Main conclusion Seed priming with gas plasma-activated water results in an increased ageing resilience in Eragrostis tef grains compared to a conventional hydropriming protocol. Abstract Tef ( Eragrostis tef ) is a cereal grass and a major staple crop of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite its significant importance in terms of production, consumption, and cash crop value, tef has been understudied and its productivity is low. In th...

Key message Intensive public sector breeding efforts and public-private partnerships have led to the increase in genetic gains, and deployment of elite climate-resilient maize cultivars for the stress-prone environments in the tropics. Abstract Maize ( Zea mays L.) plays a critical role in ensuring food and nutritional security, and livelihoods of millions of resource-constrained smallholders. However, maize yields in the trop...

Maize production constraints in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are being addressed by CIMMYT and partners through an array of projects, focusing on developing and evaluating parental inbred lines and single-crosses as well as formulating, evaluating and releasing high-yielding and stress resilient hybrids adapted to different agro-ecologies. The objectives of the present study were to (1) evaluate the grain yield performance of pare...