PLANT BREEDING NEWS
EDITION 232
February 2012
An Electronic Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
Sponsored by GIPB, FAO/AGP and
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available at: FAO Plant Breeding Newsletter
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.01 Breeding the best is the best option
1.02 Implication of
the changing concept of genes on plant breeder’s work
1.03 Developing hardier, weather-resistant crops - University of
Wisconsin-Madison botanist searches for genes that would make a better root
1.04 Rapid rise of Asian middle class likely to revamp global food
systems - U.S. Grains Council previews a changing vision of world food
demands in 2040
1.05 Measuring the global water footprint - Water used by the
agricultural sector accounts for nearly 92% of annual global freshwater
consumption
1.06 Africa Rice Center unveils research strategy to realize
Africa’s tremendous rice potential
1.07 Biotech rice slated for release next year
1.08 The potential of African rice
1.09 Low altitude, high-flying beans to benefit Africa
1.10 Smallholder farmers to benefit from second phase of tropical
legumes project
1.11 Frost nurseries identify tolerant grain varieties
1.12 Small farmers in The Sudan will receive improved seed
varieties
1.13 The Symptom and genetic diversity of cassava brown streak viruses
infecting cassava in East Africa
1.14 Disease-resistant cassava puts
down roots in Tanzania
1.15 Global food crisis to spur sturdy growth of genetically
engineered crops, according to new report by Global Industry Analysts
1.16 China won’t have
genetically modified crops this year, Chen yays
1.17 China's draft grain law limits genetic engineering
1.18 WIPO members work through differences in genetic resources
document
1.19 Wild cereals threatened by global warming
1.20 The International Treaty calls for submissions on Farmers’
Rights
1.21 Scientists in Russia grow plants from fruit stored away in
permafrost by squirrels over 30,000 years ago
1.22 Corn gene helps fight multiple leaf diseases
1.23 Basic Research to Enable
Agricultural Development (BREAD) grant funds research to tackle plant viral
diseases
1.24 Small plants getting major attention
1.25 Revealed in accurate detail, the underground world of plants
1.26 Genetic fingerprint reveals new efficient maize cultivars
1.27 Genetic information migrates from plant to plant
1.28 U.S. National Science Foundation provides additional $5.9
million to support five new BREAD program projects
1.29 Department of Agriculture,
Philippines, establishes DNA crop library
1.30 UC Davis and BGI complete master agreement to create
BGI@UCDavis genome facility
1.31 Oxford Nanopore introduces DNA 'strand sequencing' on the
high-throughput GridION platform and presents MinION, a sequencer the size of a
USB memory stick
1.32 Fast-forward genetics enabled by new sequencing technologies
1.33 GM as a route
for delivery of sustainable crop protection
1.34 Some Notes on
the Genetics of Annual Habit in Tetraploid Cotton (Private)
2.01 The science of perishable produce analysed in new book
2.02 Next-generation sequencing technologies: opportunities and
obligations in plant genomics
3.
3.01 Plant breeding and genomics online resource reaches milestone
4.01 New international agriculture award
to honor young field researchers emulating Dr. Norman Borlaug
4.02 Funding available for training in plant genetic resources and
seeds: building community resilience in the face of climate change
5.01 Plant
Breeder, Mylnefield Research Services Ltd
5.02 Corn Technology Development Manager based in Mexico
5.03 Breeding Database Specialist
5.04 Lead, R&D, Cotton Breeding
5.05 Head of Sugar
Beet Breeding
6. MEETINGS, COURSES
7. EDITOR
1 NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.01 Breeding the
best is the best option
16 February, 2012
Recent research has shown that, for every pound spent in this
country on plant breeding, up to Ł40 is generated in the wider UK economy and,
according to Nigel Kerby, who heads Mylnefield Research Services (MRS),
investment in plant breeding is critical for any country with ambitions for its
agriculture.
However, Kerby, who was addressing a growers’ meeting in
Dundee, doubted whether the UK now had the plant breeding capacity to make the
maximum use of improving plant varieties. “It is really hard to find people
with experience in plant breeding,” he said.
He believed that, while the government was waking up to the
importance of food security – where plant breeding had a major role to play in
increasing yields and reducing costs through resistance to disease and improved
efficiency in nutrient uptake – they might not be able to maximise output.
He said plant breeding was by far the most likely method of
increasing food production, with other possibilities such as increasing the
area of land under cropping having limited potential.
MRS markets the cultivars coming out of the former Scottish
Crop Research Institute, now the James Hutton Institute, and the latest
advances in raspberry breeding were highlighted by breeder Nikki Jennings.
Gene sequencing was being used to bring forward new cultivars
with resistance to one of the most troublesome diseases to attack raspberries –
root rot.
She said that, with the shortened breeding timescale gained
by this technology, the first new cultivars with resistance would be starting
fruiting trials this year. Other traits, such as increasing fruit size, were
now being looked at and could be combined with the root rot resistance, she
said.
Growers also heard of problems with both peat and coir, the
main materials used in the growing of soft fruit in polytunnels.
Neil Bragg, of Bulrush, who supply these materials to
growers, said the supply of coir the husk of coconuts was now very much a
hand-to-mouth situation. The main supply comes from India but whereas there
used to be heaps of this waste product 20 years ago, these stocks had now all
gone.
He was also concerned that China would increasingly muscle in
on the market and, with transport costs much less than shipping it to the UK,
this country would lose out.
Bragg was also critical of the stance taken by some of the
major supermarkets who objected to growers using peat as the growing medium because
it was “not sustainable”.
He pointed out that Ireland harvests some 60 million cubic
metres of peat annually and only one-fifth goes to horticulture, the rest
heading for Irish power generating plants, “and we hear no objection to that
usage.”
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.02 Implication of the changing
concept of genes on plant breeder’s work
Kátia Ferreira Marques de Resende, Fernanda Motta da Costa
Santos, Marco Aurélio D. Dias and Magno Antônio Patto Ramalho
Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology 11: 345-351, 2011
Brazilian Society of Plant Breeding. Printed in Brazil
Abstract
The recent genome sequencing of some species has accumulated
evidence that for a large number of traits, the control and action of genes are
far more complex than previously thought. This article discusses possible
implications of new insights into the gene concept on the work of plant
breeders. Apparently, the successful application of biotechnological techniques
is not as simple as once assumed. The evident changes in the available concept
of genes confirmed what the past experience had shown, i.e, selection should
focus on the phenotype, under the same conditions as the plant is to be
cultivated in. Advanced vocational training of plant breeders must be
continuously maintained, focusing on phenotype-based selection in as accurate
as possible experiments.
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.03 Developing
hardier, weather-resistant crops
University
of Wisconsin-Madison botanist searches for genes that would make a better root
USA
February 13, 2012
At first, the back room of plant physiologist Edgar
Spalding's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison might be mistaken for an
alien space ship set straight out of a Hollywood movie. It's a room bathed in
low-red light with camera lenses pointing at strange looking entities encased
in Petri dishes.
A closer inspection reveals the Petri dishes contain nothing
alien at all, but rather very down-to-earth corn seedlings. They're grown in
red light for optimal growth. They're just one of the plants featured in
thousands of time-lapse movies Spalding has created over the past five years.
The goal: figure out how to grow crops optimally suited to survive, and thrive.
"We can't hope to improve a plant unless we understand
it well," says Spalding. With support from the National Science Foundation
(NSF), Spalding is exploring just what makes plants tick. He says the key is to
study the function of each of the thousands of genes that make up the plants'
DNA. "One way to do that is to collect images of those plants that have
those genes altered in some way. And by measuring how those plants grow and develop
differently," says Spalding.
"We are able to infer the function of the gene that's
been manipulated," he continues. Researchers have created thousands of
genetically different corn plants. Spalding uses specially rigged cameras to
snap pictures every 30 seconds or so of the plants' roots as they grow.
He also uses a six-foot high robotic camera that's capable of
shooting dozens of roots at once. "We have made hundreds of thousands of
measurements from thousands of different plants. Let's say we had a ruler, we'd
probably be on number two... maybe," he says with a chuckle.
The time-lapse movies are loaded into a computer and an
algorithm measures cellular growth rates in the root with pinpoint accuracy, as
well as the angle and curvature of the root tip.
"By using this so-called computer vision or machine
vision to track [the plants] growth and development, we can get at the genes
that control root growth and those hopefully will have fundamental importance
to crop improvement. It lays the foundation for discoveries that will help
improve plants for human purposes."
Spalding is sowing the seeds for better crops of the future.
It's an idea he thinks is worth growing.
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent Jon Baime,
Science Nation Producer
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24463&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: National Science Foundation via
SeedQuest.com
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1.04 Rapid rise of
Asian middle class likely to revamp global food systems
U.S.
Grains Council previews a changing vision of world food demands in 2040
Washington, DC, USA
February 24, 2012
The sophisticated food demands of newly affluent consumers in
China and other developing nations are likely to cause major change in U.S.
farming and food production, Asian food policy and world trade, according to Food
2040, a new study of emerging food trends in Asia by the U.S. Grains
Council (USGC).
USGC President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas C. Dorr
presented a preview of Food 2040 today at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
annual Agricultural Outlook Forum.
“Growing affluence in China could change people’s diets and
the global food system. Consumers will expect more choice, quality, convenience
and safety in their food purchases,” Dorr said.
Food 2040 also reveals important implications for
agricultural trade policy between the United States and Asian nations. “We are
seeing China become more open to acceptance of new technology, such as
agricultural biotechnology, which can help meet the needs of the Asian middle
class in a sustainable manner through trade,” Dorr said.
U.S. attitudes about feeding the world are likely to change
too. “Many of the agribusinesses and agricultural organizations that comprise
the U.S. Grains Council are starting to review possibilities for meeting the
needs and capturing the economic value that ascendency of the Asian middle
class represents,” said USGC Chairman Dr. Wendell Shauman, an Illinois corn
farmer and member of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. “Working together with
trading partners around the world to understand emerging trends, we can use a
convergence of science, technology and policy reform to meet changing food
demands and capture the economic potential of new Asian consumers.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service (FAS) is assisting the Council with the launch of Food 2040 in Japan.
“Japan and the United States are longstanding trading partners, and we
understand each other well. Now, our two nations must learn more about China
and develop an understanding of how this emerging mega-market will influence
the global food system and our two nations’ participation in it,” said Geoffrey
Wiggin, USDA’s FAS Minister-Counselor in Tokyo.
Food 2040 outlines the following possibilities for
significant change in the global food system:
Global food systems restructured to suit China’s middle class
China is the world’s fastest growing economy, and because of the
sheer size of its population, Chinese demand will reshape the global food
industry over the next 20 years. Although India is expected to surpass China in
population numbers, China is likely to remain the dominant economy within the
timeframe of Food 2040.
China as world bioscience leader
Agricultural biotechnology may no longer be dominated by U.S.
technology. China is on a path to global bioscience leadership, driven by major
central government investments to meet its own food needs and a desire to be an
export leader.
New Asian system of food safety
Asia does not yet have a well-developed food safety and
inspection system, but this could change through use of 21st-century
nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and logistics systems.
Food as a service
By 2040, 70 percent of consumer food expenditures in Japan
will go toward foods prepared outside the home, and China is likely to adopt
Japan’s rapid acceptance of foods prepared outside the home.
Food 2040 envisions a proliferation of specialty markets and
product differentiation in Asia. This is not a new concept for the United
States, where the average U.S. supermarket carries almost 40,000 items, but
when four billion people around the world with very different cultures and
diets begin to enjoy that degree of consumer choice it will significantly
affect global food production, processing and distribution systems.
The complete Food 2040 study is available at www.grains.org.
The U.S. Grains Council is a private, nonprofit organization
dedicated to building export markets for barley, corn, sorghum and their
products. The Council is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 10
international offices and active market development programs in more than 50 countries.
Financial support from the Council’s private industry members, including state
checkoffs, agribusinesses, state entities and others, triggers federal matching
funds from the government and support from cooperating groups in other
countries, producing an annual market development program valued at more than
$28.3 million.
More news from: U.S. Grains
Council (USGC)
Website: http://htto://www.grains.org
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24770&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeeQuest.com
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1.05 Measuring the
global water footprint - Water used by the agricultural sector accounts for
nearly 92% of annual global freshwater consumption
Twente, The Netherlands
February 14, 2012
The average person consumes 4000 litres of water a day; this
is including all the water needed for food and other products. However,
consumption varies greatly from country to country.
Many countries rely heavily on water supplies from other
countries where water is in fact very scarce. These are the findings of a large
study into the global 'water footprint' published by researchers at the
University of Twente on 13 February in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The study looks at the use of rainwater, groundwater and
surface water, and contaminated water, respectively the green, blue and grey
water footprint (WF).
Water used by the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 92%
of annual global freshwater consumption, the largest proportion of which is the
green WF (74%).
In the period between 1996 and 2005, the average consumer
used an annual total of 1385 cubic meters.
However, on examining the statistics per country, startling
differences emerge: one American consumes more than double the average global
amount, while the inhabitants of China and India consume little more than 1000
cubic meters. The water footprint of the average consumer is determined mainly
by the consumption of cereals (27%), meat (22%) and dairy products (7%).
Water shortages
The "Water Footprint of humanity" study shows in
particular the 'virtual' import and export of water. A Dutch consumer buying
coffee or a T-shirt uses water from the country of production.
Some countries, like the U.S. and China, are both large
importers and exporters of water.
Research shows that the water-rich countries in northern
Europe, including the Netherlands, often rely on water imports from areas
struggling with severe water scarcity.
The researchers also expect to see a drastic change in consumption
in China as it relies increasingly on farmland in, for example, Africa. This
will lead to much greater water imports.
These are all clear indicators that water scarcity is not a
local problem but must be seen from a global perspective. The researchers are
therefore questioning whether the continued use of the limited blue WF for
export is a sustainable and efficient option.
The Water Footprint not only allows us to quantify and map
the consumption levels of individuals and countries, but also that of
businesses and particular products. In addition to measuring consumption
itself, it can also identify the origin of the water.
The international Water Footprint Network brings together
large organizations and companies from diverse origins with the common goal of
searching for solutions to water scarcity through quantifying and mapping water
consumption.
