ICRISAT won the 1996 King Baudouin Award for its outstanding achievements in the development of disease-resistant, yield-increasing pearl millet cultivars in collaboration with advanced institutions and national research programs.

ICRISAT scientists and their collaborators in the UK and India have developed a molecular map of pearl millet and applied molecular techniques to distinguish different races of the pathogen causing downy mildew. Multiple genes are required for resistance that is effective against the different pathogen races. ICRISAT and its collaborators have identified race-specific quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring resistance against several such pathotypes.

Photo: ICRISAT