Dr. Agyemang Danquah
PhD, Plant Biology, Paris Saclay (Paris Sud 11, Orsay)
adanquah@wacci.ug.edu.gh
Deputy Director, Research, Innovation and Development (RID)
Senior Lecturer, Crop Science Department
University of Ghana
Profile Grant Funded Research Research and Teaching Publications
Research Interest
Dr. Agyemang Danquah’s research interest is primarily on using Demand-Led Plant Breeding approaches to develop and deliver improved varieties of tomatoes to farmers in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region. He uses both conventional and genomics-based approaches to genetically improve the crop to biotic and abiotic stresses in order to increase productivity on farmers’ field. His current works include developing (i) heat-tolerant, high yielding and consumer-acceptable tomato varieties for all-year-round production (ii) tomato varieties with resistance to the yellow leave curl virus and bacterial wilt (iii) tomato varieties with extended shelf-life and (iv) varieties with good processing qualities for the local processing industry.
Teaching Experience
| Post-Graduate | ||
| CROP 612 | Crop Improvement | 2014 - to date |
| CROP 613 | Molecular Genetics | 2014 - 2015 |
| WACI 607 | Crop Improvement and Biotechnology | 2015 - to date |
| WACI 702 | Biotechnology in Plant Breeding | 2014 - 2015 |
| WACI 706 | Genetic Improvement of Crop Plants | 2016 - to date |
| Undergraduate | ||
| CROP 111 | Introduction to Agricultural Botany | 2014 - to date |
| AGRC 302 | Principles of Biotechnology | 2014 - to date |
| AGRC 311 | Introductory Genetics | 2014 - to date |
| CROP 426 | Plant Breeding and Genetics | 2014 - to date |
| Diploma | ||
| CROP 035 | Root and Tuber Crops | 2014 - 2020 |
| HORT 021 | Crop Imprivement | 2014 - 2015 |
Curriculum Development/Review
- Together with collaborators at the Iowa State University, I am leading the development of an Instructor Guide and Applied Learning Activities (ALAs) for the course on Quantitative Methods under the Plant Breeding e-learning in Africa (PBEA) project. https://pbea.agron.iastate.edu/
- As Coordinator for Academic Programmes, I have, on three different occasions, prepared draft revised curricula for the WACCI PhD in Plant Breeding and MPhil in Seed Science and Technology programmes that were later reviewed by WACCI Associate Faculty and then sent the School of Graduate Studies Board, the Academic Board, the Business and Executive Committee and subesequently to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for re-accreditation.
- Worked with team to develop the self evaluation report (SER) for the WACCI programmes in preparation for international accreditation by the Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation of Study Programs (AQAS), Germany [October 2017].
- Worked with team to revise the MPhil Plant Breeding and Genetics curriculum at the Department of Crop Science, by introducing new courses and removing obsolete ones. The revised curriculum received approval in 2016 from the School of Graduate Studies Board, the Academic Board, and the Business and Executive Committee.
- Developed the draft curriculum for the WACCI Seed Science and Technology Programme that was later reviewed by WACCI’s Associate Faculty before sending to the School of Graduate Studies Board, the Academic Board, the Business and Executive Committee and subsequently to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for national accreditation in 2015.
- Worked as a member of the Educators team to review the outline for the module on Demand-Led Variety Design and developed content for the outline which was then published as part of the book: The Business of Plant Breeding: Market led Approaches to Plant Variety Design in Africa (see Publications: Book Chapters – No. 5). We also developed powerpoint slides as a teaching resources for the plant breeding community. We regularly organize workshops to teach this module to working plant breeders and students all over Africa [November 2014 – to date]. https://www.demandledbreeding.org/
GRADUATE STUDENT THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER
PhD Thesis Supervision
| NAME | TITLE OF THESIS | EXPECTED YEAR OF COMPLETION |
| Pearl Dzorgbenyuie Aku Zoryeku | Genome wide association studies of soybean | 2026 |
| Admikew Getaneh Yigletu | Breeding for coffee wilt disease resistance on Arabica coffee in Ethiopia | 2026 |
| Godson Nyawudzor | Development of tomato lines for resistance to Root Knot Nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita) | 2024 |
| Justice Adzigbe | Genetic evaluation and improvement of Jasmine 85 rice (Oryza sativa L.) for reproductive stage drought tolerance in Ghana | 2024 |
| Yosef Alemu | Genetic diversity, genome wide association and combining ability for yield and fruit quality in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) germplasm | 2024 |
| Allen Molly | Genome-wide studies of yield and nutritive traits in Brachiaria | 2023 |
| Faty Diaw |
Breeding rice varieties for high grain yield and tolerance to extreme temperatures (low and high) for Sahelian irrigated systems |
2023 |
| Jacinta Adoma Opoku | Genetic analysis for drought tolerance in okra | 2023 |
| Mathieu Ayenan | Developing heat tolerant tomatoes for West Africa | 2022 |
| Alfousseiny Mahamane Maiga | Development of sorghum hybrids containing high lysine content in Southern Mali | 2021 |
| Salim Lamini | Deployment of sources of cowpea root rot (Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani) resistance to improve cowpea in Ghana | 2021 |
| Sandra Odonkor | Development of bacterial wilt resistant tomato varieties in Ghana | 2021 |
| Wisdom Anyomi Edem | Characterization of key morpho-agronomic traits, butter yield and butter composition of Ghana’s shea resource | 2021 |