The research was carried out in the Institute of Governance
Studies at the University of Twente, headed by Professor Arjen Hoekstra who is
also the scientific director of the Water Footprint Network.
An earlier article published in PNAS discussed the water
footprint of crops grown for biomass. The article entitled ‘Water Footprint of
Humanity’ by Arjen Hoekstra and Mesfin Mekonnen appears in the current issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24619&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.06 Africa Rice
Center unveils research strategy to realize Africa’s tremendous rice potential
Cotonou, Benin
February 1, 2012
A product-oriented strategic plan presenting a clear vision
of success to help Africa achieve almost 90 percent self-sufficiency in rice by
year 2020 – with at least 10 countries projected to reach over 100 percent
self-sufficiency has just been unveiled by the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice).
Despite significant increases in rice production in several
African countries over the last few years, the continent imports nearly 40
percent of its rice requirements, which makes it highly exposed to international
market shocks.
“Our new 10-year strategic plan shows clearly that rice
sector development can become an engine for economic growth across the
continent,” said AfricaRice Director General Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck.
The plan takes into account the rapid changes taking place in
the global and African contexts and builds on the Center’s accumulated
knowledge, experience and partnership.
Its vision of success, which is linked with the Millennium
Development Goals, the vision and objectives of the Comprehensive Africa
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the system-level outcomes of the
CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers, includes the
following projections:
The strategy articulates seven research-for-development (R4D)
priority areas, identified through a systematic process involving extensive
consultations with stakeholders and based on household surveys and national
statistics in SSA:
The R4D strategy will be implemented mainly under the
umbrella of the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), a CGIAR Research
Program, in close collaboration with a broad range of partners, notably the
national programs in Africa through the recently revamped Africa-wide Rice Task
Forces.
In line with the major shift in focus of the Center’s
strategy from supply-driven research to more demand- or market-driven research,
research outputs will be integrated in ‘Rice Sector Development Hubs’ (‘good practice
areas’) to achieve development outcomes and impact. Rice Sector Development
Hubs involve large groups of farmers (1000–5000) and other value-chain actors,
such as rice millers, input dealers and rice marketers.
Complementing the many ongoing national, regional and
international efforts to boost Africa’s rice sector, the strategy is aligned
with the CAADP Pillar 4 and envisages stronger collaboration with regional
forums and economic communities in the continent.
The plan was endorsed by the Center’s Board of Trustees and
approved by its Council of Ministers in September 2011 in Banjul, The Gambia,
on recommendation by the National Experts Committee, comprising the Directors
General of AfricaRice’s 24 member countries.
“As an association of African member countries and an
international Center of the CGIAR Consortium, AfricaRice is ideally positioned
to coordinate the implementation of the new strategy in close collaboration
with its partners in order to boost Africa’s rice sector and to achieve the
‘rice revolution’ the continent so badly needs,” said Dr. Seck.
As a complement to this vision of African rice R4D, a
development plan is being prepared that demonstrates the changes and resources
that need to be put in place for the Center to fulfill its new strategic plan.
Boosting Africa’s Rice Sector: A
research for development strategy 2011–2020 (full version
in PDF)
http://www.africarice.org/warda/adrao/newsrel-strategic-plan-feb12.asp
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24153&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.07 Biotech rice
slated for release next year
Golden Rice will be released for the first time in the
Philippines next year.
A genetically-modified rice that contains enhanced levels of
beta carotene, a source of vitamin A, Golden Rice is advancing towards the
completion of its regulatory requirements in the Philippines and Bangladesh.
In the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) has successfully bred the Golden Rice traits into IR64 and other
varieties, including the variety PSBRc82 planted in the Philippines.
In 2010, IRRI completed one season of confined field tests of
IR64-GR and in 2011, the Philippine Rice Research Institute conducted confined
field test of PSBRc82 with the Golden Rice traits.
Current field testing and regulatory compliance experiments
related to safety for Golden Rice regulatory dossiers are planned for
submission in 2013 to Philippine authorities. Given that the Golden Rice trait
is present in inbred lines, the Golden Rice varieties can be saved for
replanting and will have a similar cost as current conventional varieties.
The expected commercial approval of biotech Golden Rice in
the Philippines in 2013 will be of significance to China, Vietnam and
Bangladesh which are evaluating the product with a view to deployment.
Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable
blindness in children. It also impairs immune system function and increases the
risk of death from certain childhood diseases.
Worldwide, approximately 670,000 children die every year and
another 350,000 go blind because they are vitamin A-deficient.
According to research published in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, daily consumption of a very modest amount of Golden Rice –
about a cup (or around 150 grams of uncooked weight) – could supply half of the
Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin A for an adult.
"Since a large proportion of vitamin A-deficient
children and their mothers reside in rice-consuming populations, particularly
in Asia, Golden Rice should substantially reduce the prevalence and severity of
vitamin A deficiency, and prevent at least hundreds of thousands of unnecessary
deaths and cases of blindness every year," according to Dr. Alfred Sommer,
professor and dean emeritus, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The inventors of Golden Rice, Professor Ingo Potrykus and Dr.
Peter Beyer, donated the technology in 2000 as a gift for poor farmers in developing
countries because of its enormous potential to benefit public health.
Golden Rice is one of the "encouraging" prospects
in biotechnology up to 2015, Dr. Clive James, head of the International Service
for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, said this week.
A biotech drug-tolerant corn will also be planted next year
for the first time in the US. Donated by Monsanto for free, it is expected to
boost yield by at least 25 percent. "That is huge," James said.
Another prospect involves soybean with herbicide tolerance
and insect resistance that is expected to be developed in Brazil.
Meanwhile, the approval of Bt eggplant is pending in India
while the Philippines is planning for an approval in 2012/13 with a view to
benefiting from the substantial reductions in pesticide applied to the very
pest-prone but popular vegetable.
For the first time, developing countries in 2011 planted half
of the of biotech crops worldwide, with in Philippines contributing nearly
600,000 hectares to the total, James said.
In 2011, there was a double-digit increase of 12 million
hectares planted to biotech crops, reaching 160 million hectares.
The increase is up from 148 million hectares in 2010, with an
annual growth rate of 8 percent. "A 94-fold increase from 1.7 million
hectares in 1996 to 160 million hectares in 2011, makes biotech crops the
fastest adopted crop technology in recent history," he said.
Global value of biotech seed alone was valued at around $13
billion in 2011, with the end product of commercial grain from biotech crops
valued at about $160 billion per year.
The reason for its popularity, James said in a press
briefing, is that biotech delivers substantial and significant benefits.
"Farmers are shrewd; once a technology delivers, they use it again."
"The most compelling testimony to biotech crops is that,
from 1996 to 2011, millions of farmers in 29 countries made more than 100
million independent decisions to plant and replant an accumulated hectarage of
1.25 billion hectares," he pointed out.
In 2011, a record 16.7 million farmers, up 1.3 million from
2010, grew biotech crops. Over nine of 10, or 15 million, were poor farmers in
poor countries.
"Farmers are the masters of risk aversion and in 2011, a
record seven million small farmers in China and another seven million in India,
elected to plant 14.5 million hectares of Bt cotton," James pointed out.
Developing countries grew about half of global biotech crops
in 2011 and are expected to exceed industrial country hectarage in 2012, he said.
Of the 60 countries that have granted approvals for biotech
crops, the United States tops the list followed by Japan, Canada, Mexico, South
Korea, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, the European Union and Taiwan.
Although the US continued to be the lead producer of biotech
crops globally with 69 million hectares, James said "the growth rate for
biotech crops was twice as fast, and twice as large, in developing
countries."
James said combining conventional technology with
biotechnology for food production is the best promise of all "in doubling
food production. This mix offers the best possibility of feeding the world of
tomorrow, contributing to a peaceful world." Paul M. Icamina
http://www.malaya.com.ph/02102012/agri3.html
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.08 The potential of
African rice
Many people will say: “Why this sudden emphasis on indigenous
crops when we are being supplied with all we need by our development partners
throughout the world?”
The price surge of staple foods during the 2007-08 food
crisis threatened the food security of millions of people. For a year now,
international food prices have been on the rise, fuelling renewed concerns
about the food and nutrition security of poor people across the developing
world.
The same set of factors that resulted in the 2007-08 food
crisis continue to be at play and have been pushing prices up. These factors include
rising oil prices, growing bio-fuel demand, strong economic growth in emerging
economies, a depreciated dollar, extreme climatic events, trade shocks from
export restrictions and panic purchases, in addition to the long-term neglect
of agriculture.
If we want to cushion ourselves against the effects of these
external influences, it becomes obvious that we have to look at a variety of
ways to protect ourselves against rampant food inflation.
One of the ways is, of course, another look at our indigenous
crops. Last week we discussed in fair detail the chances of rice making a
comeback as a viable alternative to the other grain crops like maize or millet,
for instance.
This week we will conclude with more facts on rice:
Uses
African rice can be used for the same purposes as Asian rice
and is thus extremely versatile. There
are, however, some specialised local uses. West Africa's Mandingo and Susu
people, for instance, use rice flour and honey to make a sweet-tasting bread,
so special that it is the centrepiece of ceremonial rituals.
Rice beer is popular throughout West Africa, and in Nigeria a
special beer (called betso or buza) is made from rice and honey.
In Cote d’Ivoire, there is a project to use African rice as a
component of baby foods.
Nutrition
Both rices are principally carbohydrate sources. However, in practice African rice's
nutritional quality is greater than that of Asian rice. This seems to be not
because of any inherent difference but because it is more difficult to polish.
Asian rice is invariably polished to a greater degree, and therefore more of
its nutrients (especially the important vitamin, thiamine) are lost.
Agronomy
As with Asian rice, African rice is grown in three major
ways: dryland (or upland), paddy, and "floating".
Dryland: About 40 percent
of rice production in Africa's 15 major rice-producing countries relies on rain
as the only source of water. Almost all of that area employs the Asian species,
but West Africa still grows a small but significant amount of dryland African
rice.
Indeed, in certain parts of Ghana and Togo it is the chief
staple. The dryland form thrives in
light soils wherever there is a rainy season of at least four months and
minimum rainfall of 760mm. It is often
interplanted with millets, maize, sorghum, beniseed, roselle, cowpea, cassava,
or cotton. Today's varieties mature in
90-170 days. Yields average 450-900kg per hectare, but can go as high as 1
680kg/ha.
Paddy: Only about
one-sixth of Africa's rice is produced using irrigation and 60 percent of that
is in just one country Madagascar. Swamp rice, however, is being increasingly
cultivated in former mangrove areas of the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and
Sierra Leone. Essentially all of it at
present is the Asian species. African rice can also be grown in the same
way. It can be seeded into damp soil or transplanted to fields under water.
These types mature in 140-220 days. The yield ranges from 1 000-3 000kg/ha.
Floating: In the River
Niger's inland delta in Mali, farmers grow various forms of floating African
rice. These plants lengthen prodigiously to keep their heads at the surface of
the floodwaters, where they flower and set seed. One type, songhai tomo, can
grow in water more than 3m deep.
Floating varieties can utilise deeply inundated basins where
nothing else can be raised. They are
often harvested from canoes and ripen in 180-250 days. Yields range from 1 000-3 000kg/ha, depending
on the amount of rainfall early in the growing season and on the eventual depth
of the subsequent floods.
Harvesting and handling
African rice is handled like its more famous Asian cousin,
but (as noted) its grains tend to split, and so greater care must be
taken. Also, it is more difficult to
hull. As is to be expected with such a
neglected crop, yields are variable and uncertain.
However, there are hints that they are not as low as commonly
claimed. For example, five years of
experiments at two sites in Cote d'Ivoire found that 16 populations of African
rice (selected for their productivity) compared favourably with three top
varieties of Asian rice.
Despite their natural lodging and spontaneous shattering, the
best African rice varieties (BG 141 and BG 187) gave average and remarkably
stable yields of 1 500-1 800kg/ha (depending on the site) as did their Asian
counterpart (Moroberekan), the traditional upland variety promoted in Cote
d'Ivoire.
Limitations:
In its present state, African rice certainly has limitations,
including:
Lodging: The plants tend to have weak stalks, and late-season
windstorms can sometimes topple them.
Shattering: Today's plants tend to drop the seed as it
matures.
Splitting: The seed tends to break in half if handled
roughly.
Colour: Although the grain itself is always white, most types
have red husks.
Processing: To remove the husk is laborious.
Weediness: In West Africa, extensive genetic interaction
occurs between African rice's wild and cultivated races. The mixed populations
that build up can be extremely complex. The weedy results infest the rice fields
and can be serious pests.
Diseases: Compared to Asian rice, it can be more susceptible
to numerous fungi as well as to the parasitic plant, striga, and to a brown
spot of unknown cause.
Although these limitations collectively add up to a fearsome combination,
they mainly reflect the neglect this crop suffers. All are now circumvented by people who grow
and use African rice; research can undoubtedly reduce their severity if not
overcome them entirely. Moreover, several of these limitations are also
characteristic of competing grains.
Next Steps:
African rice must be kept from dying out as a crop. It deserves research, development, greater
promotion, and support. At the very
least, it has genes of potential value to its near relation, the world's
second-biggest food crop.
A good start could be made by an organisation of volunteers ‑
both professionals and amateurs ‑ who join in co-operative spirit to
explore, protect, promote, and provide samples of this millennia-old
resource. They might also collect the
legends that come with the various types before they, too, die.
Information Exchange:
Researchers are now working on rice in Senegal, Mali, Ghana,
Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and many
other countries. An international centre, the West African Rice Development
Association, specialises in the crop.
Two French institutes, Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique
Outre-Mer and Institut de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales et des Cultures
Vivričres-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le
Développement, also have rice programmes in Africa.
All but one of these organisations work almost exclusively on
Asian rice, but the presence of their expertise means that there are good
opportunities to advance the development of its African relative. One way to stimulate interest within the
international scientific community is to collect all available research data
and publish a detailed monograph on African rice.
Food Processing:
As noted earlier, the availability of pre-cooked products
made from African rice might do much to halt its decline and, indeed, to turn
it around. Innovation, ingenuity, and
marketing skill could be employed to return this food to prominence. It might
well start out as a speciality product, selling at a premium to hotels for
tourists and to those people dedicated to African traditions.
