Dr. John Saviour Yaw Eleblu
PhD, Molecular Genetics, Paris Sud
Coordinator Research, Francophone Africa, WACCI
Lecturer, Biotechnology centre
University of Ghana
Profile Grant Funded Research Research and Teaching Publication
Dr. Eleblu's current research focus is centered on projects he has led at the University of Ghana in collaboration with members internally and externally. He has led the development of three research projects on Cowpea/Beans and Soybean at the University of Ghana. Firstly, under a US$ 1 million grant from the African Union for 3 years, which begun in 2018, he is leading as a Co-Principal Investigator. The overall goal of the project is to ensure sustainable intensification of the production of Maize, Tomato, Cowpea and Rice through crop and soil health management. Currently Dr. Eleblu is passionately leading the development of Cowpea Value Chain for increased efficiency in Ghana. He has hosted 2 value chain workshops that brought together in total about 100 actors in the value chain. Under this initiative he has catalogued the needs of the value chain actors and have designed a demand-led breeding programme that aims to develop minimum cooking time (10 – 20 minutes), extra early maturity (60 DAP), high yielding potential (15% more yield compared to Hewale under normal growth conditions), drought tolerance (30% more yield compared to Hewale under drought), cream to white grain color, large grain size (20% larger than Hewale), pest/disease resistance (resistance to striga, thrips, and Cercospora leaf spot). Also, he is interested in establishing a forward and reverse genetics platform at the University of Ghana to serve as a source of huge genetic diversity and as a national and sub regional resource for the sustainable genetic improvement of Cowpea and the mapping of key agronomic traits of economic importance. Secondly, in partnership with the National Institute for Agricultural Botany (NIAB), United Kingdom, he is leading the development of tissue culture platforms at WACCI for the sustainable improvement of Cowpeas in Ghana and for the subregion. Thirdly, he is evaluating soybean genetic resources collected from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) across agro-ecological zones in Ghana for adaptability (tolerance to diseases and pests) and comparatively higher yields in comparison with the local checks.
| Course | Title | Level |
|---|---|---|
| CROP 021 | Horticulture | Diploma |
| AGRC 311 | Introductory Genetics | Undergraduate |
| CROP 426 | Genetics and Plant Breeding | Undergraduate |
| CROP 618 | Genomics | MPhil |
| WACI 607 | Crop Improvement & Biotechnology | MPhil |
| WACI 703 | Biotechnology in Plant Breeding | PhD |
| WACI 715 | Genomics and Bioinformatics | PhD |
| WACI 711 | Statistics and Experimental Design | PhD |
| WACI 718 | Genomics for Accelerated Breeding | PhD |
| CROP 704 | Laboratory Instrumentation | PhD |
| Name of Student | PhD Thesis Title |
|---|---|
| Dr. TCHALA Noudifoulé | Molecular characterization and heterosis of extra-early maturing pro-vitamin A maize (Zea mays) inbreds under Striga and drought stress environments |
| Dr. SSEREMBA Godfrey | Genetic diversity and breeding of Solanum aethiopicum shum group for water use efficiency Uganda Eggplant |
| Dr. NGALAMU Tony | Genetic improvement of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L Walp) for earliness and drought tolerance |
| Dr. DAWUD Maryam Abba | Genetic Diversity Analysis of Pearl Millet “Maiwa Type” Germplasm Accession for Striga Resistance in Nigeria |
| Dr. DADZIE Abu Mustapha | Genetic Introgression of Aflatoxin Resistance Genes into Elite Maize (Zea mays L.) Lines in Ghana |
| Name | Thesis Title | Country | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardaly Abdou Ousseini. |
Sorghum genotype selection for their resistance to Striga hermontica by using molecular marker links to strigolactone gene |
Niger | Sorghum |
| Barka Augusta Jebeh | Genetic Enhancement of Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) for High Beta Carotene and Dry Matter in Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone | Sweet Potato |
| Kachiguma Nathan Aliel | Genetic analysis of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) lines for drought and low phosphorous tolerance in Malawi | Malawi | Common bean |
| Name | Thesis Title | Country | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mwamahonje Andekelile Saloni | Marker assisted backcrossing of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) genotypes for drought stress tolerance and grain yield potential in Central Tanzania | Tanzania | Sorghum |
| Gelaw Yonas Moges | Genetic Improvement of Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) for Anthracnose Resistance in Ethiopia | Ethiopia | Common Bean |
| Sinare Boubacar |
Genetic studies and morphological characterization of QTLs linked to yield in Groundnut |
Burkina Faso | Groundnut |
Member of PhD Thesis Research Supervisory Team (2018-2021)
| Name | Thesis Title | Country | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tsindi Albert | Improvement of soybean lines for earliness and adaptation in South Africa | Zimbabwe | Soybean |
| Aboagye Benjamin Danso | Breeding for resistance against Cercospora Leaf Spots Disease in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) | Ghana | Groundnut |
Member of PhD Thesis Research Supervisory Team (2019-2022)
| Name | Thesis Title | Country | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADJIBOGOUN Ogougra Akomonla Rodrigue | Using molecular biology tools to unravel Africa’s rice grain quality determinants | Benin | Rice |
| ASARE Tweneboah Abigail | Genetic Improvement of Two ornamental plants | Ghana | Ornamental plant |
| AGHOGHO Idhigu Cynthia | Characterization of African cassava varieties for dry matter content, starch productivity, and starch properties in Landraces and Improved cassava varieties from IITA | Nigeria | Cassava |