The world’s keepers of wheat genetic resources must provide better access to seed and information from their collections, as well as meeting the rising demand for wheat’s wild relatives, DNA mapping populations, and genetic stocks. These conclusions emerged from a meeting of 12 internationally respected experts on the genetic resources of wheat, rye, and triticale. The specialists—who came from Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America—gathered at CIMMYT in Mexico 20-22 June 2006 to develop a global strategy for the conservation and use of the genetic resources of wheat and related species.

Participants decided on five priorities to reach the goals above: (1) developing an integrated information system on the world’s collections; (2) addressing deficiencies in the management of important collections; (3) ensuring that key collections are adequately backed-up; (4) addressing gaps in the genetic diversity conserved in global collections, with particular emphasis on wild relatives; and (5) augmenting collections of genetic stocks—materials that contain specific genetic characters, genes, or gene constructs.

The meeting was sponsored by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an initiative founded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). “Wheat is probably the largest and most important crop, in terms of number of collections and accessions conserved by national programs around the world,” says Brigitte Laliberté, scientist at the Trust, which seeks to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide. “The proposed global wheat conservation strategy will guide the allocation of funds from the Trust to secure key reference collections in perpetuity.”

This week a truck arrived at El Batán with wheat seed from CIMMYT’s 2006 Mexicali quarantine nurseries (a wheat multiplication site free of wheat diseases like Karnal Bunt). CIMMYT annually distributes several tons of wheat seed through SIDU’s International Wheat Improvement Network to cooperators in over 100 countries.

Clean, healthy seed is a must. After several more months of seed cleaning, washing, inspecting, treating, field book printing, packing and boxing the new seed will be ready for distribution in early 2007. SIDU appreciates the hard work of Cosme Rivera, Leonardo Márquez, José Luis Coss, Salvador Madrigal, Miguel Borja, and Jesús Perales.

Members of the CGIAR Marketing Group held their annual meeting on the ILRI campus in Nairobi last week. Each CG center can send two representatives, usually one from the fundraising side and the other from communications. This year CIMMYT was represented by Daisy Ouya, our writer/ editor based in Nairobi. During the business meeting, the group examined possibilities for improving its own profile and addressed the problem of getting more active representation from the fundraising / donor relations side of the group.

Several invited speakers, including Joachim Voss the DG of CIAT, and CGIAR consultant Howard Elliott, stimulated discussion. Romano Kiome, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya (and a member of the CIMMYT Board of Trustees) in his talk asked the question “How can we make agriculture relevant again?” He challenged the group to engage more in dialogue if it is to achieve greater clarity about the CG’s diverse audiences.

The group decided on a set of priority activities for the coming year to help promote the CGIAR and its member research centers. Projects will include the creation of a traveling exhibition / museum highlighting the CG’s work, and the production of a short video about the CGIAR.

Starting Tuesday, 20 June and ending on 22 June, a group of eminent scientists from around the world will meet under the auspices of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and CIMMYT to plan a strategy for the conservation of wheat, rye and triticale germplasm from a global perspective. All sessions will be held in the Sasakawa room and are open to CIMMYT staff.

About 75 people, including farmers, technical advisers, representatives of farmers Unions, academics, government officials, (SAGARPA State vice-representative, and Chair of the Phytosanitary Authority Local Board), and the media attended a special event with CIMMYT scientist Ivan Ortiz Monasterio and research assistant Dolores Vázquez in Ciudad Obregon this week. The meeting, organized by the Asociación de Organismos Agrícolas del Sur de Sonora (AOASS), the umbrella institution for farmers unions, was held to discuss the results of this season’s trials of nitrogen sensor technology to optimize fertilizer applications. For the second year a group of wheat farmers in the Yaqui valley worked with CIMMYT to test the technology.

The infrared sensor, combined with computer software in a handheld computer, can give farmers an indication of how much fertilizer to apply. Optimizing the nitrogen fertilizer application can benefit the farmer by reducing costs and benefit the environment by reducing fertilizer runoff. This is one example of partnerships with Stanford University of studies on environmental impacts of agriculture in the Yaqui Valley. The demonstration data showed that during the 2005-2006 crop cycle, the average per hectare income from seven participating farmer’s fields was US $50 higher with the use of the sensor compared to traditional fertilizer practices.

All three farmers that talked about the technology at the meeting said they supported its use. Much of the sensor to work has been done in collaboration with Oklahoma State University. Several newspapers and television stations covered the event, including Sonora State’s main newspaper, El Imparcial. After the presentations, AOASS announced that they will support the necessary activities to spread the use of this technology more widely by farmers and they asked CIMMYT to prepare a proposal on how to do this.

