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Raun named OSU Sarkeys Distinguished Professor

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Former CIMMYT wheat agronomist (1986-91) Bill Raun has been named the 2007 recipient of the Sarkeys Distinguished Professor Award by the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The Sarkeys award is based on outstanding contributions to agriculture through teaching, research or extension efforts. The award was established by the Sarkeys Foundation in 1980 to honor Elmo Baumann, an agronomist who worked with the foundation after his retirement from OSU. Raun was named a Fellow of the Soil Science of America and American Society of Agronomy and has received many prestigious honors, including the ASA Werner L. Nelson Award, the Robert E. Wagner Award, the OSU Regents Distinguished Research Award and the OSU James A. Whatley Award for Meritorious Service in Agricultural Sciences.

Call of duty from CG Alliance for Rodomiro Ortiz

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CIMMYT’s Director of Resource Mobilization, Rodomiro Ortiz, has been elected by peers as Chair of the CGIAR Alliance Deputy Executive (ADE). The ADE deals with common, cross-center issues of research strategy, implementation and quality, as well as financial, audit and administrative compliance with the CGIAR system demands. Ortiz will serve for one year, beginning in January 2.

Work on transgenic drought tolerance

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Takashi Kumashiro (Director, Biological Resources Division) and Kazuo Nakashima (Senior Scientist, Biotechnology Lab of Dr. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki) from the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) visited CIMMYT during 29-30th November for the first mid-year year review meeting of a new five year project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Fisheries and Food (MAFF).

The project is the second phase of a JIRCAS-CGIAR collaborative initiative to develop transgenic drought tolerance in a range of tropical staple crops—an initiative launched by Masa Iwanaga when he was Director of the Biological Resources Division of JIRCAS. The current project involves the use of a second generation of drought responsive elements (DREB genes) generated by JIRCAS scientists and other transgenes (especially transcription factors) generated by the Gene Discovery Research Team of the Plant Science Center of the RIKEN Yokohama Institute. Led by GREU director Jonathan Crouch, the current project is a joint wheat and rice initiative through collaborations between CIMMYT, CIAT and IRRI.

Wheat phenome atlas meetings at CIMMYT

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Wheat scientists met at CIMMYT El Batán to discuss the wheat phenome pilot project on 12 and 13 November 2007. CIMMYT and the University of Queensland have been working together to develop a “wheat phenome atlas” (WPA) since 2006.

“The WPA will be a freely-available online tool for wheat scientists. It will describe which parts of the genome influence the inheritance of all economically-important traits,” says Ian Godwin, molecular geneticist from the University of Queensland. Breeders will be able to go online for detailed information on a small piece of DNA sequence that affects resistance to leaf rust, for example. “This technology could also be applied to other crops such as maize and rice,” adds Godwin. Information for the WPA is obtained through advanced statistical analyses of decades of yield trials and recent data from molecular markers. CIMMYT has 40 years of data from field experiments, and has stored the seeds from these trials in the germplasm bank. Scientists can thus link data from yield trials with genetic analysis of seeds from the trials.

“The WPA will be accessible to anyone in the international wheat community, making the process of developing cultivars faster, cheaper, and more efficient,” says Hans-Joachim Braun, Head of the Global Wheat Program. A basic version of the WPA should be up and running by late 2008, says Godwin.

Left to right: Ian Godwin, Ian de Lacy, Christopher Lambrides (back), and Kaye Basford (all from the Universify of Queensland, Australia).

Visit of Slovakian Minister

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Miroslav Jurena, Minister of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic, spent the day at El Batán on 15 November 2007 to learn about wheat research and related work in crop genetic resources and biotechnology. There will be follow-up communication with the Ministry to establish stronger links with CIMMYT, through the center’s office in Turkey.

