, culturally important, climate-resilient winter cereal crop of Nepal. Evaluation of the naked barely genotypes for yield and disease is fundamental for their efficient utilization in plant breeding schemes and effective conservation programs. Therefore, to identify high yielding and yellow rust resistant landraces of naked barley for hilly and mountainous agro-ecosystem, twenty naked barley landraces collected from different locations of Nepal, were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications during winter season of 2016 and 2017 at Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. Combined analysis of variances revealed that NGRC04902 (3.46 t/ha), NGRC00886 (3.28 t/ha), NGRC02309 (3.21 t/ha) and NGRC06026 (3.10 t/ha) were the high yielding landraces and statistically at par with the released variety 'Solu Uwa' (3.15 t/ha). The landraces namely NGRC00837 (ACI Value: 1.86) was found resistant to yellow r...
Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese s... more Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese society as well as in other countries of Indian Subcontinent. With the objectives of collecting, analyzing and documenting Basmati related information in Nepal, we visited different sites; carried out key informant surveys; organized focus group discussions, online interaction and discussion meetings; requested all relevant offices/ persons/ stakeholders through phone, website, and letter to share information; organized high level official meeting, and Basmati rice expert meeting; documented video documentary and did online as well as library search. Because of its high market value at global level, many countries and organizations have been attempting to get intellectual property rights (mainly patent and geographical indication tag) on Basmati rice. India applied for GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU) in July 2018, and Nepal submitted opposition letter along with proofs a...
Nepal has released and registered a total of 623 genetically uniform (mono genotyped) varieties. ... more Nepal has released and registered a total of 623 genetically uniform (mono genotyped) varieties. These varieties were developed by both conventional and classical plant breeding, biotech-assisted plant breeding, and participatory plant breeding methods. However, these varieties have been shown to vary in their yield performance over the years and locations. Smallholder farmers dominate agriculture with 53% of the land-owning households with their land holding size of less than 0.5 ha in Nepal. Farmers are increasingly losing their own saved seeds. There have been impacts of weather variability, often modern crop varieties are not available to suit with these changing conditions. Farmers are looking for crop varieties that can better adapt to these changing conditions, and seeds of which can be saved for the next season planting. Evolutionary Plant Breeding (EPB), which creates and maintains a high degree of genetic diversity (i.e. polymorphic population), is a choice for breeders an...
The April 25 earthquake (with 7.6 Richter scale) and its subsequent aftershocks have had both dir... more The April 25 earthquake (with 7.6 Richter scale) and its subsequent aftershocks have had both direct and indirect impact on people’s livelihoods, agriculture and agrobiodiversity. The major effect of disaster was in remote hills and mountains where production system was rainfed, risk-prone, subsistence and people’s livelihoods depended on agriculture and biodiversity of traditional crops. According to the estimates of the Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) of the Government of Nepal, the total value of direct and indirect impact of the earthquake to Nepalese economy was close to USD 7 billion, equivalent to one-third of country’s GDP. The agriculture sector suffered total damage and loss of USD 255 million, with maximum losses (86%) in mountainous and hilly areas of affected areas. The earthquake had also secondary effects triggering human and nature induced landslides, land degradation, flooding, drying up of water sources, avalanches and disease epidemics. It also have had long-...
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Papers by Bal K Joshi