Seed Supply:
In many areas, the amount of seed in circulation is so low as
to render the species non-viable. It is important to keep up a supply of
seed. Then, at least, the farmers who
want to keep growing African rice won't be excluded as is now apparently
happening.
Germplasm:
Samples of African rice have been gathered by various
organisations. This has been stored for purposes of conservation and possible
plant breeding. For all that, however, many interesting types undoubtedly
remain to be collected across the vastness of West Africa.
Agronomic Studies:
Since little hard data on this crop exists, it would be
useful for students of agronomy to take up the many challenges of "filling
in the map". Examples include:
• Selecting non-shattering genotypes or developing techniques
to overcome shattering.
• Testing strains for salt tolerance.
• Locating types for drought avoidance.
• Measuring cell sap osmotic adjustment.
• Testing the plant's storage capacity and dormancy
requirements.
• Reducing broken grains.
Certain strains of Asian rice also suffer this problem and
recent research has shown that providing adequate nitrogen fertiliser largely
overcomes it. Research in deep-water rice is vital and long overdue. The
resources available — climate, water, and growing area — along with proper
research could perhaps triple production of deep-water rice in the Niger's
inland delta. This is one area of research that can do something toward
reducing hunger in one of the regions of Africa most in need of help.
Genetic Improvement:
Although the current African types shed grain more readily
than the Asian ones, some improvements have been bred into dryland
varieties. Additional research
emphasising seed shattering could make a big difference.
Because the gene for non-shattering is recessive, the
selection of non-shattering types should be rapid, and true breeding should be
immediate. Other improvements might include selection for resistance to
disease. This resistance exists in the
various genotypes, and the major problem is not to lose these local types as
Asian rice spreads even further.
For the uplands, any form of rice must resist blast and
sheath blight. All types must also
resist rice yellow-mottle virus; some local cultivars already do. For areas dependent on seasonal flooding,
varieties must resist lodging and respond to fertiliser; the transplant types
must tolerate widely varying periods of growth in the nursery (while farmers
await the onset of the unpredictable natural flooding).
Presently, researchers are "mapping" the
chromosomes of both African and Asian rice, identifying the portions that
control various features of the plant. This powerful modern technique will
jump-start the genetic improvement of African rice. Perhaps it could also
facilitate the transfer of useful genetic material between the two.
Sources:
UN, FAO, NAS, World Bank, Forum for Food Security in Southern
Africa, Wikipedia, Rural 21, American Agricultural Economics Association,
Agricultural Union, Agronomic Board, own.
Source: SeedQuest.com
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+++++++++++++++++
1.09 Low altitude,
high-flying beans to benefit Africa
Ithaca, New York, USA
February 13, 2012
Slender green beans air-freighted from Kenya to markets in
Western Europe are a profitable crop for high-altitude farms across sub-Saharan
Africa. Breeding efforts at Cornell could help their lower altitude neighbors
also harness the crop's economic potential.
Green beans are Kenya's most important horticultural export,
earning farmers five to 10 times more than the dry beans they traditionally
grow. However, there are two significant barriers to the expansion of this
lucrative market: the varieties available are sensitive to high temperatures
during flowering and susceptible to the common bean rust fungus.
"Green beans are typically grown at altitudes higher
than about 5,000 feet, which can have a temperate climate despite their
proximity to the equator, but competition and land prices at these higher
altitudes has increased," said Phillip Griffiths, vegetable breeder and
associate professor of horticulture.
"To consider sub-Saharan Africa a region only for
subsistence farming is to overlook opportunities for small-holder growers to
produce crops with much higher values," he added.
"The ability to expand green bean production into
marginal areas at lower altitudes would provide new opportunities for farmers,
but it requires the development of new varieties that combine heat tolerance
with multiple rust resistance genes."
Because these two traits are also important for U.S. growers,
Griffiths and his colleagues Tim Porch, Ph.D. '01, and Talo Pastor-Corrales of
the USDA Agricultural Research Service, already had sources for both in hand,
ready for breeding into the specific types of slender green beans needed for
eastern Africa.
The funding for the breeding came from several sources,
including the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Toward
Sustainability Foundation, Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
and the Cornell Assistantship for Horticulture in Africa (CAHA), a recently
established doctoral scholarship established by an anonymous donor.
Kenyan Charles Wasonga, Ph.D. '10, the first recipient of the
CAHA fellowship, took the field trials of the new green beans through two years
at six sites, including partner institutes in Kenya and Tanzania. He identified
promising types with comparable yields at lower altitudes (about 3,600 feet)
and a combination of rust resistance genes that protected against all known
rust strains in the region.
Breeding and evaluating beans for Africa from upstate New
York turned out to be an effective approach. "For these particular traits,
the performance of the plants in high-temperature greenhouses in New York and
selection for rust resistance in the USDA's Maryland greenhouses correlated
very well with field performance in Puerto Rico, Kenya and Tanzania," said
Griffiths.
There may be a second opportunity to leverage the research
and resources at Cornell for the benefit of sub-Saharan Africa.
Sukuma wiki is the most important leafy green vegetable in
the Lake Victoria region. It is a dietary staple that is produced for local
consumption rather than for export. It also happens to be a variant of cabbage
with some of the same production challenges facing growers in New York,
including black rot. An endemic disease in eastern Africa, black rot typically
renders 50 percent to 80 percent of the leaves unmarketable.
"By moving resistance from Cornell's cabbage breeding
program into sukuma wiki, marketable yields could be significantly
increased," said Griffiths. "It is a project requiring a sponsor
focused on people, not profits."
By Amanda Garris, freelance writer in Geneva, N.Y.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24487&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.10 Smallholder
farmers to benefit from second phase of tropical legumes project
Hyderabad, India
23 February 2012
A second phase of an agricultural research for development
project aimed at improving the livelihoods of poor farmers in sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia has been recently agreed on.
This is one of seven grants which Bill Gates announced today
in Rome at the 35th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This announcement, nearly $200 million in
grants, brings the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s total commitment to
agriculture to more than $2 billion since the program began in 2006.
The three-year, US$21 million project known as Tropical
Legumes II (TL II), is part of a ten year plan which seeks to improve the
livelihoods of 60 million smallholder farmers and their families in 15
countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It is also expected to bring
about US$ 1.3 billion in added value to the productivity of the target crops,
namely: chickpea, common bean, cowpea, groundnut, pigeonpea and soybean.
Grain legumes contribute to the livelihoods, health and
nutrition of more than 700 million poor people in the dryland tropics of
sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The project will help smallholder farmers overcome
productivity constraints such as drought, pest and disease problems, and
unavailability and lack of access to quality seed of improved legume varieties.
With this additional support from the foundation, the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and
sister Centers, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), together with several
national program, private sector, and NGO partners work closely with
smallholder farmers to ensure that seed of improved varieties from the project
reach farmers’ fields.
“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,”
said Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation. “Investments in agriculture are
the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they have made life better for
billions of people. The international agriculture community needs to be more
innovative, coordinated and focused to really be effective in helping poor
farmers grow more. If we can do that, we can dramatically reduce suffering, and
build self-sufficiency.”
The first phase of the project has already made valuable
impact. More than 60 new varieties of tropical legumes have been released in
several countries and 93,000 metric tons of seeds of improved legume varieties
produced have reached 240,000 smallholder farmers, who together with extension
workers, have been trained on improved farming practices.
In particular, the role of women in producing food and making
decisions about family nutrition needs has been recognized. Likewise, the
project has strengthened the capacities of national agricultural research
systems in partner countries.
The next phase of the project will focus on gender specific
aspects of tropical legume production, marketing and consumption. Moreover,
particular emphasis will be given to location-specific monitoring and
evaluation, impact assessment, data management and increased seed production
and delivery. The project will also emphasize sustained capacity strengthening
of national agricultural research systems in the two regions.
ICRISAT Director General, William Dar highlighted that the
second phase, spread over three years, is a very important step to share
economic and nutritional benefits to poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia.
“By the end of 2014, we will have reached an additional 10
million smallholder farmer households. This is a very significant achievement,
and we appreciate the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for
our work and that of our partners,” Dar stressed.
ICRISAT, CIAT and IITA belong to the Consortium of Centers
supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24726&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.11 Frost nurseries
identify tolerant grain varieties
Australia
February 22, 2012
Breeding new wheat and barley varieties with improved frost
tolerance is the ultimate solution to minimise economic losses due to frost.
Pre-breeding research funded by the Grains Research and
Development Corporation (GRDC) has identified improved genetic sources of frost
tolerance, and these genes are already part of barley breeding programs and
under evaluation for wheat.
Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) research officer
Ben Biddulph will present the latest results on projects screening for varietal
differences in frost tolerance at the 2012 Agribusiness Crop Updates in Perth
in February.
The Updates are supported by DAFWA and the GRDC, and convened
by the Grains Industry Association of WA (GIWA).
Dr Biddulph says it’s tough to measure damage from frost
events in the field. “Because it’s impossible to know in advance where a frost
will occur, the equipment is not always set up to measure temperatures. Often,
damage is not immediately visible, and there are many other factors which may
influence ultimate yield. “This has led to an assumption for many years that
there was little variation amongst wheat and barley varieties in terms of frost
tolerance,” Dr Biddulph said.
“However, successive GRDC funded projects have enabled
dedicated frost screening nurseries to be developed in South Australia, Western
Australia and now New South Wales to measure frost tolerance with greater
accuracy and repeatability.
“The research has shown that under severe frost (<-2° for
wheat and <-6°C for barley) all varieties are equally susceptible. “However
genetic variation does exist for frost under milder conditions, with Keel ,
Sloop and Schooner having lower levels of damage than other barley varieties,
for instance.
“Tolerance has also been identified in Japanese barley
varieties, although this is still comparable to Keel. “The tolerance genes from
the Japanese material have been introduced into Australian barley breeding
programs and in adapted backgrounds this tolerance has been validated in the
field in WA and SA,” Dr Biddulph said.
The frost nurseries are set up with multiple times of sowing
at each site to increase the probability that the test lines are at the
flowering stage when a natural frost event occurs.
On-site weather stations monitor the temperature at the crop
canopy. Following a frost event, heads at flowering are tagged and then
assessed later for frost induced sterility at mid grain fill.
This approach minimises confounding effects due to maturity
and enables repeatable results over successive seasons and sites.
The research has found that reductions in the number of
grains in the head start to occur in wheat and barley when temperatures are
around 0 and -2°C respectively with no visible signs of frost damage.
Temperatures below -2°C in wheat and -6°C in barley lead to substantial
reductions in the number of grains in the head.
“Future work will continue refining screening methods,
searching for sources of tolerance, work towards developing frost sensitivity
ratings of new varieties and validate the impact of frost induced sterility
from mild frosts on yield in wheat and barley,” Dr Biddulph said.
“This includes a new project working towards developing frost
susceptibility ratings for new varieties to assist growers in managing frost
risk.”
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24678&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.12 Small farmers in
The Sudan will receive improved seed varieties
Rome, Italy
24 February 2012
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
will provide a US$10.07 million grant to the Republic of the Sudan to help
improve food security and incomes of smallholder producers, particularly young people
and women.
The grant agreement for the Seed Development Project was
signed today by Gafar Ahmed Abdalla Omer, State Minister for Agriculture and
Irrigation of the Republic of the Sudan, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of
IFAD.
Agriculture in the Sudan remains the most important sector,
employing 80 per cent of the active population and contributing 39 per cent to
the country’s gross domestic product.
Most farms in the country are rainfed and susceptible to
drought. Ninety per cent of the land area is arid and the development of
drought-resilient production systems and livelihoods is a pressing need. The
new project will help smallholder producers to increase crop productivity
through the use of certified seeds and improved soil and water conservation
techniques.
It will improve food security, incomes and resilience to
environmental shocks among the smallholder producers in the rainfed areas. In
addition, the project will promote the public-private partnership for the
supply and production of seeds.
Cofinanced by the government of the Sudan, the project will
be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in Rahad and Sheikan in North
Kordofan, and Abbassiya and Abu Gubeiha in South Kordofan. More than 108,000
smallholder farmers, including young people and women are expected to benefit
along with 1,280 seed growers.
Young dynamic farmers will be given priority. The new grant
support is aligned with IFAD’s strategy to work with fragile and post-conflict
countries to build resilience.
Source: SeeQuest.com
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1.13 The Symptom and
Genetic Diversity of Cassava Brown Streak Viruses Infecting Cassava in East
Africa
I. U. Mohammed, M. M. Abarshi, B. Muli, R. J. Hillocks, and M. N. Maruthi
Advances in Virology Volume 2012 (2012)
Article ID 795697, 10 pages doi:10.1155/2012/795697
Academic Editor: Alain Kohl
Copyright © 2012 I. U. Mohammed et al. This is an open access
article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The genetic and symptom diversity of six virus isolates
causing cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in the endemic (Kenya, Mozambique,
and Tanzania) and the recently affected epidemic areas (Uganda) of eastern
Africa was studied. Five cassava varieties; Albert, Colombian, Ebwanateraka,
TMS60444 (all susceptible) and Kiroba (tolerant) were graft inoculated with
each isolate. Based on a number of parameters including the severity of leaf
and root symptoms, and the extent of virus transmission by grafting, the
viruses were classified as either severe or relatively mild. These results were
further confirmed by the mechanical inoculation of 13 herbaceous hosts in which
the virulent isolates caused plant death in Nicotiana clevelandii and N.
benthamiana whereas the milder isolates did not. Phylogenetic analysis of
complete coat protein gene sequences of these isolates together with sequences
obtained from 14 other field-collected samples from Kenya and Zanzibar, and
reference sequences grouped them into two distinct clusters, representing the
two species of cassava brown streak viruses. Put together, these results did
not suggest the association of a hypervirulent form of the virus with the
current CBSD epidemic in Uganda. Identification of the severe and milder isolates,
however, has further implications for disease management and quarantine
requirements.
++++++++++++
Source: SeeQuest.com
1.14 Disease-resistant cassava puts
down roots in Tanzania
31 January 2012
In mid-November 2011, the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) released a press statement expressing alarm at the spread of
the cassava brown streak disease in the East Africa region, saying it is on the
verge of becoming an epidemic with grave implications for food security and
livelihoods. The agency called for increased funding, research and surveillance
to contain the disease.
