New cowpea can be grown anytime of the year

 Most of the traditional cowpea varieties are photosensitive and can only be grown once in a year. But the new cowpea varieties we have developed can be grown any time of the year. We have also developed a range of cowpea cultivars that fit into different cropping systems.  The cowpea can be intercropped with maize, millet, sorghum, or cassava. Apart from the breeding activities, we also have a collaborative project with the International Institute of Agriculture (IITA) on seed system. Several improved cowpea and soybean cultivars are being promoted among farmers in the state.

 This is where we carry out our breeding activities. It helps us to make many generation of our breeding lines within a year. The screen house has double roofing; the upper layer is polythene that serves as rainproof. The rainproof and the net prevent rain and insect pests from inside.

No. what we are doing now is Molecular Plant Breeding that which combines molecular tools and methodologies with conventional approaches for improvement of crop plants geared toward genetically enhancing our crop to increase crop yield. This technology has enabled us to develop improved crop cultivar within a short period of time (four  years) compared to traditional breeding that would have taken us over 10 years to accomplish. We transfer desired gene using conventional methods and use molecular tools to select the desired plants. This approach helps to fast track the breeding process to develop improved variety to farmers. Genetically Modified crop (GM) is more of transferring gene between species. That is transgenic or the use of recombinant DNA technology. This technology allows gene to be transferred across boundaries.  GM crops are crops that have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for insect resistant and insert that gene into a different plant.

The new genetically-modified plant will gain insect resistant. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms also can be used. The technology enable us transfer genes from animal to plant or plant to animal wherever we find it appropriate. If you look at the BT cowpea that we are currently working on (we are collaborators) and it is still under confined trials. Maruca resistant gene isolated from the soil bacterium has been inserted into cowpea to make it resistant to the maruca insect pest.

That is what is referred to as genetically modified (trans-gene), this would not have been possible through conventional breeding alone. The gene for maruca resistant was not found within the natural cowpea population. . In our Molecular Biology Laboratory, we are into Marker-Assisted Breeding (MAS) to aid selection precision after introgression of the desired gene into cultivars that are deficient in trait of interest.

 People should not have negative perception about GM crops. What the plant breeders and geneticist are doing is to genetically enhance crop to be resistant to production constraints or improve the nutritional quality. To genetically enhance crop for a particular stress, you have to look out for a gene that is resistant to that stress factor. If you are able to find the gene within the natural population, you use it directly if it is compatible. Otherwise you look outward to source the gene from another specie. If you are able to find one, you isolate the gene and insert it into the crop of your interest so that the crop will be able to withstand the stress factor. GM crop is not different from genetically enhanced crop. It is just the method through which the goal was achieved.  For example, if we have not been able to find the Striga resistant gene within the cowpea natural population, we would have looked somewhere else to obtain the gene that is resistant to Striga and insert it into the cowpea of our choice. That is what people often refer to as genetic engineering.  

All our efforts are geared towards enhancing crops to be able to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses that militate against increased crop production and productivity.