CIMMYT is one of only two centers in the CGIAR to achieve an “outstanding” level of performance in the annual appraisal conducted by the Secretariat and the Science Council. The announcement that CIMMYT had been given an “A” was made this week.

Every year the CGIAR looks at a set of performance indicators for each of the fifteen research centers to see if they are meeting expectations. The indicators range from how many peer-reviewed papers each scientist has published to how good the financial management has been over the year. They also include assessments of governance, impact and science quality. This year in addition to the two “outstanding” centers, 12 centers received “superior” ratings or a “B” grade and one a “satisfactory” or “C”. At the last review CIMMYT received a “C”, mainly due to the low level of the financial reserve.

The news about our jump from C to A could not come at a better time according to DG Iwanaga. “The outcome, I hope, will affect perceptions of the EPMR follow-up review team who will arrive this weekend,” he says, adding that the news shows CIMMYT is on the right track as a strong, science-based center in which investors and donors can have confidence.

Board of Trustees Chair Lene Lange said “Not just B but A for Outstanding! Congratulations to all of the CIMMYT community. Well done! Keep up the good work!”

Perhaps the best news of all is that based on the outstanding performance the World Bank will increase its allocation to the CIMMYT unrestricted core budget by $850,000. This money will give the center some more flexibility to fund key flagship product development as outlined in the center’s Business Plan and can cushion the impact of any unexpected donor reductions during the year. Masa thanks all CIMMYT staff for “helping the center make the jump from C to A.”

Colombia’s Agriculture and Livestock Research Corporation (CORPOICA) has released a new maize hybrid, CORPOICA PALMIRA H-262, for the country’s Cauca Valley Department. The new single-cross hybrid, which yielded more than 9 tons per hectare on average in tests in the region, was developed using acid-soil-tolerant inbred lines CLA176 and CLA215 from CIMMYT, according to Luis Narro, Center maize researcher in South America.

“This shows how quality breeding materials developed for certain environments—in this case, acid soils—can be successful in a range of settings,” according to Narro, who says that acid-tolerant maize is routinely evaluated for yield potential in locations, such as Cauca Valley, with fertile soils and normal pH.

The new hybrid emerged from tests in Cauca Valley in 2001, with support from the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture, to find a variety that would out-yield available commercial hybrids. CORPOICA and CIMMYT assembled a trial comprising 20 hybrids—17 experimental hybrids from CIMMYT, and 3 commercial checks. “H-262 won out not only for its high yields, but also because it yields well under diverse conditions and has good grain quality: semi-flint type, and good for making the popular food ‘arepas,’ ” Narro says.

Dominated by the river which gives the Department its name and home to nearly 3 million people, the Cauca Valley is the country’s leading sugarcane producer. Farmers there also grow maize on some 20,000 hectares; just over half of it on holdings of less than 30 hectares.

The hybrid was released in February 2006 in a ceremony attended by CORPOICA Director General Arturo Vega, Colombian farmers, researchers, and policymakers. Diego Aristizábal Quintero, Director of CORPOICA’s Palmira facility, thanked CIMMYT and others who contributed to the development of H-262.

“I would like to take this opportunity to recognize CIMMYT’s close and effective collaboration, the participation of FENALCE, and the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, whose funds allowed us to obtain the product that we are proudly turning over today for the benefit of the Valley’s farmers…” At the time of release, 8.2 tons of seed of H-262 were available—enough to sow more than 500 hectares.

The seed health laboratory, part of CIMMYT’s Seed Inspection and Distribution Unit (SIDU), has just begun the process of obtaining ISO9000 accreditation with the International Standards Organization. Seed health certification is a major bottleneck that can delay the rapid, timely, and efficient international distribution of CIMMYT seed. That means that CIMMYT must have approved processes in place to ensure that any seed we distribute is disease and pest free.

Since 1998 CIMMYT has worked under the authority of the Mexican Phytosanitary Direction General (DGSV). Now that department also requires CIMMYT to obtain the ISO9000 certification. The accreditation process started on May 31 with a workshop given by CENCADE, a company hired to lead seed health personnel through the process of accreditation. The workshop was attended by 19 staff from SIDU, HR, ICT and Purchasing, as all of these groups will have to contribute to the process. The accreditation process will take approximately 6-7 months.

Published in 2006.