Just weeks later, GCP is delighted to announce the official
release of four cassava varieties, bred through marker-assisted selection
(MAS), and extensive collaboration combining the knowhow of multi-institutional
agricultural experts worldwide and funding from various agencies.
These varieties of Manihot esculenta have manifold benefits:
dual resistance to cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak
disease (CBSD), and productivity potential of up to double the yield of
existing commercial varieties.
Of the four varieties released, two are for the coastal belt
while the other two are for the semi-arid agroecologies of Central Tanzania.
The variety release is a triumph of hard work over adversity
as cassava is a scientifically complex crop to research and breed, and this
tremendous collaborative effort brought together research institutes including
the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), Naliendele, Tanzania; the Nigerian
National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI); the International Center for
Tropical Agriculture (CIAT); the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA); the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC) in USA;
and the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (GCP). Funding was also a
collaborative effort, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, GCP,
Tanzania's Ministry of Agriculture and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA).
The potential reach and impact of this project can be
appreciated in the words of the project leader, Dr Geoffrey Mkamilo of ARI,
"I am now confident that we can make a green revolution in Africa
happen!"
Members of the GCP-supported Cassava Breeders Community of
Practice have heartily congratulated the Tanzania team for this release,
expressing hope that this effort will soon be felt in the lives of "...the
poor cassava farmers suffering from the ravages of CBSD," to quote Dr
Heneriko Kulembeka of ARI who was part of the project technical team.
http://www.generationcp.org/news_gcp/?i=2092
Source: Generation Challenge Programme via SeedQuest
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1.15 Global food
crisis to spur sturdy growth of genetically engineered crops, according to new
report by Global Industry Analysts
San Jose, California, USA
February 7, 2012
Genetic engineering (GE) deals with the manipulation of genes
for human welfare. The versatility of genetic engineering has extended its
benefits to agriculture, medicine, diagnosis and several other industries.
These advancements helped in dealing with several socio-economic issues and
more importantly the blistering issue of global food crisis.
As global population grows and climate change impacts crop
yields, GM crop varieties offer a healthy and safe alternative to traditionally
produced crops in order to meet the future food demand.
Modern breeding techniques are an effective amalgamation of
traditional breeding protocols and advanced biotechnology methods including the
use of genetic engineering to develop plants that have certain exceptional
properties. For instance, market assisted selection uses genetic markers to
identify traits in plants such as drought tolerance and improved yield, without
the need to actually transfer genes from donor to target organisms.
Genetically modified (GM) foods are being commonly used, with
a significant share of staples such as soybeans and corn being produced in
genetically modified varieties.
The growing consumer awareness about the benefits of GM crops
is a primary driver for increasing consumer interest in the biotech foods. Ever
since the commercialization of GM crops in 1996, agricultural biotechnology has
spread very rapidly and currently, 29 countries cultivating GM crops are
reaping its benefits.
While markets such as the US, Brazil and Argentina have
already accepted GM seed products, Europe, after opposing biotech crops for
years, is now beginning to realize the benefits of GM foods. China and India,
the countries with ever-growing population and yet self-sufficient food
production, increasingly favor GM crops. Korea and Japan, both of which largely
depend on imports of food in order to meet their food requirements, exhibit a
moderate attitude towards GM foods.
The US is the largest producer of GM crops covering an area
of 69 million hectares in 2011 and accounts for almost three-fourth of total GE
crops production across the world. Canada, Argentina, and Brazil are home to
genetically modified soy, corn and canola, while China produces insect
resistant rice.
Despite the fact that biotech crops offers innumerous
benefits, the industry has been facing tough challenges with regard to ethical
and moral issues, herbicide and pesticide resistance, species specific action
and others. For instance, the European Union still remains indecisive over the
acceptance of biotech crops in context of the potential threats associated with
it.
Several countries in the European Union banned the
cultivation of genetically modified potato and maize attributable to concerns
over antibiotic resistance. Globally, several protocols have been laid to
ensure safe transfer, use and handling of biotechnologically modified living
organisms.
Adoption of cost-effective measures to prevent environmental
degradation is a prime agenda of the protocols. Important precautions included
regulations on international trade of genetically altered crops to curb the
spread of associated diseases, pests and ensure fair trade practices.
The research report titled “Genetic Engineering: A Global
Outlook” announced by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a collection of
statistical anecdotes, market briefs, and concise summaries of research
findings. The report offers an aerial view of the industry, highlights latest
developments, and discusses demand drivers, issues and concerns, and regulatory
environment.
Discussion on the industry’s most noteworthy regional market,
the US, is amply detailed with unbiased research commentary to provide the reader
a rudimentary understanding of the prevailing market climate.
Market discussions in the report are punctuated with
fact-rich market data tables. Regional markets elaborated upon include United
States, Canada, India, China, and South Africa among others. Also included is
an indexed, easy-to-refer, fact-finder directory listing the addresses, and
contact details of companies worldwide.
For more details about this comprehensive industry report,
please visit:
¶http://www.strategyr.com/Genetic_Engineering_Industry_Market_Report.asp
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24307&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.16 China Won’t Have Genetically
Modified Crops This Year, Chen Says
February 02, 2012
By Bloomberg News
China hasn’t approved large-scale commercialization of
genetically modified grain seeds and won’t produce GM crops this year, Chen
Xiwen, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group under the State
Council, said at a press conference in Beijing today.
The nation has no corn shortage and imported the grain last
year to balance supply and demand made difficult by geographical issues, Chen
said.
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.17 China's draft
grain law limits genetic engineering
Beijing, China
February 22, 2012
The freedom of grain producers in China to genetically
engineer produce will be limited under a draft law released on Tuesday by the
Legislative Affairs office of the State Council.
Research, selling, importing and exporting of transgenic
grain seeds should comply with state regulations. Any institution or individual
must not apply transgenic technologies to principle grain cultivars without
approval, said the draft of a law referring to transgenics, the practice of
inserting into an organism DNA that is not normally present.
The draft, the first of its kind in China, aims to ensure
grain supply and security by stabilizing grain output and intensifying
supervision over the market.
In recent years, safety worries concerning transgenic food
have stirred wide public debate in China.
It will be impossible for transgenic corn and rice to appear
on the market if their commercial production is not approved by relevant departments,
Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, said at
a press briefing earlier this month.
The draft also includes stipulations concerning the market
deployment of grain resources and the safeguarding of grain production,
circulation and quality.
China plans to reach a grain production capacity of more than
540 million tonnes within five years, 8 percent more than the annual target of
the 2006-2010 period, according to its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for
National Economic and Social Development.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24728&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.18 WIPO Members
Work Through Differences In Genetic Resources Document
19 February 2012
By Catherine Saez, Intellectual
Property Watch
The development of an international instrument on the
protection of genetic resources continues to engage government delegates at the
World Intellectual Property Organization.
Sources have called the process constructive and meeting
Chair Wayne McCook, the permanent representative of Jamaica, said delegations
were very engaged in the exercise. But a sharp divide remains on several
subjects.
The WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources,
Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) is meeting from 14-22 February, with
this week’s sole focus on genetic resources and a mandate to find agreement on
a single negotiating text.
On 16 February, the three facilitators tasked with the
mandate to compile all previous propositions on the table produced a
consolidated document. A second version of the document was produced later that
day, putting the text in narrative format instead of in tables (IPW, WIPO, 17
February 2012).
The second 16 February text is available here [pdf].
The facilitators are Ian Goss of Australia, Raina Chandni of
India, and Tom Suchanandan of South Africa.
It is on that second version of the document that delegates
have been working, each delegation having the opportunity to provide comments
on the document. Among the most contentious issues was the mention in the
document of “intellectual property rights” instead of “patents”, with developed
countries mostly favoring the use of patents in the text.
A developed country source told Intellectual Property
Watch that leaving the mention of IP rights would include all kind of
rights, such as trademarks, geographical indications, plant variety protection,
and copyrights, and it seemed more logical to them in the context of genetic
resources to address only patent issues.
Another issue on the scope of the prospective legal
instrument was the inclusion or the deletion of the mention of derivatives in
the consolidated document. The discussions echoed the negotiations that took
place in October 2010 and led to the adoption of The Nagoya Protocol on Access
to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from
their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
In general, developed countries are in favor of the deletion
of the term and developing countries would prefer its retention, broadening the
scope of the future instrument.
In Nagoya, the definition of derivatives and the scope of the
instrument were sore spots in the negotiations. Article 2 of the Protocol
includes this definition: Derivative “means a naturally occurring biochemical
compound resulting from the genetic expression or metabolism of biological or
genetic resources, even if it does not contain functional units of heredity.”
It seems, according to a source, that proponents of taking
the mention of derivatives out of the text are seeking to avoid an overlapping
of the future WIPO instrument with the Nagoya Protocol.
Mandatory Disclosure in Patent Applications
A clear partition between developing and developed countries
is the mandatory disclosure of origin in patent applications. On 18 February,
as delegates discussed the scope of protection, and in particular the third
option of this chapter in the consolidated document on the mandatory
disclosure, the African Group and the Development Agenda Group (DAG) asked that
this option be retained.
Some developed countries, such as Japan, and the United
States, said that there was a lack of impact analysis and studies concerning
the effects of such disclosure, in particular its potential adverse effects on
innovation.
South Africa on behalf of the African Group asked that the
mandate of the committee be followed, which asks to expedite the work on
text-based negotiations.
“The calling for further studies,” the delegate said, “will
not expedite” the process, “it is meant to delay the process.” Such studies
take a long time, he said, adding that there are countries where mandatory
disclosure is in effect, such as Brazil and India. In South Africa, there has
been a disclosure obligation since 2005, which did not lead to any more “costs
or complications,” he said. The DAG followed this position.
Namibia said that the issue of mandatory disclosure in patent
applications was “a credibility case for WIPO” as the “issue cannot be swept
under the carpet” much longer.
Chair McCook presented his schedule for Monday (20 February),
when the committee meets again. The three facilitators will go back to the
consolidated document and now have a mandate to do some “administrative
cleaning” of the document, reorganising it to improve the flow of text and
structure it thematically, trying to avoid direct duplications and overlaps,
but with extreme care so to avoid any removal or additions of points to the
text, in the sake of full inclusiveness and transparency.
Once their task is done, the facilitators will meet with the
proponents of text-based negotiations on Monday morning, without adding or
removing anything from the text presented in plenary, and the revised
consolidated document should be available to delegates by Monday over lunch,
McCook said. The plenary will then reconvene at 3:00 to immediately break to
leave time for delegates to consult about this revised text. The plenary should
reconvene at 4:30 to start further deliberations with a view of consolidation
of this document into a single text in keeping with the Committee’s mandate, he
said.
On 18 February, many delegates came wearing at least some
accessory reminiscent of their country as it was “national dress day” at the
committee. The exotic outfits, large-brimmed hats, shiny fabrics, elaborated
head gears and multi-coloured, artistically woven wraps belied the studious
mood as delegates tediously went over the compilation text gathering all
previous proposals.
Catherine Saez may be reached at csaez@ip-watch.ch.
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.19 Wild cereals
threatened by global warming
Haifa, Israel
February 23, 2012
Wheats and barleys are the staple
food for humans and animal feed around the world, and their wild progenitors
have undergone genetic changes over the last 28 years that imply a risk for
crop improvement and food production, reveals a new study.
“The earliness in flowering time
and genetic changes that are taking place in these important progenitor wild
cereals, most likely due to global warming, can negatively affect the wild
progenitors. These changes could thereby indirectly deteriorate food production,”
says Prof. Eviatar Nevo of the Insitute of Evolution at the University of Haifa
who directed the study.
Wheats are the universal cereals of
Old World agriculture.The progenitors, wild emmer wheat and wild barley, which
originated in the Near East, provide the genetic basis for ameliorating wheat
and barley cultivars, which as earlier studies have shown, are themselves under
constant genetic erosion and increasing susceptibility to environmental
stresses.
The new study set out to examine
whether the wild cereal progenitors are undergoing evolutionary changes due to
climate change that would impact future food production. It was was headed by
Prof. Nevo, along with Dr. Yong-Bi Fu from Canada, and Drs.Beiles, Pavlicek and
Tavasi, and Miss Khalifa from the University of Haifa’s Institute of Evolution,
and recently published in the prestigious scientific journal “Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS).
Ten wild emmer wheat and ten wild
barley populations from different climates and habitats across Israel were
sampled first in 1980 and then again at the same sites in 2008 and grown in a
common greenhouse. The results indicated that over the relatively short period
of 28 years, all 20 wild cereal populations examined, without exception, showed
a dramatic change in flowering time. All populations sampled in 2008 flowered,
on average, about 10 days earlier than those sampled in 1980. “These cereal
progenitors are adapting their time of flowering to escape the heat,” Prof.
Nevo explains.
The study also found that the
genetic diversity of the 2008 sample is for the most part significantly
reduced, but some new drought-adapted variants appeared that could be used for
crop improvement. “The ongoing global warming in Israel is the only likely factor
that could have caused earliness in flowering and genetic turnover across the
range of wild cereals in Israel. This indicates that they are under
environmental stress which may erode their future survival,” says Prof. Nevo.
“Multiple effects of the global
warming phenomenon have been observed in many species of plants and animals,”
he adds. “But this study is pioneering in showing its infuence on flowering and
genetic changes in wild cereals. These changes threaten the best genetic
resource for crop improvement and thereby may damage food production.”
A number of species did show
positive adaptive changes resulting from global warming, such as earliness in
flowering or migration into cooler regions. “But overall,” says Prof. Nevo,
“the genetic resources of these critical wild cereals are undergoing rapid
erosion - and cannot be dismissed as a concern for future generations.