Ohio State University honors Kevin Pixley

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On 16 October 2007, CIMMYT maize breeder and assistant director of the center’s global maize program, Kevin Pixley, was given the G.H. Stringfield Award from Ohio State University, USA, in recognition of “his outstanding contributions to the science of maize breeding and genetics.” The award was made on behalf of the OSU Department of Horticulture and Crop Science and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. “Stringfield was arguably the most important maize breeder in Ohio history,” says Pixley, who is only the second person to receive the award. “He was instrumental in early hybrid research and in leading the transition from OPVs to hybrids in Ohio.”

Updating Kenyan stakeholders on progress

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This past Thursday, CIMMYT’s Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project organized a well-attended meeting to update its stakeholders, project participants, and journalists on the past year’s progress. Held at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) National Agricultural Research Laboratories, in Nairobi, the event drew more than 100 stakeholders, project participants, and journalists, who followed the presentations keenly and contributed to the lively discussions. The IRMA project is a joint initiative of KARI, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Speaking at the event, Kenya’s Agricultural Secretary, Wilson Songa, lauded the IRMA partnership for its significant contribution to improving national food security and livelihoods, through development of maize varieties with increased borer resistance. Other notable speakers were Marianne Bänziger, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, Jost Frei of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, KARI’s Director Ephraim Mukisira and IRMA Project Manager, Stephen Mugo. Through their remarks, the speakers highlighted the momentous strides made by IRMA in the development of capacity, technology, and policy – notably the Biosafety Bill – as well as raising awareness on biotechnology and related biosafety aspects. All stakeholders were in agreement that IRMA had set the pace for similar initiatives in the region and that they should all strive to move the IRMA agenda forward in their individual capacities.

CIMMYT scientists win awards

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Norman Borlaug opened the Crop Science Society of America annual meetings in New Orleans with an inspirational speech on 5 November 2007. Also at this meeting, the Crop Science Journal awarded CIMMYT scientists Jorge Franco, José Crossa, Marilyn Warburton, and Suketoshi Taba the Crop Science C8 Outstanding Paper Award.

Their paper is titled: “Sampling strategies for conserving maize diversity when forming core subsets using genetic markers.” Tens of thousands of seed samples, known as “accessions,” are stored in CIMMYT’s maize germplasm bank. By grouping similar accessions for a particular maize race and applying advanced statistics, scientists can assemble a useful subset that contains only one-fifth of the total accessions for that race. For example, there are over 1,500 accessions in the collections for the Tuxpeño maize race. Using the techniques described in the paper, researchers can identify 300 that provide breeders close to 100% of the allelic diversity in the Tuxpeño collection. “CIMMYT leads the world in expertise and scientific rigor in the use of statistics to get a representative subset of seeds from a collection, based on data including molecular markers,” says CIMMYT molecular geneticist Warburton. Working with a smaller number of accessions facilitates breeding, testing, and germplasm bank use, according to Crossa, Head of Biometrics and Statistics at CIMMYT. “Our research aims to get the most diverse core subset possible. It can also be applied to all other crops” he says.

The CSA also recognized the ongoing contributions of Ravi Singh to develop rust resistant wheat. Singh, a CIMMYT distinguished scientist, was awarded the prestigious International Service in Crop Science Award. Wheat germplasm deriving from his work is part of the pedigrees of 170 cultivars sown on an estimated 26 million hectares or more in developing countries. Singh has developed some of the highest-yielding and widely-adapted CIMMYT-spring wheat germplasm that also features high levels of durable resistance to both leaf and yellow rusts.

Resetting the agricultural research agenda: Byerlee highlights the World Development Report’s implications for the CGIAR

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Following the release of the World Development Report 2008, its Director, Derek Byerlee, was in Nairobi to discuss its implications with the Kenya-based CGIAR centres. Convened jointly by CIMMYT, ILRI and ICRAF, Byerlee’s seminar was themed “The World Development Report 2008 – Agriculture for Development – Implications for the CGIAR,” and was held on Friday, 2 November at the ICRAF campus. The presentation drew a lot of interest and discussions centred on the three key functions of agriculture in development: driving economic growth, poverty reduction, and fostering food security together with better natural resource management. These were in turn linked to the relevant Millennium Development Goals that touch on gender, health, poverty reduction, and the environment.

