Overview

The goal of research in this project is to develop, deploy, and promote the use of second generation sorghum cultivars with drought and Striga resistance using a variety of biotechnological approaches. In the past we led a program with that had good balance between fundamental research at Purdue, where graduate students and postdoctoral fellows led work in basic sciences to elucidate specific mechanisms involved in resistance to Striga and drought, with adaptive work in Africa. Grant funds were leveraged from multiple sources to support the basic science component of the work done primarily on campus. The more applied work has been primarily supported by USAID and conducted in Africa in collaboration with host country scientists. Both African and US graduate students were involved in the basic science work at Purdue as well as in the applied work in African fields on a case by case basis.