Wild emmer wheat is the world’s
most important genetic resource for wheat improvement, and it is up to us to
preserve it. We are utilizing our gene bank at the Institute of Evolution for
transforming genes of interest to the crop. However, a much more extensive
effort needs to be made to keep the natural populations thriving, by preventing
urbanization and global warming from eliminating them”.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24760&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
++++++++++
1.20 The
International Treaty calls for submissions on Farmers’ Rights
The Governing Body has invited Contracting Parties and other
relevant organizations to submit views, experiences and best practices on the
implementation of Farmers’ Rights as set out in Article 9 of the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
It has also invited proposals for ways and means through
which these views, experiences and best practices can be exchanged between and
among Contracting Parties and relevant stakeholder groups.
To facilitate the submissions, the Secretariat has issued a
notification alerting National Focal Points and international relevant
organizations.
The initial deadline is 16 March 2012. The workshops which
the Governing Body requested at its last session in Bali will be held, due to
shortage of funds, on the margins of relevant interregional meetings, with
regional breakout sessions
http://www.planttreaty.org/sites/default/files/NCP_GB5_ART9_SUB_en.pdf
Contributed by Francisco Lopez
Information and Communication Officer
ITPGRFA
Source: SeeQuest.com
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1.21 Scientists in Russia grow plants
from fruit stored away in permafrost by squirrels over 30,000 years ago
The fruit was found in the banks of the Kolyma River in
Siberia, a top site for people looking for mammoth bones.
The Institute of Cell Biophysics team raised plants of Silene
stenophylla of the campion family from the fruit.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(PNAS), they note this is the oldest plant material by far to have been brought
to life. Prior to this, the record lay
with date palm seeds stored for 2,000 years at Masada in Israel.
The leader of the research team, Professor David Gilichinsky,
died a few days before his paper was published. In it, he and his colleagues
describe finding about 70 squirrel hibernation burrows in the river bank.
"All burrows were found at depths of 20-40m from the
present day surface and located in layers containing bones of large mammals
such as mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison, horse, deer, and other
representatives of fauna from the age of mammoths, as well as plant
remains," they write.
"The presence of vertical ice wedges demonstrates that
it has been continuously frozen and never thawed. "Accordingly, the fossil
burrows and their content have never been defrosted since burial and
simultaneous freezing."
The squirrels appear to have stashed their store in the
coldest part of their burrow, which subsequently froze permanently, presumably
due to a cooling of the local climate.
Sugar sweet
Back in the lab, near Moscow, the team's attempts to
germinate mature seeds failed. The
fruits grew into healthy plants, though subtly different from modern examples
of the species
Eventually they found success using elements of the fruit
itself, which they refer to as "placental tissue" and propagated in
laboratory dishes. "This is by far
the most extraordinary example of extreme longevity for material from higher
plants," commented Robin Probert, head of conservation and technology at
the UK's Millennium Seed Bank.
"I'm not surprised that it's been possible to find
living material as old as this, and this is exactly where we would go looking,
in permafrost and these fossilised rodent burrows with their caches of seeds.
"But it is a surprise to me that they're finding viable material from this
placental tissue rather than mature seeds."
The Russian team's theory is that the tissue cells are full
of sucrose that would have formed food for the growing plants.
Sugars are preservatives; they are even being researched as a
way of keeping vaccines fresh in the hot climates of Africa without the need
for refrigeration. So it may be that the
sugar-rich cells were able to survive in a potentially viable state for so
long.
Silene stenophylla still grows on the Siberian
tundra; and when the researchers compared modern-day plants against their
resurrected cousins, they found subtle differences in the shape of petals and
the sex of flowers, for reasons that are not evident.
The scientists suggest in their PNAS paper that research of
this kind can help in studies of evolution, and shed light on environmental
conditions in past millennia.
But perhaps the most enticing suggestion is that it might be
possible, using the same techniques, to raise plants that are now extinct -
provided that Arctic ground squirrels or some other creatures secreted away the
fruit and seeds.
"We'd predict that seeds would stay viable for
thousands, possibly tens of thousands of years - I don't think anyone would
expect hundreds of thousands of years," said Dr Probert.
"[So] there is an opportunity to resurrect flowering
plants that have gone extinct in the same way that we talk about bringing
mammoths back to life, the Jurassic Park kind of idea."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17100574
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.22 Corn gene helps
fight multiple leaf diseases
Washington, DC, USA
February 1, 2012
A specific gene in corn seems to
confer resistance to three important leaf diseases, according to U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their university colleagues.
This discovery, published in 2011 in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, could potentially help plant breeders build
disease-resistance traits into future corn plants.
The research team included Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) plant geneticists Peter Balint-Kurti, Jim Holland and Matt Krakowsky in
the agency's Plant Science Research Unit in Raleigh, N.C., and scientists with
the University of Delaware, Cornell University, and Kansas State University.
ARS is the USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.
Three diseases-southern corn leaf blight, northern leaf
blight, and gray leaf spot-all cause lesions on corn leaves worldwide. In the
U.S. Midwest Corn Belt, northern leaf blight and gray leaf spot are significant
problems.
The researchers examined 300 corn varieties from around the
world to ensure a genetically diverse representation. No corn variety has
complete resistance to any of these diseases, but varieties differ in the
severity of symptoms they exhibit.
The researchers set out to look for maize lines with
resistance to the three diseases to determine which genes underlie disease
resistance, according to Balint-Kurti. When they tested the lines for
resistance, they found that if a corn variety was resistant to one disease,
chances were favorable that it was also resistant to the other two.
The researchers applied a statistical analysis technique
called "association mapping" to identify regions of the genome
associated with variation in disease resistance. According to Balint-Kurti, the
scientists knew there was a strong correlation between resistance of one disease
and the other two. They postulated that some resistance genes conferred
resistance to two or more different diseases, and they identified a gene that
seemed to confer multiple disease resistance.
This gene, a GST (glutathione S-transferase), is part of a
family of genes known for their roles in regulating oxidative stress and in
detoxification. Both of these functions are consistent with a role in disease
resistance.
Read more about this research in the
February 2012 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.23 Basic Research
to Enable Agricultural Development (BREAD) grant funds research to tackle plant
viral diseases
Ithaca, New York, USA
February 15, 2012
A team of international researchers is working to tackle the
global problem of plant viral diseases that are spread by insects, thanks to
close to $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation.
The team, headed by Stewart Gray, a U.S. Department of
Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) research plant pathologist
and Cornell professor of plant pathology, and Michelle Cilia, a USDA-ARS
research molecular biologist, received a three-year, Basic Research to Enable
Agricultural Development (BREAD) grant of $868,896 to develop protein
biomarkers that distinguish insect populations capable of transmitting disease
from those that do not.
"One problem with managing viral diseases is there is no
cure," said Gray, of the plant diseases that cause an estimated $60
billion in damages worldwide each year. "To control them, you have to
develop a resistant crop, or you have to prevent the vector from feeding on and
infecting the plant."
Another challenge is that within insect species, such as
aphids and whiteflies, that spread these viruses, researchers find populations
vary widely in how efficiently they spread a virus. That's because mutations or
changes in genes alter specific proteins that viruses use to move through an
insect. Slight changes in a gene can drastically alter the way a protein
functions, Cilia said.
The researchers have identified protein biomarkers that allow
them to determine whether an aphid will efficiently transmit disease or not.
"Finding these biomarkers for virus transmission is an
exciting major breakthrough," said Cilia. In medicine, for example,
biomarkers for breast cancer and prostate cancer are rare success stories,
Cilia added. The researchers are now trying to validate the aphid biomarkers in
a range of vector insects.
If successful, the researchers hope to develop a test kit
that can be used in the field to identify if an insect population is likely to
be a virus vector. Once identified, growers can then target particular insects
with pesticides at a certain time in their lifecycle. Currently, growers must
spray crops indiscriminately to prevent disease outbreaks.
"Prophylactic spraying of crops to eliminate all
potential vectors is not efficient from an economical or environmental
standpoint," said Gray.
Common disease-causing viruses include the barley yellow
dwarf viruses spread by aphids and Geminiviruses transmitted by white flies. In
Africa, viruses commonly destroy entire fields of such staple crops as bananas,
cassava, maize and sweet potatoes. In the United States, barley yellow dwarf
viruses reduce annual wheat yields by about 5 percent. Last year in Kansas, a
severe outbreak of barley yellow dwarf virus caused the highest economic loss
from any wheat disease.
The international team also includes researchers from the
University of Washington in Seattle, the USDA-ARS U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in
Charleston, S.C., and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in
Nigeria and Cameroon.
BREAD seeks to partner advanced research expertise with the
developing world and is jointly funded by the NSF and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24578&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: Cornell Chronicle Online By
Krishna Ramanujan via SeedQuest.com
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1.24 Small plants
getting major attention
Urbana, Illinois, USA
February 21, 2012
University of Illinois Extension
How often have you heard that bigger is better? "It
seems we are sometimes fascinated by all things big and large," said
University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Greg Stack.
"Well, there may be a trend brewing in the world of
horticulture, where small, mini, and dwarf are starting to become common
adjectives to describe a list of plants that are becoming increasingly
popular."
Many gardeners have downsized to smaller properties or have a
very limited, city- sized backyard. Container gardening is becoming
increasingly popular. The horticultural industry has taken notice and is
introducing downsized versions of some garden plants for both ornamental
gardeners and fruit gardeners.
Gardeners have known for some time that dwarf versions of a
whole range of trees and shrubs, as well as evergreens and conifers, are
available. These small- scale duplicates of their larger cousins grow so slowly
that they fit very nicely, for a long time, into containers or on small
properties without outgrowing their space.
"A recent introduction to tree fruit gardening is a
series of apple trees known as Urban™ Columnar Apples," Stack said.
"They reach an average height of eight to ten feet and are only two feet
wide. This upright columnar habit makes them perfect for suburbanites,
apartment and condo dwellers, and anyone short on space for a traditional apple
tree.
"They are also well adapted for container growing. The
bottle brush shaped tree with short branches produces fruit along its narrow
trunk, presenting a very unique look."
Urban™ Apples were developed in the Czech Republic, have
shown good disease tolerance, and are hardy to zone 4. "Golden
Treat," "Tasty Red," "Blushing Delight," and
"Tangy Green" are some of the available varieties. If you decide to
include these in your garden, you will need to plant two different varieties
for proper cross pollination and fruit set. As with most fruit trees, they
require full sun and well-drained soil for best growth.
Another newly introduced fruit for small space gardens and
containers is a thornless dwarf raspberry called Raspberry Shortcake™. This
raspberry, which is hardy to zone 5, is a compact mound growing to only 24 to
30 inches. It is suitable for garden planting and containers and has
sturdy upright canes that need no staking. The plant needs full sun and
well-drained average garden soil; it produces fruit at mid-summer.
"This raspberry produces a lot of new canes each spring
and fruits on new canes that have gone through a winter dormancy period,"
cautioned Stack. "Once these canes have fruited, prune them out to the
ground, leaving behind new canes to fruit next season. This plant also provides
quite a bit of ornamental value because of its form and habit, flowers, and, of
course, fruit."
For those who want to try their hand at blueberries, there is
a super-dwarf hardy blueberry called Jelly Bean™. This plant is a compact round
ball growing to one to two feet. It is excellent for container growing where
soils can be amended to accommodate the plant's acidic soil requirements. Jelly
Bean™ produces fruit in midsummer and needs a full sun location.
"There has also been an explosion of new mini
hostas," Stack said. "If you don't have room for a hosta that grows
to 36 inches tall and 87 inches around, then small is for you." These
minis can be planted in borders as well as in containers and trough gardens.
Like their larger cousins, they are hardy perennials."
"Blue Mouse Ears" seemed to start the craze. It
grows to eight inches high and 18 inches wide and provides blue green, nearly
round foliage. Other new varieties include:
And then there is the smallest hosta of all, "Itsy Bitsy
Spider," growing to 2 1/2 inches tall and 6 inches wide with very narrow
dark green leaves.
"All of these minis will flower on short stalks and have
flowers that range from white to light lavender," said Stack.
These are just a few of the over 50 varieties of mini hostas
that are available. Most range from five to eight inches tall. They come in a
variety of colors and leaf patterns and are great for gardeners who like hostas
but really don't have the space for the more traditional "giants" in
the hosta world.
So, if you have to think small because of space limitations,
don't assume that your garden will be boring. Many of these small versions of
traditional plants offer just as much "bang for the buck" as their
"super-sized" counterparts and they might impress visitors even
more.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24669&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.25 Revealed in
accurate detail, the underground world of plants
Nottingham, United Kingdom
February 15, 2012
Plant and computer scientists can now study the underground world
of plants with more accuracy and clarity. The revolutionary technique will
improve our chances of breeding better crop varieties and increasing yields.
Developed at The University of Nottingham by a team of
experts from the Schools of Biosciences and Computer Science, the new approach
is based on the same X-ray technology used in hospital CT scans and
incorporates new image analysis software which, for the first time, can
automatically distinguish plant roots from the other materials found in soil.
The results of this research, which has already been
demonstrated on the roots of maize, wheat and tomato, have been published in
the international scientific journal Plant Physiology. The interdisciplinary team of scientists from
the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) used X-ray Micro Computed
Tomography (Micro-CT) to look at the shape and branching pattern — the
architecture — of roots in soil. The data was then fed into the new RooTrak
software which overcomes the problem of distinguishing between roots and other
elements of the soil.
Breakthrough for
food security
Dr Sacha Mooney, an expert in soil physics in the School of Biosciences,
said: “This technique is a hugely important advance. The application of X-ray
CT for visualising roots has been limited because we simply couldn’t see a
large portion of the root structure. RooTrak has enabled us to overcome this
and has opened up the use of the technology for exploring the key questions
regarding how we can manipulate plants and soils for improving our food
security.”
The RooTrak software works by taking a stack of virtual
slices through the root-bearing soil. It treats each slice as a frame in a
movie, so that static roots in each slice are treated as moving objects which
can be tracked. This allows the software to differentiate between root and
water or organic elements in the soil much more effectively than previous techniques.
The detailed accurate root architecture can then be seen in three dimensions.
Tony Pridmore, Data Director at CPIB and an expert in
tracking and analysis software, said: “Thinking of Micro-CT data as a sequence
of images allows us to solve the problems caused by variations in the
appearance of plant roots and the similarity of some roots to the surrounding
soil. This is important because we can now extract descriptions of root
architecture quickly and objectively.”