The main emerging challenge for the CGIAR, as outlined in the Report, is generating technologies that will ensure that there is enough grain and other high value food products to meet the twin competing demands of the world’s populations for food and biofuels. This is to be achieved against a backdrop of climate vulnerability, declining water and land availability, as well as increasing demand for research and development by diverse funding sources.

After the afternoon’s seminar, the participants were hosted to a colorful cocktail, in the spirit of overall optimism that the CGIAR can do it! The Report can be downloaded from this link: www.worldbank.org/WDR2008.

Democratizing crop improvement

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Maize breeders in the Mexican highlands are increasingly looking to farmers for input on how to improve crops, after decades of having little impact in these areas. It is estimated that only 7-15% of maize seed planted in the highlands of Mexico State is of improved varieties. “Considering that the Mexican highlands represent 10% of the 6.3 million hectares of highland maize grown globally, this constitutes a glaring discrepancy between those who have benefited from maize breeding programs and those who have not,” says Brian Love, a consultant working with CIMMYT’s global maize program.

Now CIMMYT’s highland maize breeding program is turning to farmers in the state of Mexico for their input. As part of a joint project involving CIMMYT and the US and Mexican Departments of Agriculture, farmers are being asked to give their opinion about improved varieties currently available. Farmers from La Purificación and Tepetlaoxtoc, two villages near CIMMYT’s El Batán research station in Mexico, came to the station and voted on improved maize varieties provided by CIMMYT and other maize breeding programs in the region, including the Mexican national agricultural research program (INIFAP) and the Colegio de Postgraduados. A CIMMYT yellow maize under development and H-40 of INIFAP were clear winners. Farmers explained their desire for materials that perform well under rainfed conditions, resist ear rots, escape frosts, and have small cobs.

“One of the easiest ways for everyone to have their say is to put it to a vote,” says Love. “Democracy is allowed to rule and a CIMMYT staff member facilitates a discussion aimed at learning why selected varieties were preferred. The process allows farmers to experience new maize varieties and researchers to better understand farmers’ circumstances and preferences, both of which should help promote the adoption of improved materials.”

CIMMYT entomology lab technician, Carlos Muñoz, was instrumental in organizing the event, and INIFAP plant breeders Gustavo Valázquez and José Luis Arellano participated. Velázquez, who conducts nearly all of his trials with farmers, felt the voting technique (originally developed by researchers at IRRI  in the Philippines for use with upland rice growers in Laos) was effective in highland maize trials, and that INIFAP could apply it.

Borlaug scholarship for children of national staff

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The Borlaug Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce it is now accepting scholarship applications for the second semester student scholarship for 2007. Children of national staff in Mexico are eligible to apply if they are in high school and if their parents make monthly salaries of $6,000 pesos or less, (or $7,000 pesos or less for single parents). Children of staff at El Batán, Toluca, Agua Fría, Tlaltizapán and Obregón for are also eligible. The scholarship will consist of a fixed amount per semester that will help students cover the cost of transportation, books, school fees, supplies, etc. The scholarship may last for more than one year, depending on the student’s grade level when awarded the scholarship.

To qualify, students must have grades of 80 and above (on a scale of 0 to 100) and should send official transcripts from this semester or the previous one to Human Resources, who will be working with CIMMYT’s selection committee to administer the scholarship. As in the past, the Committee is asking for help from station superintendents to identify national staff with children who are eligible to apply. The deadline for the scholarship application is 9 November, when all original documents should be submitted to Human Resources.  Best of luck to all applicants!

First FLDP in Spanish

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Thirteen national staff from CIMMYT and the Cali Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) took the First Leadership Development Program (FLDP) last week at El Batán. CIMMYT organized the course. This is the first time it has been given completely in Spanish. Facilitator Petr Kosina said mounting the course in Spanish was a great challenge and he was happy with the outcome. “I was very impressed with the high standards of the students. It was a very good group.” A follow-up session has been scheduled for January.

