PLANT BREEDING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

Plant Breeding Unit deals with teaching, research and outreach in Plant genetics, breeding and biotechnology. It hosts M.Sc    in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology and PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding. The Unit has developed and/or registered varieties of dry beans, snap beans, pigeon pea, sorghum and onions. Some of the research programmes include breeding for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in dry bean, snap bean, maize, sorghum and wheat, nutritional quality breeding in dry bean, snap bean and maize and genetic diversity of Jathropha.

International training workshop on increasing the Development Impact of Agricultural Research in Africa

The six week training course was officially opened by the Deputy High Commissioner of Australia to Kenya Mr. Jonathan Ball who encouraged participants to make use of the training to understand their research environment and the role they play in agricultural research activities in their respective countries. He reiterated that multidisciplinary research is important for achieving food and nutrition security in Africa and the Australian government will continue to train and support experts in agricultural innovations and technologies relevant for agricultural production and supply.