Malcolm Bennett, Professor of Plant Sciences and an expert in
root biology, said: “Root architecture critically influences nutrient and water
uptake. A key impediment to genetic analysis of root architecture in crops
grown in soil has been the ability to image live roots. Recent advances in
microscale X-ray Computed Tomography (MicroCT) and RooTrak software at
Nottingham now make this possible.”
Ambitious
project wins a further Ł3m in funding
The team has just been awarded a €3.5m (nearly Ł3m) five year
European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant to use this new
software in conjunction with an innovative microCT-based imaging approach to
image wheat roots and select for new varieties with improved water and nutrient
uptake efficiencies.
This ambitious project will be undertaken by a
multidisciplinary team of scientists in the Centre for Plant Integrative
Biology (CPIB) led by Professor Bennett. To undertake this research project
help from collaborators across Europe, Mexico and Australia is also required to
ensure that the most advanced techniques and biological resources are exploited
to radically impact efforts to improve crop performance.
The CPIB is funded by the Systems Biology joint initiative of
the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The research was led by PhD student Stefan Mairhofer, with
funding from The University of Nottingham’s Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training
Centre in Integrative Biology.
Global Food Security is also a key project within the
University’s new appeal, Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, which is
delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and
shape the future.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24811&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: University of Nottingham via
SeedQuest.com
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1.26 Genetic fingerprint
reveals new efficient maize cultivars
A
computer model predicts the ability of different maize lines to produce
high-yield offspring
Potsdam, Germany
January 15, 2012
The parent’s performance has little to do with the child's
success at least in maize. Even weak parent plants can be crossed in a way in
which they produce vigorous offspring. But not all plants by far are suitable
parents. Every single one has to prove its potential in time and cost intensive
crossing experiments.
Scientists Mark Stitt and Lothar Willmitzer from the Max
Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, in collaboration with
their colleagues Albrecht Melchinger, from the University of Hohenheim, and
Thomas Altmann, from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant
Research in Gatersleben, wanted to speed up this process. Together they
developed a mathematical model that predicts surprisingly well if a plant will
make a good parent or not.
The model is based on genomic information obtained from the
maize kernels and the metabolic profile of the seedlings. The results will be
especially valuable for breeders.
Nowadays, most maize plants grown in our fields are hybrids.
Their main advantage is the disproportionately high yield. Compared to the
non-hybrid lines, they deliver up to 50 percent more crop. The phenomenon
behind this effect is called heterosis.
Although heterosis is of great importance for agriculture and
the nourishment of the constantly rising world population, the reasons behind
it remain elusive. The only thing certain is that the parents of hybrids have
to come from inbred lines and must not be related. Of course, not all inbred
lines are suitable for hybrid crossing.
To find the perfect parents, expensive, laborious trials have
to be performed. It takes breeders about ten years to develop a new variety,
but climate change, global food crisis and the increasing need for biofuels
demand faster solutions.
“Today we know that the growth of a maize plant or its cob
production is not influenced by one single gene. On the contrary, there are
many little differences in the genetic material that all contribute to the
various traits. With the newest methods of genetic analysis we are able to
analyse up to 56,000 of these DNA-loci,” explains Christian Riedelsheimer,
first author of the study. Instead of altering the DNA, the scientists created
an individual genomic profile for each plant, the so-called “genetic
fingerprint”.
To be able to correctly interpret the encoded information,
they conducted field trials and spent three years planting, crossing, measuring
yields, and analysing genomes. With the obtained data, they developed a
mathematical model that predicts the potential of a parent plant based on the
genomic pattern. A tiny amount of sample material, which can be taken from one
single grain of maize without destroying its ability to germinate, is enough
for the complex analyses. This was conducted by the University of Hohenheim in
cooperation with Gatersleben.
A second indicator of which plants will make good parents can
be found in the composition of the leaves. The amount of starch, sugars, amino
acids, chlorophyll, and other substances provides a prediction about the
breeding qualities, which is almost as accurate as the analysis of the genomic
fingerprint.
The technically challenging task of analysing these
substances was conducted by scientists from the Max Planck Institute of
Molecular Plant Physiology. “With our state of the art equipment and software
that has recently been designed at our institute, we were even able to analyse
the volatile metabolites very precisely,” says Max Planck director Mark Stitt.
Everything else is newly developed statistics. “Similar to
the genetic profile, it is not the amount of an individual metabolite that
matters. Significant information is revealed by certain combinations and
patterns,” states Riedelsheimer.
The new system does not rely on field trials – and is
therefore cost-efficient. “If we wanted to test all possible crossings, we
would have to plant maize on half of the earth’s surface.” This is not only
utopian but also expensive. “One parcel of land costs €50. Since we tested two
plots per variety at ten different locations it amounted to over €1,000 per
variety,” sums up Albrecht Melchinger from the University of Hohenheim, where
the field trials were conducted.
“Analysing the genome with a DNA-chip and a robot costs only
about €150”. Apart from the cost efficiency, the time saving is also
remarkable; the DNA testing of the grains can be done in the winter. Meanwhile,
the seedlings for the metabolite analysis are growing in the greenhouses. Therefore,
the best parents can be selected and sowed in the same year.
Over the course of the past years, research has seen a change
in paradigms. Scientists have abandoned the search for individual super-genes.
Instead, they are now focusing on the interactions of many little differences
in the genome. “The upshot is that we now have a totally new view on plants and
this in turn leads to major improvements in the hybrid breeding programme,”
states Melchinger.
There is so much genetic diversity in maize, one only has to
know how to efficiently combine it.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24183&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.27 Genetic
information migrates from plant to plant
Potsdam, Germany
January 31, 2012
Sexually incompatible species exchange chloroplast genomes at
contact zones
To generate phylogenetic trees and investigate relationships
between organisms, scientists usually look for similarities and differences in
the DNA. Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that the DNA extracted
from the plants’ green chloroplasts sometimes showed the greatest similarities
when related species grew in the same area.
They tried to explain the phenomenon with the assumption that
every once in a while those normally sexually incompatible species crossed and
produced offspring with a new combination of nuclear and chloroplast genomes.
They coined the term “chloroplast capture” to illustrate what they thought was
happening.
Now, scientists around Ralph Bock from the Max Planck
Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam discovered that a transfer
of entire chloroplasts, or at least their genomes, can occur in contact zones
between plants. Inter-species crossing is not necessary. The new chloroplast
genome can even be handed down to the next generation and, thereby, give a
plant with new traits.
These findings are of great importance to the understanding
of evolution as well as the breeding of new plant varieties
[PNAS, Online Publication,DOI:10.1073/pnas.1114076109].Complete article
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.28 U.S. National
Science Foundation provides additional $5.9 million to support five new BREAD program
projects
Washington, DC, USA
February 9, 2012
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded five grants
in the second year of the Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development
(BREAD) program.
Established in 2010, the five-year BREAD program is jointly
funded with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the partnership
between the Gates Foundation and the BREAD program, NSF supports international
research projects at the proof-of-concept stage, with funding provided to both
U.S. institutions and their international collaborators.
"The BREAD program continues to draw interest of
scientists from around the world," said John Wingfield, NSF assistant
director for Biological Sciences. "More than 160 U.S. institutions in 45
states, partnering with more than 260 institutions in 76 countries, submitted
proposals in fields as diverse as the genetic improvement of crops and animals,
control of diseases and pests, the chemistry and biology of soils and water,
and engineering.
The program and the awards made in 2011 epitomize how novel,
transformative basic research in the biological sciences can contribute to
major benefits to human society globally."
"The BREAD partnership is supporting research projects
with real promise to help small farming families in developing countries boost
their sustainable agricultural productivity," said Rob Horsch, deputy
director of Global Development, Science and Technology at the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.
The awards involve 28 institutions in 6 states and
international investigators from Angola, Benin, China, Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Israel, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Peru, South
Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Examples of new awards
A complete list of 2011 BREAD awards can be accessed on the Directorate
for Biological Sciences website.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24382&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.29 Department of
Agriculture, Philippines, establishes DNA crop library
Manila, Philippines
February 11, 2012
By Melody M. Aguiba
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is establishing a DNA
Library of Crops, Fisheries, and Livestock (LCFL) which will help speed up crop
improvement and enhance Philippines’ ability to benefit economically from
genetic and proprietary rights.
DA already started the DNA LCFL Library under its 2011
biotechnology program which for the first time received a P150 million budget
under the 2011 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
DA Undersecretary Segfredo R. Serrano said that DA already
has a more stable budget for biotechnology program office (BPO) as government
recognizes the function of new techniques in its poverty and hunger reduction
and food security aims.
“We’re making sure we’re getting our due share from the more
than 60 percent budget increase for the DA system,” said Serrano.
Dr. Candida B. Adalla, director of DA’s biotechnology program
office (BPO), in an interview, said they have already started the project last
year.
“We have already done barcoding for native chicken. It will
be a continuing thing as we work on other crops,” Adalla said.
For about 10 years since 2000, the BPO obtained its budget
from the US PL480 Food forr Peace program for a total of P280 million. But the
GAA funding through the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) will make
commitments for BPO more permanent through a yearly allocation.
Adalla said the DNA Library is an electronic or digital
database of genetic materials that will be kept and maintained by the Bureau of
Plant Industry’s National Seed Industry Council.
“If I’m a breeder I can easily improve on my crop because I
will have access to a database of the genetic material that I need,” she said.
The database will enhance the country’s intellectual property
claims for plant and animal genetic development.
Under the 2011 PL480 research and development program, BPO
had 28 programs for crops and plants, six programs for livestock and poultry,
and three for fisheries and aquatic species.
The program under the 2011 GAA include varietal improvement
for non genetically modified (GM) crops using biotechnology tools such as
marker assisted selection or breeding which took up the highest number of
projects at 22 percent of total while genetic conservation and gene banking got
14 percent.
Other BPO projects are varietal improvement for GM technologies,
improvement of bioprocessing using biotechnology tools, commercialization of
biotechnology products, and support for policy, regulation, and quality
assurance and safety.
BPO is also allocating a significant budget for skills or
capability building as government needs to strengthen presence of research
experts although it already has a good number.
“We have very robust pool of scientists. There are many at
UPLB (University of the Philippines Los Banos) as we offer a BS on Agricultural
Biotechnology. In terms of budget our P150 million for biotechnology research
and development is significant in contrast to zero, said Adalla.
“Before we depended on grant, foreign projects. This time
it’s people's money allocated already which means that government has
recognized the importance of biotechnology,” said Adalla.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/351086/da-establishes-dna-crop-library
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.30 UC Davis and BGI
complete master agreement to create BGI@UCDavis genome facility
Los Angeles, California, USA
February 17, 2012
The University of California, Davis, and China-based BGI, the
world's largest genomics organization, based in China, signed a master
agreement today (Feb. 17) sealing a partnership that will change the landscape
of genomic sciences in California and the Western states.
The BGI@UC Davis alliance will foster critical breakthroughs
in the areas of food security, human, animal and environmental health.
The master agreement was signed today by UC Davis Provost
Ralph G. Hexter and Hao Zhang, director of BGI@UC Davis,at a morning ceremony
in Los Angeles, with high-ranking dignitaries from China and the United States
attending.
"Today marks an exciting new chapter in the
collaboration between UC Davis, with our strengths in biology, medicine, food
and the environment, and BGI, the world's premier genomics organization,"
said UC Davis Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi. "The discoveries that flow
from this partnership will have a worldwide impact."
Under the agreement, UC Davis faculty and students will gain
access to the capabilities and expertise of one of the world's premier genomics
and bioinformatics institutes, while BGI researchers will be able to access the
university's diverse resources and expertise in education and research,
especially in biology, human and veterinary medicine, agriculture, and the environment.
Jian Wang, president of BGI stated, "We look forward to
a highly productive relationship with UC Davis, one of the top research
universities in the U.S., especially in the areas of agricultural,
environmental and biological research. Given UC Davis' expertise in these
areas, coupled with BGI's expertise in genome sequencing and bioinformatics, we
expect this partnership and the establishment of BGI@UC Davis Joint Genome
Center to lead to significant scientific breakthroughs."
In June of 2011, Katehi and Wang signed the initial agreement
to establish the BGI@UCDavis partnership during a meeting in Shenzhen, one of
China's Special Economic Zones.¶This was followed by a second agreement signed
in October 2011 that established an interim BGI facility for immediate use at
the UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento and initiated planning for a
permanent BGI@UC Davis facility. That signing ceremony, held in Sacramento for
this second agreement was attended by both Qin Xu, the mayor of Shenzhen, and
Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento.
Under the October 2011 agreement, BGI has moved three
state-of-the-art DNA sequencing machines into the interim facility on the UC
Davis Sacramento campus. When complete, the facility will accommodate ten such
machines, dramatically increasing the DNA sequencing capacity readily available
to campus researchers.
The partnership between BGI and UC Davis will provide new
opportunities for researchers at both institutions, said Harris Lewin, vice
chancellor for research at UC Davis. It will enable them to tackle bigger and
more complex problems and assemble teams that can compete for bigger grants. It
will also act as a catalyst to bring new companies and businesses to
Sacramento, Lewin said.
The BGI@UCDavis facility will partner with the existing UC
Davis Genome Center, located in the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility on
the UC Davis campus in the further development of genomics at UC Davis.
Since it opened in 2004, the Genome Center has recruited more
than 15 faculty, building expertise in genomics and bioinformatics and
developed five technology cores that serve faculty from campus and elsewhere.
The new BGI@UCDavis facility will dramatically increase the
capacity for sequencing at UC Davis.
Genomics is a discipline of biology concerning the study of
the genome, or all the genes of an organism. The field includes intensive
efforts to determine the genomes of plants, animals, microbes and other living
things, as a way to better understand how they grow, develop and function.