 

Special mention for CIMMYT wheat poster

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A poster on a CIMMYT-led project to establish a system for assessing wheat grain quality in the main wheat-producing areas of Mexico received special mention at the 1st Latin American International Conference on Cereals and Cereal Products Quality and Safety in Rosario, Argentina, 23 September 2007. CIMMYT is partnering with several federal and Mexican state-level organizations (INIFAP, SIAP, SAGARPA and CONASIST-CONATRIGO) and the private sector (GRANOTEC) to determine the varieties cultivated and the quality of wheat grain lots from commercial fields in the North West and the Central Highlands of Mexico.

The two-year project, funded by COFUPROSAGARPA- CONACYT, aims to assess which varieties are being cultivated and what new and improved wheat varieties should be planted to better suit local markets. The poster describes how CIMMYT and partners conducted the analysis of grain from commercial fields in the country’s major wheat lands, to provide potential users with a clear idea of its quality. “The use of old varieties and inappropriate crop management are the main factors influencing crop quality variability,” says Javier Peña, who is head of CIMMYT’s cereal quality laboratory and leader in the project. “With a crop quality assessment system, we will know which varieties to improve for manufacturers of wheat-based products.”

The importance of CIMMYT’s maize in Mexico

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On September 9, and October 4 and 12, the highland maize program participated in field days in Chapingo, Puebla and Hidalgo. The events illustrated the continuing importance of CIMMYT germplasm in Mexico. For example, in Puebla, with the collaboration of Casiano Tut, from INIFAP, the release of the new hybrid H-3 is in process.

At the Autonomous University of Chapingo, Dr. José de Jesús Reynoso has identified several promising white, yellow, and blue hybrids (known as Toritos). In Hidalgo, at the Polytechnic University, Francisco I. Madero, spoke about work with CIMMYT, and with the collaboration of diverse interdisciplinary groups (state and municipal government, university authorities, producers from near locations, and students of the University). Each group summarized their activities to make known the use of improved maize varieties. On behalf of CIMMYT, José Luis Torres, Senior Researcher, Maize for the Highlands, spoke briefly about CIMMYT’s work worldwide, focusing mainly on Mexico’s highland valleys, and encourage the attending groups to continue to publicize the use of improved maize being developed by CIMMYT.

Many farmers were interested in establishing demonstration plots with CIMMYT materials. In this regard, the Chancelor of the Polythecnic University of Hidalgo, Herminio Baltasar Cisneros, emphasized the commitment of that institution to identify the best maize varieties, and produce low-cost seed for farmers. There was also an exhibition of the different uses of maize, such as maize handcrafts. Among the microbusinesses participating was Semillas Azteca, whose manager, Pedro Cruz, says they are working to release a yellow hybrid for highlands developed at CIMMYT.

Mexican farmers waking up to new beds

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As part of a Fundación Sonora project and nationwide efforts to test and promote resourceconserving practices, during 10-12 October Fernando Delgado, Rodrigo Rascón, Iván Ortíz-Monasterio, and Bram Govaerts and his agronomy team held a three-day, hands-on training course for farmers and technicians, particularly on sowing on permanent raised beds, in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora State, northern Mexico.

Attended by 25 farmers and technicians, the course focused on the operation of a multi-use, multi-crop prototype machine to fertilize, reshape permanent beds, and sow winter maize into different types of straw from various preceding crops. Training was based on the results of long-term experiments on conservation agriculture that CIMMYT is conducting in Mexico, including one at El Batán begun in 1991. The group plans to establish six on-farm research and training modules at key farming system sites across the country.

“The results of summer sorghum already sown in two modules had great impact,” says Govaerts. “An economic analysis with farmers showed per-hectare profits on permanent beds of more than twice those of the conventional system. The owners of the land are ready to go for the next zero-tillage crop.”

Meanwhile, the next training course, scheduled for November, will involve farmers sowing wheat on permanent beds in different types of straw with the same planter.