CIMMYT
33. Dr. S.K. Vasal stated that the Asian Regional Maize Program of CIMMYT focusses on the development of maize germplasm and products that are geared towards the needs of the region. The program places emphasis on developing maize populations that are resistant to downy mildew disease in addition to possessing high yield, agronomic traits and resistance to other biotic and abiotic stresses that are considered important in different countries. The program has developed a number of early maturing and full-season maturing populations with white and yellow grain color. In recent years activities directly or indirectly relating to hybrid maize development have increased substantially. More hybrid-oriented features are being emphasized in the improvement of maize populations to make them better suitable for hybrid work. New heterotic populations have also been developed to carry out hybrid work in a more focussed manner. A combination of several breeding schemes of intra- and/or interpopulation nature are being used at the present time. In hybrid research several activities are being pursued in a balanced manner including inbred line development, hybrid formation and evaluation, research on maize testers to find new successful successors, grouping of lines for heterotic patterns, and screening of new and promising lines in inbred line evaluation nurseries emphasising both biotic and abiotic stresses. A strong and conscious effort is underway to build-up a sound inbred base maize germplasm to meet current and future needs to sustain gains in hybrid performance, in addition to solving current and newly emerging problems in a responsive and resource effective manner.
34. The program is deeply involved in testing of a broad array of germplasm products including hybrids, lines and OPVs. In 1997, CIMMYT-ARMP organized a total of 12 trials, of which 6 were hybrid trials and six line evaluation trials with yellow and white lines with different maturities. Some of the line evaluation trials were evaluated in non-stressed environments as opposed to a few in some stressed environments of either biotic or abiotic nature. The preliminary results of the hybrid trials have shown encouraging results with at least 5-6 hybrids having a comparable or better performance than the commonly grown commercial hybrids. CIMMYT-ARMP also supports CIMMYT HQ program trials in Thailand and other countries in the region. Inbred products are announced periodically. This year the program announced 50 yellow lines and 30 selfed S3 progeny bulks to accelerate hybrid development efforts in the region. The seed requests were met by providing experimental seed quantities of 50 seeds for lines and 150 seeds for S3 progeny bulk. More recently about 50 white lines have also been made available to the same maize breeders and are in the process of being announced very shortly. The program also encourages travelling field seminars/visits. This year such an event took place in Pakistan with almost 25 participants attending this travelling workshop. CIMMYT-ARMP supports and strengthens regional networks such as APAARI, TAMNET and AMBIONET. Human resource development of maize research is considered an important activity. Training includes visits to CIMMYT HQ for a specified period of time in addition to in-country refresher courses on themes of important interest. During 1997-98, refresher courses on hybrid maize technology were carried out in India, China, Nepal, Philippines and Thailand. Attendance was excellent in each course with participants coming from public and private sector. The number of participants ranged from 40 to 76 in each course. A broad range of topics were covered including several intriguing topics.
35. A highlight of this year was the Seventh Asian Regional Maize Workshop which was held at PCARRD, Los Banos, Philippines. The workshop addressed a special theme of recent importance of strengthening public-private partnership and hybrid maize technology. The attendance in the workshop was almost 200 participants. During the workshop 8 researchers/seed companies/institutions were awarded plaques of recognition for their contribution to maize production in the region. Since most important countries are witnessing a rapid change towards maize hybrids, CIMMYTARMP researchers have strengthened their efforts towards hybrid research activities in the Asian region. More inbred base germplasm is being provided to accelerate such activities. More good combining inbreds would be announced towards the end of the year. The inbreds represent diverse origin and will facilitate strengthening inbred base maize germplasm of public and private institutions. The public-private partnership appears to be strengthening and CIMMYT-ARMP is playing a key role in this direction by arranging several scientific events and training courses where private sector presence is substantial.
FAO
36. Dr. J.P. Marathée explained that FAO is establishing, in co-operation with various governments, institutions and NGOs, a globally shared knowledge resource of information about plants and pests. The Global Plant & Pest Information System (GPPIS), is an Internet-based service for information access and a process for harnessing global knowledge within a framework of standard procedures and protocols for data collection, verification, validation and distribution. Its internet address is http://pppis.fao.org. Implemented under the auspices of FAO, the GPPIS forum creates a dynamic framework for continuous collective knowledge processing within the sharing community. The Internet makes this possible because it distributes the task required to create a global resource, while concentrating and multiplying the benefits of collaboration. GPPIS can be implemented in a variety of cross-platform environments (interactive compendia) on the Internet, in Local Intranets, and as a complete Internet-equivalent system that runs on CD-ROM. It is a forum where individuals can share and use each other’s information; it aims at developing and maintaining a platform for access to reliable information on crop production and protection, designed to guide technical decisions within different agro-ecozones and production systems, for improved food security and sustainable agricultural development. GPPIS is a knowledge building system as well as a system for information retrieval and learning.
37. Information on maize (maize husbandry) will be available on GPPIS during the first part of 1999. FAO is also developing a maize database, which should include by country maps of maize mega-environments, main pests, list of varieties and germplasm adapted, and information on NARS and their maize programmes. The setting up of this database is a long process for which the contribution/information from the TAMNET members will be appreciated. The maize database should be available on the Internet in the year 2000. An FAO manual entitled “Tropical Maize Production and Improvement” is under preparation; it will be published during the second part of 1999. Internet is a very powerful tool for information and communication. For this reason Dr. J.P. Marathée proposed the development of a Web-Site by TAMNET.
APSA
38. Dr. Noel G. Mamicpic presented a 2-page report. At the beginning, he gave a brief update about APSA. From 1999 APSA will be on its own as FAO-DANIDA support ended in 1998. Membership has increased to 219 coming from 30 countries mostly from the Asia-Pacific region (75%). Among the members, at least 30 companies are dealing with corn seeds. He also reported that at the last APSA conference in Manila two papers presented were of interest to TAMNET, namely Hybrid Maize in the Asia-Pacific Region by Dr. S.K. Vasal and Public - Private Sector Collaboration in Maize Germplasm Enhancement by Dr. L. Pollack. Continuing his presentation, Dr. Mamicpic reviewed private sector participation in TAMNET regional trials from 1996 to 1998 and raised the issue of improving the overall quality of the trials. He recalled that recommendations in this regard were adopted in the second TAMNET meeting and suggested that these be considered in the coming trials.