Since the first human genome was completed in 2001, the genomes of many other
plants and animals have been sequenced, including lab animals and plants, crops
such as rice, and disease-causing microbes.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24590&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.31 Oxford Nanopore
introduces DNA 'strand sequencing' on the high-throughput GridION platform and
presents MinION, a sequencer the size of a USB memory stick
Oxford, United Kingdom and Florida, USA
17 February 2012
New generation of sequencing technology uses nanopores to
deliver ultra long read length single molecule sequence data, at competitive
accuracy, on scalable electronic GridION platform. ¶- Miniaturised version of
technology, MinION, will make nanopore sequencing universally accessible.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. today presented for the
first time DNA sequence data using its novel nanopore 'strand sequencing'
technique and proprietary high performance electronic devices GridION and
MinION. These data were presented by Clive G Brown, Chief Technology Officer,
who outlined the Company's pathway to a commercial product with highly
disruptive features including ultra long read lengths, high throughput on
electronic systems and real-time sequencing results. Oxford Nanopore intends to
commercialise GridION and MinION directly to customers within 2012.
Oxford Nanopore's GridION system consists of scalable
instruments (nodes) used with consumable cartridges that contain proprietary
array chips for multi-nanopore sensing. Each GridION node and cartridge is
initially designed to deliver tens of Gb of sequence data per 24 hour period,
with the user choosing whether to run for minutes or days according to the
experiment.
Oxford Nanopore will introduce a new model of versatile
pricing schemes designed to deliver a price per base that is as competitive as
other leading systems at launch. Further substantial pricing improvements are
expected with future development to the technology, in particular with
increases in nanopore processing speed and higher density electronic sensor
chips.
Oxford Nanopore has also miniaturised these devices to
develop the MinION; a disposable DNA sequencing device the size of a USB memory
stick whose low cost, portability and ease of use are designed to make DNA
sequencing universally accessible. A single MinION is expected to retail at
less than $900.
"The exquisite science behind nanopore sensing has taken
nearly two decades to reach this point; a truly disruptive single molecule
analysis technique, designed alongside new electronics to be a universal
sequencing system. GridION and MinION are poised to deliver a completely new
range of benefits to researchers and clinicians," said Dr Gordon Sanghera,
CEO of Oxford Nanopore.
"Oxford Nanopore is as much an electronics company as a
biotechnology company, and the development of a high-throughput electronics
platform has been essential for us to design and screen a large number of new
candidate nanopores and enzymes. Our toolbox is customer-ready and we will
continue to develop improved nanopore devices over many years, including
ongoing work in solid state devices."
Summary of
presentation
At the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference
(AGBT), FL, US, Oxford Nanopore presented:
Further information is available at the Company's website
www.nanoporetech.com.
While orders are not yet being taken for the GridION and
MinION systems, interested users may register their interest at the website.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd is developing a novel
technology for direct, electronic detection and analysis of single molecules
using nanopores. The modular, scalable GridION technology platform is designed
to offer substantial benefits in a variety of applications. The miniaturised
MinION device is the size of a USB memory stick, designed for portable analysis
of single molecules. Oxford Nanopore intends to commercialise GridION and
MinION directly to customers for DNA 'strand sequencing' in 2012.
In addition to DNA sequencing, the system is also compatible
with the direct analysis of RNA. Oxford Nanopore is also developing a Protein
Analysis technology that combines target proteins with ligands for direct,
electronic analysis using protein nanopores. These nanopore sensing techniques
are combined with the Company's proprietary array chip within the GridION
system and MinION.
The Company is also developing the subsequent generation of
nanopore sensing devices based on solid-state nanopores.
Oxford Nanopore has licensed or owns more than 300 patents
and patent applications that relate to many aspects of nanopore sensing
including fundamental nanopore sensing patents, analysis using protein
nanopores or solid state nanopores and for the analysis of DNA, proteins and
other molecules, including the analysis of probe molecules on DNA. The Company
has collaborations and exclusive licensing deals with leading institutions
including the University of Oxford, Harvard and UCSC. Oxford Nanopore has
funding programmes in these laboratories to support the science of nanopore
sensing. This includes the use of functionalised solid-state nanopores for molecular
characterisation, methods of fabricating solid-state nanopores and
modifications of solid-state nanopores to adjust sensitivity or other
parameters.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24705&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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1.32 Fast-forward
genetics enabled by new sequencing technologies
Trends in Plant Science, Volume 16, Issue
5, 282-288, 24 March 2011
Copyright 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.10.1016/j.tplants.2011.02.006
Authors
Korbinian
Schneeberger, Detlef WeigelSee Affiliations
Department of
Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076
Tübingen, Germany Department of
Plant Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research,
50829 Cologne, Germany
Summary
New sequencing technologies are dramatically accelerating
progress in forward genetics, and the use of such methods for the rapid
identification of mutant alleles will be soon routine in many laboratories. A
straightforward extension will be the cloning of major-effect genetic variants
in crop species. In the near future, it can be expected that mapping by sequencing
will become a centerpiece in efforts to discover the genes responsible for
quantitative trait loci. The largest impact, however, might come from the use
of these strategies to extract genes from non-model, non-crop plants that
exhibit heritable variation in important traits. Deployment of such genes to
improve crops or engineer microbes that produce valuable compounds heralds a
potential paradigm shift for plant biology.
Source: SeeQuest.com
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1.33 GM as a route for delivery of
sustainable crop protection
Toby J. A. Bruce*
Biological Chemistry Department, Rothamsted Research,
Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK
E-mail: toby.bruce@rothamsted.ac.uk
Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 537–541,
2012
doi:10.1093/jxb/err281
Received 6 June 2011; Revised 5 August 2011; Accepted 8
August
2011
Abstract
Modern agriculture, with its vast monocultures of lush
fertilized crops, provides an ideal environment for adapted pests, weeds, and
diseases. This vulnerability has implications for food security: when new
pesticideresistant pest biotypes evolve they can devastate crops. Even with
existing crop protection measures, approximately one-third yield losses occur
globally. Given the projected increase in demand for food (70% by 2050
according to the UN), sustainable ways of preventingthese losses are needed. Development
of resistant crop cultivars can make an important contribution. However,
traditional crop breeding programmes are limited by the time taken to move
resistance traits into elite crop genetic backgrounds and the limited gene
pools in which to search for novel resistance. Furthermore, resistance based on
single genes does not protect against the full spectrumof pests, weeds, and
diseases, and is more likely to break down as pests evolve counter-resistance.
Although not necessarily a panacea, GM (genetic modification) techniques
greatly facilitate transfer of genes and thus provide a route to overcome these
constraints. Effective resistance traits can be precisely and conveniently
moved into mainstream crop cultivars. Resistance genes can be stacked to make
it harder for pests to evolve counter-resistance and to provide multiple
resistances to different attackers. GM-based crop protection could
substantially reduce the need for farmers to apply pesticides to their crops
and would make agricultural production more efficient in terms of resources
used (land, energy, water). These benefits merit consideration by
environmentalists
willing to keep an openmind on the GM debate.
Key words: Crop improvement, GM debate, plant–pest
interactions, sustainable agriculture.
Contributed by Donna Van Dolah
Seed Biotechnology Center
UC, Davis
Source: SeeQuest.com
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1.34 Some Notes on the Genetics of
Annual Habit in Tetraploid Cotton (Private)
North Carolina State University and Richmond Hill, Georgia
Wild
populations of tetraploid cottons, Gossypium barbadense L. and Gossypium
hirsutum L., display a predictable pattern of growth and reproduction. At
the beginning of the rainy season in the American tropics, wild (perennial)
cotton plants resume growing leaves. At the end of the rains, a combination of
drying soil and decrease in day length and night temperature conditions the
development of fruiting forms. There follows a short burst of flowering and the
maturation of fruits (bolls). Leaves are shed, and the plants become dormant
and remain so until the rains return.
After seeds
of a wild tetraploid cotton germinate, sixteen or seventeen nodes must develop
above the cotyledonary scars before there can be reproduction. Thus, a cotton
seedling that germinates during a given wet season might not flower until the
end of the next. If wild cottons are planted during the spring in subtropics,
such as North Carolina, the plants will not find conditions favorable for
reproduction before the onset of winter.
There were
many changes in tetraploid cottons during the process of domestication. Some tropical
cultivars retain the high node, short day, cool night requirements for fruition
of wild cottons, coupled with increased fiber yield and quality. Others, called
tropical annuals, retain the short day requirement while being selected for
precocious flowering, i.e. annual habit. Still others combine annual habit with
"day neutral" flowering, and these are the kinds that made possible
the production of industrial quantities of cotton in extratropical regions.
I am not
aware that there have been formal studies of the genetics of annual habit in
tetraploid cottons, and that was likely because no easily recognizable
reference point for the beginning of such a study was known. The Peruvian G.
barbadense cultivar, Tanguis. provided such a reference point. When Tanguis
is planted in the field in North Carolina most plants remain barren. A few
mature bolls, three per 15 meters of row in one planting. When plants of
field-grown Tanguis were ratooned and planted in a winter greenhouse, they
produced short plants that matured numerous bolls. When the stumps were
ratooned again and replanted in the field, these, unlike plants grown from
seed, were short and became festooned with mature bolls.
Kidney
seeded cotton, G. barbadense brasiliense, is a high node, day-length
sensitive cultivar from South America. This cotton does not reproduce in the
field in North Carolina. When kidney cotton plants were induced to flower in a
winter greenhouse, then ratooned and planted in the field, there ensued
vegetative growth but no reproduction, a result dramatically different from the
productivity of similarly treated Tanguis ratoons.
I
tentatively concluded that Tanguis was a high node cotton that is
reproductively day length neutral. To test that theory I used Lengupa, another
Peruvian cultivar of G. barbadense, that displayed evidence of being a
tropical annual. Lengupa is a short day cotton that does not mature fruit in
the field in North Carolina. However, under winter greenhouse growth Lengupa
commences flowering at the ninth or tenth node. Lengupa was crossed with
Tanguis and the F1 grown in a winter greenhouse where plants
initiated flowering at the ninth node. The F2 generation was planted
in the field, the expectation being that a few annual plants, flowering at the
ninth or tenth node, would be recovered. There were six such plants, thereby
confirming that Tanguis was a high node cultivar with a day neutral flowering
habit.
Tanguis was
crossed with AS-2 Sea Island, a G. barbadense cultivar that develops as
an annual in the field in North Carolina, flowering most often at the ninth
node. The F1 also flowered at the ninth node when grown in a winter
greenhouse and the field. An F2 population grown in the field
segregated 43 fully reproductive and 17 barren, a ratio of 3 to 1 and evidence
that AS-2 Sea Island harbors a single dominant factor for annual habit.
Tanguis was
also crossed with Pima S-5, a G. barbadense cultivar bred by Dr. Carl
Feaster at the USDA Cotton Research, Phoenix, Arizona. On average, Pima S-5 flowers
at the sixth node above the cotyledonary scars. The F1 was grown in
the field and winter greenhouse, and all plants flowered and produced bolls
beginning at a low node. Fifty F2 plants were grown in the field and
all produced a crop of bolls. Evidently Pima S-5 harbors more annual habit
factors than AS-2 Sea Island, perhaps two.
AS-2 Sea
Island was crossed with the G. hirsutum upland cultivar Coker 310. the F1
flowered at a low node and produced a full crop. The F2, when grown
in the field, displayed a variety of expressions. A single plant flowered at
the third node. Two other set fruiting forms at the fourteenth and fifteenth
nodes. Neither of the latter matured bolls. Ratoons from the two high node
segregates produced ample seed in a winter greenhouse. One field row planted
with these seed produced vigorous plants but no mature bolls.
AS-2 Sea
Island was crossed with Pima S-5. The F1 was about as productive as
the Pima parent. The F2, when grown in the field, was unremarkable
except that one plant produced a few flowers, late, but no mature fruit. The
plant was ratooned and placed in a winter greenhouse where it flowered and
produced a crop of bolls. In addition the plant was crossed with 1) Tanguis,
and 2) a high node plant from the F2 following a cross of AS-2 Sea
Island and Coker 310. Crosses 1 and 2 were unproductive in the field but
productive in a winter greenhouse. The F2 progenies behaved in a
like manner. The high node derivatives used in crosses 1 and 2 appear to be of
the same genotype as Tanguis, absence of annual habit factors (high node number
before flowering) and day neutral in flowering response.
Conclusions
AS-2 Sea
island harbors a single factor for annual habit that conditions first flowering
at, on average, the ninth node above the cotyledonary scars. The factor in AS-2
Sea Island is not allelic with the factors found in Pima S-5 and Coker 310. The
factors in Pima S-5 and Coker 310 appear to be identical, determining
flowering, on average, at the sixth node. These factors, like the one in AS-2
Sea Island, exhibit dominance for annual habit. Apparently Dr. Feaster
introgressed annual habit alleles from G. hirsutum into Pima, perhaps to
increase earliness.
I
tentatively concluded that Pima S-5 and Coker 310 harbor annual habit alleles
at two loci. The downward progression in earliness from the ninth node, through
the sixth, on average to the third works well with a conclusion that there are
annual habit alleles at three loci. The weakness in these conclusions is the
absence of non-fruiting segregates in the field-grown Pima x Tanguis F2,
where 3 of the 50 F2 plants (1/16) would have been expected not to
fruit. A larger F2 population should clarify that (and perhaps add
an additional annual factor). While it was somewhat surprising that Sea Island
and Pima did not share factors for annualism, the Pimas have complex pedigrees
and are only partially G. barbadense.
Submitted by Major Goodman
major@nc.rr.com
On behalf of Joshua A. Lee
Professor Emeritus of Crop Science
North Carolina State University
+++++++++++++
=========================
2.01 The science of
perishable produce analysed in new book
Greenwich, United Kingdom
February 20, 2012
A new “landmark” book about the science and technology of
perishable produce and the post-harvest quality of fruits and vegetables is
edited by two members of the Natural Resources Institute, University of
Greenwich.
Debbie Rees and John Orchard have compiled the new title,
alongside Graham Farrell, a technical writer and editor specialising in plant
health and analysis.
Crop Post-Harvest Science and Technology: Perishables contains
contributions from internationally respected experts around the world.
The book is described by publishers Wiley-Blackwell as a
“landmark publication, (which) is an essential reference for all those working
in this field of expertise.”
It is aimed at researchers, students and all those involved
in food science, food technology, post-harvest science and technology, crop
protection, applied biology and plant and agricultural sciences.
Debbie Rees, Reader in Plant Physiology at the university’s
Natural Resources Institute, says: “The book devotes itself to perishable
produce, given the latter’s key importance in the world economy, and provides
comprehensive knowledge on all the key factors affecting post-harvest quality
of fruits and vegetables.