| Rosemary Kusi-Adjei | Breeding high quality tomato for processing in Ghana | 2020 |
| Michael Kwabena Osei | Developing high yielding tomato with extended shelf-life for Ghana | 2020 |
| Emmanuel Prince Norman | Genetic analysis of tuber yield and quality traits in white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) | 2020 |
| Adelaide P. Ouedraogo | Genetic study of cowpea resistance to aphid species | 2020 |
| Michael Teye Barnor | Genetic improvement of locally adapted soyabean (Glycine max L.) varieties for resistance to local isolates of Phakospora Pachyrihzi | 2019 |
| Leander Dede Melome | Introgression of tomato yellow leaf curl virus resistant genes into locally adapted tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) varieties | 2019 |
| Kassa Messan Koussakana Dewa | Genetic diversity of the Oryza glaberrima Steud. collection from Togo and development of rice blast tolerant introgression lines | 2019 |
| Elisabeth Diatta | Genomic study and genetic improvement of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor Moench] for high protein digestibility in Senegal | 2019 |
| Ebenezer Obeng-Bio | Genetic analysis for high Pro-Vitamin A and quality protein maize (Zea mays L.) under stress environments | 2019 |
| Sanatu Mustapha Alidu | Genetic analyses of the relationship between drought tolerance and phonological plasticity in cowpea | 2018 |
| Olumide Alaba Alabi | Empirical estimation of genetic gains in cassava using genomic selection in a one-year breeding cycle | 2018 |
| Lydia Chidimma Ezenwaka | Allele mining for cassava green mite resistance in nigeria | 2018 |
| Isata Kamanda | Improving yield and tuber nutritional quality of cassava in Sierra Leone | 2018 |
| Ghislain Kanfany | Inheritance of downy mildew resistance of pearl millet in Senegal | 2018 |
| Aissatou Sambou | Genetic improvement of groundnut for earliness and drought tolerance in Senegal | 2018 |
| Abdou Souleymane | Evaluation of diverse Niger cowpea, germplasm for phosphorus-use efficiency | 2018 |
GRADUATE STUDENT THESIS- SUPERVISOR
MPhil Thesis Supervision
| NAME | TITLE OF THESIS | EXPECTED YEAR OF GRADUATION |
| David Ntuu | Genetic analysis of nematode resistance in tomatoes | 2022 |
| Emmanuel Sie | Field phenotyping of leaf spot diseases and drought stress in peanut using photogrammetry and vegetation indices | 2021 |
| Agyei Nyarko | Evaluation of tomato entries against strains of Ralstonia solanacearum causing bacterial wilt disease in the Upper East region of Ghana | 2021 |
| Nana Esther Animah | Effect of seed priming on the physiologiucal and agronomical traits of tomato under heat stress conditions | 2020 |
| Foster Yambout Kangben | Diversity studies of cotton (Gossypium sp.) genotypes from the Guinea Savanna Zone of Ghana | 2018 |
| Morro Lamin Mba | Evaluation of the effectiveness of different groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seed storage methods in The Gambia | 2018 |
| Moussa Abdoulaye | Production of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) pre-basic seed through tissue culture in Katibougou, Mali | 2018 |
| Radiant Kwabena Appiah Ahenkan | Post-certification surveillance of marketed vegetable seeds in the Greater Accra region for seed quality maintenance | 2018 |
| Collins Gameli Gborvi | Evaluation of multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) cowpea population for drought tolerance in Sudan Savanna Zone of Ghana | 2017 |
| Frederick Awuku | Diversity studies of Striga gesnerioides on cowpea in Ghana | 2017 |
| Mathias Korle Ossom | Effect of Trichoderma harzianum (Eco-T) on seed viability and root-knot incidence in tomato | 2017 |
| Prince Appiah Eburey | Evaluation of the performance of some of hot pepper (Capsicum sp) genotypes for growth, fruit yield and quality, seed yield and seed quality | 2017 |
| Mathieu Ayenan | Farmers’ knowledge on cultivation and uses of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) and phenotypic diversity of the species in Benin | 2016 |
| Rachel Mensah | Genetic diversity of 50 local tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) accessions in Ghana | 2016 |
| Victor Kwao Tei-labi | Evaluation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp) genotypes for yield and genotype by environment stability on the Vertisols of the Accra Plains | 2015 |
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH SUPERVISOR
| NAME | TITLE OF THESIS | EXPECTED YEAR OF GRADUATION |
| Frank Appiah Koranteng | Assessment of capsaicin levels in different varieties of chili peppers using cyclic voltammetry | 2021 |
| Bright Fiakeye | Evaluation of fruit quality and yield of tomato hybrids | 2021 |
| Felix Amponsah | Morpho-agronomic evaluation of seven tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) accessions | 2017 |
| Lionel Odei Larbi | Effect of inter-row spacing on the growth and yield of four cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) genotpyes | 2017 |
| Annan Emmanuel Nii Adjei | Genetic characterisation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicun) accessions in Ghana | 2016 |
| Esther Armah Harding | Morphological characterization of tomato (Solanum lycopersicun) germplasm | 2016 |
| Tornyor Godwin Doe | Genetic diversity of some selected accessions of tomato (Solanum lycopersicun) | 2016 |
| Afeke Tsatsu Abraham | Review of genotyping by sequencing in crop improvement | 2014 |
| Hanson Ekow Junior | Field screening of selected maize hybrids in the Coastal Savannah Zone of Ghana | 2014 |
| Klu Anxious Bribi Maxwell | Biotechnology in tropical agriculture (Review) | 2014 |
| Manyo Dzidzornu Korku | Heterosis studies of yield and other agronomic traits of maize | 2014 |
| Nartey Felix Djagmah | Study of the genetic variability of F6 lines of cowpea | 2014 |