Plant Breeding

The Plant Breeding Division is located in the J. F. Posnette building. The overall goal of the division is to develop improved germplasm and new varieties of cocoa (Theobroma cacao), Coffee (Caffea sp), Kola (Cola nitida), Cashew (Anacardium ocidentalis) and Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa), with resistance to diseases and pests for farmers.

 It is also responsible for the introduction and study of new germplasm by way of broadening the genetic base of the institute’s genebank.



Research activities being carried out in the Division include:

COCOA

Global approaches to cocoa germplasm utilisation and conservation (cfc/icco/ipgri/crig) project

• International and local clone trials which is aimed at distributing and evaluating cocoa clones within the West African Region, selecting superior varieties and assessing the genetic stability of economically important traits.
• Population breeding aimed at long-term improvement of economically important traits, including disease resistance.

Mabang megakarya selection programme (mmsp)

Background:

This project commenced in October 2005 with funding from the government of Netherlands, Ghana Cocoa Growers Association (GCGRA) and Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). It is located at Mabang, near Tepa, in the Ahafo Ano North District of the Ashanti Region. The objective is to develop "elite clones" that would yield high in the presence of P. megakarya.

Progress so far:

Currently, about 43 acres of already prepared with shade trees established. Out of this, 2.5 acres has been planted with 110 cocoa clones (8 copies of each) mainly from CRIG germplasm. An estimated 650 clones would be planted in 2008 and propagation is being done by brown and green budding.

Molecular markers for resistance to cssv and blackpod diseases in cocoa collections of ghana

Current activities include:

• Farmers' field survey: Six hundred cocoa farmers in all the six cocoa growing regions of Ghana were interviewed followed by participatory identification, collection and evaluation of cocoa accessions described by farmers as being their best materials in their farms.
• Assessment of genetic diversity of cocoa accession from breeders' genebank and farmers farms using molecular markers.

Achievements:

• Analysis of field survey data completed.
• All 800 cocoa accessions collected genetic diversity assessment have been budded and about 30% planted for evaluation.
• Over 370 accessions have been analysed for their genetic variability. Over 400 more are being analysed.