“It focuses on the effects and causes of deterioration, since
regular losses caused by post-harvest spoilage can be as high as 50 per cent. A
complete understanding is therefore vital in helping to significantly reduce
these losses.”
The book also examines the many techniques and practices implemented
to maintain quality through correct handling and storage.
The new title follows two earlier books on related themes,
edited by Natural Resources Institute staff; Crop Post Harvest Science and
Technology: Principles and Practice (Pete Golob, Graham Farrell, and John
Orchard) and Crop Post Harvest Science and Technology: Durables (Rick Hodges
and Graham Farrell).
Crop Post-Harvest Science and Technology: Perishables now
features on the main Wiley website at www.wiley.com/buy/978-0-632-05725-2
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24615&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
+++++++++++
2.02 Next-generation
sequencing technologies: opportunities and obligations in plant genomics
Briefings in Functional Genomics (2012) 11(1): 1-2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bfgp/els001
Guest Editors: Rajeev K.
Varshney and Gregory D. May
Editorial:
The year 2003 marked the completion of the Human Genome
Project. In the 9 years since then, genomics has become a vital tool
for biomedical research and a driver for improved human health. An often
ignored component of human health is plant-derived human nutrition.
Plant and agricultural genomics have benefited from many of
the same drivers leading technical advances in the development and application
in human genomics. The most disruptive technological advance has been a
doubling of sequencing data output on an average of every 5 months and has
resulted in a freefall in cost per DNA base sequenced [1]. One recalls when it
was acceptable to submit, review and publish RNA-sequencing manuscripts in
prestigious scientific journals with zero biological or technical replicates
because the cost was prohibitive.
We soon arrive at the point where it requires less resource
to re-sequence the genome or repeat the sequence data generation or expression
profiling experiment than to simply store and manage the data. The articles
assembled for this Special Issue address current trends and applications along
with opportunities and challenges in the use of next-generation DNA sequencing
(NGS) technologies in plant genomics research.
Special issue papers
PS: Please visit updated site http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/VI-ICLGG/homepage.htm to know more
about programme, online registration and abstract submission for ICLGG 2012.
Mailing Address: Centre of Excellence in Genomics (CEG),
Building # 300 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) Patancheru - 502 324, Greater Hyderabad, INDIA Tel: 0091 40 30713305;
Fax: 0091 40 3071 3074/ 3075
Contributed by Rajeev K. Varshney
PhD, FNAAS Director Centre of Excellence in
Genomic.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics
Theme Leader CGIAR Generation Challenge Program
Source: SeeQuest.com
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3.
3.01 Plant Breeding
and Genomics Online Resource Reaches Milestone
Growth in the global population is placing an increased
demand on the world's resources to sustain our society for food, feed, fuel,
fiber, and environment, underscoring a need for safe and efficient crop
production systems. To date, traditional plant breeding methods have served
well to meet increased demands. Projected increases from 7 to 9 billion people
in the next 40 years will require continued progress. Improvements in the
efficiency and cost of DNA sequencing technologies are providing vital information
on the genetics and genomics of crop plants. This information is paving the way
for new plant breeding strategies to meet global food demands.
Earlier this year, a group of researchers, including SBC’s
Dr. Allen Van Deynze, and educators from America’s land-grant universities,
government agencies, and industry banded together to create the first-ever
internet resource aimed at quickly putting basic research on crop genomes into
practice. The resource is housed at eXtension (pronounced E-extension).
Less than one year from its launch, the resource reached a milestone of
100,000 views this month.
Researchers and Extension personnel
regularly contribute webinars, videos, informational articles, reviews,
blog entries, and tutorials to the resource. See more
Source: SBC eNews January 2012 via Seed Quest
+++++++++++++
4.01 New
international agriculture award to honor young field researchers emulating Dr.
Norman Borlaug
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
February 21, 2012
The
World Food Prize Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation are seeking
nominations for the first annual award
Nominations are sought for the Norman Borlaug Award for Field
Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation. The new
$10,000 annual award, administered by the World Food Prize Foundation, will be
presented for the first time in October 2012.
The award will recognize a young extension worker, research
scientist, development professional or other individual who best emulates the
dedication, perseverance and innovation demonstrated by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug
while working in the field with farmers in Mexico during the 1940s and ‘50s.
Dr. Borlaug’s breakthroughs helped feed millions of hungry people and earned
him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
The new award will go to an individual under the age of 40
who is working closely and directly in the field or at the production or
processing level with farmers, animal herders, fishers or others in rural
communities, in any discipline or enterprise across the entire food production,
processing and distribution chain.
“It is the spirit of innovation that defined Dr. Borlaug’s
work and a commitment to leveraging those innovations that aided the poor and
vulnerable on a global scale; that has also animated the work of the
Rockefeller Foundation for nearly 100 years,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, president
of the Rockefeller Foundation.
“This new award will focus attention on those young
scientists engaged in field research and application of the type Norm Borlaug
and his Rockefeller colleagues pioneered when they were early in their careers
working in Mexico, Columbia and India, and other countries in the developing
world.”
As the Rockefeller Foundation looks ahead to celebrating its
centennial in 2013, this new award highlight’s Dr. Borlaug’s association with
that organization and his breakthrough achievement in breeding more than 40
high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties while working in the
Rockefeller Foundation-Mexican Ministry of Agriculture Cooperative Program.
“We are honored to administer this new award, which so
perfectly reflects Dr. Borlaug’s belief in the critical importance of training
the next generation innovators,” said Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of
the World Food Prize Foundation, which Dr. Borlaug founded.
Candidates for the award will be evaluated and selected by a
jury of international experts based on the attributes and accomplishments that
reflect the intellectual courage, innovation, and determination evinced by Dr.
Borlaug during his field research in 1940s-50s Mexico that led to the
world-changing 1960s Green Revolution in Latin America and Asia.
Nominations for the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research
and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, are invited now through
June 30, 2012. Any individual or organization may submit a nomination (however,
self-nominations will not be accepted).
Nominations must be submitted in English online at
www.worldfoodprize.org/borlaugfieldaward.
Additional award information and guidelines are available at
this website address, or by contacting Judith Pim, the World Food Prize
director of secretariat operations: 515-245-3796 (office phone); or
jpim@worldfoodprize.org (email).
The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E.
Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, The World Food
Prize has honored 35 outstanding individuals with its prestigious $250,000
prize. The recipients have made vital contributions to improving the quality,
quantity or availability of food throughout the world. Laureates have been
recognized from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, Denmark, Ethiopia, Ghana,
India, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United
Nations and the United States.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=24667&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
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4.02 Funding
available for training in plant genetic resources and seeds: building community
resilience in the face of climate change’
We have the pleasure of inviting you to apply for fellowships
for the training programme ‘Plant
genetic resources and seeds: building community resilience in the face of
climate change’, India (29 October - 16 November 2012).
Climate change threatens the food security of resource poor,
subsistence farmers located in marginal environments. We must look for
complementary approaches to work with those farmers who are vulnerable to
environmental change. Rather than focus entirely on technological developments and
dissemination, innovative processes must be designed to enhance the adaptive
capacities of small-scale farming communities. With experience using genetic
diversity and through learning, small-scale farmers may become more responsive
in their struggle to adapt to change.
Community Biodiversity Management (CBM) emerged as a strategy
to realize on-farm management of plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture (PGRFA). The strategy strengthens the capacity of rural communities
to make decisions on the conservation and use of biodiversity in order to
secure access to and control over their resources. In addition, CBM has the
potential attributes to build the resilience of local communities in responding
to change.
The objective of the training is to enhance participants'
capacity to associate CBM as integrated strategies for managing genetic
resources and building community resilience towards climate change.
Furthermore, the programme pays special attention to participatory and
multi-stakeholder approaches, and places CBM into relevant local, national and
international policy contexts.
The training focuses on the following topics:
· On-farm
management of PGRFA;
· Global
environmental challenges;
· Managing
agrobiodiversity in unpredictable environments;
· Community
empowerment and resilience building;
· Forging
conservation with local livelihoods;
·
Participatory learning and action research;
·
Multi-stakeholder processes and social learning;
·
Understanding the key challenges to evolving PGRFA and climate change policies;
· Putting
policy into practice by sharing evidences for these key challenges to, and
interrelatedness of, PGRFA and climate change policies.
The first two weeks of this training programme are organized
in Orissa, one of the world’s
biodiversity hotspots for rice. This allows direct interactions with the
tribal communities working with our partners
Deadline for fellowship application from the
Netherlands Fellowship Programme is:
May 01, 2012 through Fellowships for Short
Courses on Scholarship Online (SOL).
Please take note of the changed procedure (you no longer have
to visit the nearest Netherlands Embassy to apply), which is now done online.
We strongly suggest you to apply
in time. The online registration may take some time; please consult the CDI application procedures, the SOL user manual for applicants and visit
the FAQs section.
Simultaneously apply online at CDI; the procedure is explained in the links above.
Please make use of this unique training opportunity to
interact with peers in your field of expertise and interest from all over the
world!
Contributed by Abishkar Subedi
Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation
Wageningen, The Netherlands
www.cdi.wur.nl<http://www.cdi.wur.nl/>
www.disclaimer-uk.wur.nl<http://www.disclaimer-uk.wur.nl/>
Source: SeeQuest.com
5.01 Plant Breeder, Mylnefield
Research Services Ltd
Plant Breeder
Dundee
Up to Ł45k
per annum (plus non-contributory pension)
Mylnefield Research Services Ltd (MRS) www.mrsltd.com a commercial affiliate of the James Hutton
Institute www.hutton.ac.uk is looking to recruit a Plant Breeder to
support its commercial plant breeding programmes and in particular potato
breeding. This is a unique opportunity
to translate the latest scientific knowledge into superior plant varieties.
The successful candidate will be working as part of a team
developing superior plant varieties through trialling on and off-station. Duties will include developing and
implementing breeding strategies and selection methods particularly in potato
breeding. As well as liaising with
scientists at JHI to integrate and capitalise on its scientific knowledge and
technology in plant breeding and managing contracts with commercial
partners. The successful candidate must
have excellent leadership, motivation, planning, organisational and
communication skills. The post will
involve travel and working outdoors at certain times of the year eg planting
and harvest.
Candidates must possess a first degree in genetics, plant
science or agriculture, with some component of the degree consisting of plant
breeding and statistics. The successful candidate should also hold a MSc in
genetics and/or plant breeding. A PhD
and experience of commercial plant breeding is desirable. A full UK driving licence would be
advantageous.
Please forward your letter of application together with a CV
and names of two referees by 23 March 2012 to HR Office, Mylnefield Research
Services Ltd, Errol Road, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA.
Contributed by Angela McNally
Mylnefield Research Services Ltd.
Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA
Scotland UK
angela.mcnally@hutton.ac.uk
++++++++++++++
5.02 Corn Technology
Development Manager based in Mexico.
Monsanto currently has an
opportunity available for a Corn Technology Development Manager based in
Mexico. The TD manager will lead and implement Corn TD strategy for
Monsanto’s Latin American Region (The main countries focus include Mexico,
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).
Responsibilities will include, but
are not limited to designing study protocols, defining testing programs for
corn trials and developing agronomic recommendations to support corn
trials. The ideal candidate for this position will have at least five
years of experience in the technical/research arena; an MS or PhD (preferred)
in Plant Breeding, Plant Physiology, Agronomy or related discipline. The
ability to speak Spanish and travel up to 50% is also required.
Please call Cathy Neal at
011-314-694-4387 or e-mail at
international.opportunities@monsanto.com to apply or if you have additional questions.
Monsanto is
an equal opportunity employer; we value a combination of ideas, perspectives
and cultures. EEO/AA Employer M/F/D/V. www.monsanto.com
Source: SBC eNews January 2012 via SeedQuest
+++++++++++
5.03 Breeding
Database Specialist
February 23, 2012
KWS is one of the most innovative and long established plant
breeding/seed companies worldwide. For more than 150 years we have been
breeding and marketing high performance varieties for the modern farmer. Our
key crops are sugar beet, corn and cereals as well as oil seed crops and
potatoes. Our core markets are in the temperate climate zones of Europe, North
and South America as well as China.
We are offering a position at the earliest opportunity for a Breeding
Database Specialist (m/f) on a full time basis and unlimited in our
Biotechnology team at the KWS LOCHOW GMBH.
The position is located in Einbeck, Germany, at KWS SAAT AG.
Your
responsibilities:
Your profile:
Do you recognize yourself in this profile? Then we would like
to get to know you and look forward to receiving your application (CV, a letter
of motivation, a publication record and references) under the following
specification: KWS LOCHOW GMBH.
Application Number: 1198 Address: KWS Services Deutschland
GmbH HR Employee Services, Arne Graf P.O. 1463 37555 Einbeck; Germany Phone:
++49 5561 311 714
More positions from: KWS Lochow GmbH
Source: SeedQuest reference number: 2472
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5.04 Lead, R&D,
Cotton Breeding
Location
Jalna, Maharashtra, India
Tentative CTC Bracket –Package will not be constraint for
suitable candidate. Reporting to –
Director –R&D Company Intro
Krishidhan Group is ruling the Indian seed industry with
presence across India and Europe. Fuelled with significant investment by
“Summit Partners”, we have lined up extensive growth plans via organic and
inorganic routes. Driven by R&D and
Biotech, Krishidhan is delivering high quality seeds for the Indian seeds
market. With products ranging from Cotton, Pulses, Cereals, Vegetables we
command significant market share in Indian commercial seeds. Not only seeds, we also take care of needs of
farmers related to Fertilizers and Nutrients.
Our R&D activities and research centers are recognized by
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Govt. of
India. We see ourselves emerging as one
of the biggest technology driven Indian agricultural input company with a
significant global presence, providing access to latest technologies and all
required quality agricultural inputs for the socio economic growth of farmers
worldwide.
Our commitment is guaranteed and supported by our talented
human resources, continuous and proactive research, state-of-the-art seeds
processing facilities, stringent total quality management and friendly sales
& support network.
Job Description
Strategic Research Planning
R&D and Administration:
Review and Monitoring
Liaisoning:
People Management