About CWR

Crop wild relatives are the wild ‘cousins’ of our cultivated crops. In the same way that the wolf is related to the dog, CWR are related to our food plants.

More about Crop Wild Relatives

What are CWR ? Why are they important ? Threats to CWR Sharing CWR
The Project

The project Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: “Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” aims to collect important species of crop wild relatives, ensure their long-term conservation, and facilitate their use in breeding new, improved crops.

More about the project

Project activities Project crops Project partners Where we work
Resources

This Project has led to the development of a number of tools and resources for people interested in collecting, conserving and using crop wild relatives in breeding.

See all our resources

CWR inventory CWR occurence database Crop Wild Relatives Global Atlas Pre-breeding data CWR Project Publications CWR in the news
News

Global Crop Diversity Trust
Platz Der Vereinten Nationen 7
53113 Bonn, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 228 85427 122

Wild cousins of finger millet show promise of parasite resistance

Published : October 1, 2018 - 3:12 PM

Finger millet can be grown at altitudes ranging from sea level to over 2000 metres above sea level, can withstand drought, and has high levels of essential amino acids and micronutrients. Some improved finger millet varieties can be tolerant of the blast disease and Striga parasite, but they are not resistant. As a result, yields of finger millet in East Africa are far from optimal.

A Crop Wild Relatives pre-breeding project aims to reduce due to Striga and blast by finding wild relatives of finger millet that have resistance to these maladies.

Read our full story on Thomson Reuters News.

Tags : finger millet, Kenya, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KARLO), pre-breeding

Wild cousins of finger millet show promise of parasite resistance

Share on