Plant Research · Active
Drought-Tolerant Maize for Semi-Arid Smallholders
Rainfall variability is cutting smallholder maize yields by up to 60% in drought years.
Principal investigator: Dr. Ruth Kamau
Programme
40+
Active programmes across clinical, agri and environmental science
60+
Partner institutions, hospitals and grower networks
180
Peer-reviewed publications and field reports to date
Objectives
- Screen 240 landrace accessions for drought tolerance markers
- Deploy marker-assisted selection in 3 breeding populations
- Deliver two candidate varieties to national trials
Methodology
- 1Germplasm phenotyping under managed stress
- 2Genotyping-by-sequencing
- 3Marker-assisted backcrossing
- 4Multi-location trials
Partners
- National Agricultural Research Institute
- CGIAR partner programme
- Seed Traders Association
Publications
Marker-assisted selection for drought tolerance in tropical maize
Field Crops Research · 2025
Connected
Laboratories and services behind this study
Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory
Clean planting material at commercial scale
ExploreGenomics Laboratory
Sequencing, genotyping and bioinformatics
ExploreSoil Laboratory
Nutrient chemistry and soil microbiome profiling
ExploreSeed Quality & Certification
Germination, purity, health and genetic identity testing for seed lots.
ExplorePlant Tissue Culture & Multiplication
Disease-free, genetically uniform planting material at commercial volume.
ExploreResearch lifecycle
From a question worth asking to a result people can use
01
Scoping
Define the decision, the endpoint and the population or field site with our partners.
02
Protocol & ethics
Pre-registered protocol, ethics or biosafety approval and consent frameworks.
03
Execution
Accredited laboratory and field workflows with monitored data capture.
04
Translation
Peer-reviewed publication, regulatory dossiers and hand-off to service teams.
Partner with us
Collaborate on Drought-Tolerant Maize for Semi-Arid Smallholders
Bring us a study, a sample set or a field problem. We scope feasibility, ethics and timelines within one working week.
Publications & data access
Request pre-prints, anonymised datasets or replication protocols from any completed programme.