Masa Iwanaga, CIMMYT Director General, visited the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and had a fruitful meeting with Wang Jie, Vice President of NSFC. An agreement was signed with Han Jianguo, DG of the NSFC International Cooperation Department, for collaborative research between CIMMYT and Chinese scientists. Other key staff at the meeting included Bai Ge, DDG of the International Cooperation Department; Du Shengming, Executive DDG of the Life Science Department; NSFC scientists Zhang Yinglan, Luo Jing, and Zhang Yongtao; and He Zhonghu and Han Nanping from the CIMMYT-China office.

NSFC supports basic research in various disciplines. Applied and basic research in agriculture is conducted by the Life Science Department of NSFC, which seeks to improve the quality of science in China through international collaboration. NSFC has provided continuous support to China-CIMMYT collaborative research on wheat quality, the genetics of disease resistance in wheat and maize, and workshops and conferences, contributing more than US$ 300,000 over the last five years.

“The real value of the agreement is that the Chinese government provides us with money for science, through a merit-based selection process,” says Iwanaga. “Thanks to He Zhonghu’s efforts, we have this partnership. Now NSFC wants to formalize it through a memorandum of understanding that can serve as a model for their other contributions to the international science community.”

Research with China has resulted among other things in significant advances in the quality of Chinese wheat cultivars, and the CAAS-CIMMYT Wheat Quality Laboratory has become an internationally recognized center for wheat quality research. There is also good progress in understanding the genetics of resistance to yellow rust and powdery mildew in Chinese wheats.

Published in 2006

One of the most important aspects of any crop breeding program is the collection, storage, retrieval and analysis of data for germplasm (e.g. wheat and maize seed) plant breeders use. This includes phenotypic (physical) and molecular characteristics, as well as their pedigree or ancestry. When a plant breeder is trying to combine useful characteristics to make a potentially useful variety, she has to find parents that are likely to produce offspring with those traits. That is where mining crop information databases is vital.

CIMMYT has been a leader in developing computer-based crop information systems. Now the International Crop Information System, (ICIS) has just held two weeks of meetings at El Batán. More than 40 scientists and data specialists, including a large contingent from the International Rice Research institute (IRRI), participated in the two-week event. The last time the group met at CIMMYT was in 2000.

Addressing the group, CIMMYT senior wheat breeder Richard Trethowan said that vital crop information was in danger of being lost because information systems developed in the past could not cope with the way breeding was being done today. The ICIS system is designed to address this constraint and CIMMYT is now converting its crop data to the new system. “ICIS is broad enough to handle information about a wide range of crops,” says Graham McLaren, the leader of the IRRI-CIMMYT program on research informatics.

The ICIS meeting was divided into two parts. The first week was for users and potential users such as breeders and data curators to learn how to make the best use of the system both in terms of putting in their current data and searching the electronic databases for useful information.

The second week was designed more for the people developing various aspects of the software. They reviewed development progress over the past year and planned activities for the next 12 months. The focus was on the use of ICIS for managing germplasm collections, seed inventories, and genotyping data.

The crop information software is being developed through an open source project and is freely available to institutions and breeders around the world as a global public good. In fact, one of the presentations came from the International Potato Center (CIP). CIP staff in Lima, Peru, were able to participate in the meeting via a video conference link.

In an effort to promote quality protein maize (QPM), CIMMYT, in collaboration with the Agricultural Research and Extension Service (AREX) in Zimbabwe, recently held a workshop on QPM awareness. QPM contains enhanced levels of the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which together with other amino acids in maize are essential for the production of protein in the human body. Protein malnutrition is a serious health problem in southern Africa.

In addition to promoting general awareness, the workshop concentrated on sensitizing and educating participants about the usefulness of QPM in both human and animal nutrition. It also stimulated discussion that organizers hoped would get people thinking about how to promote quality protein maize in Zimbabwe.

The workshop was attended by participants from the University of Zimbabwe, University of Midlands, poultry and livestock industry, departments of extension, researchers and NGOs. Presentations covered the development, utilization, and seed production of QPM. During the discussion it was clear that the participants saw the potential of QPM in mitigating malnutrition in Zimbabwe.

At present only one QPM openpollinated variety has been released in the country and there is a need to release more varieties. In the recent past the variety release committee has insisted on presentation of data from animal feeding trials for a variety to be released as a QPM variety.

However, during the course of the workshop (which was attended by several members of the variety release committee) it was agreed that a QPM variety could be released on the strength of its agronomic performance and high values of lysine and tryptophan from lab tests. High lysine and tryptophan in a QPM variety were seen as valueadded traits. It was agreed that feeding trials are no longer necessary as long as there is lab data to show that a candidate variety contains a high level of lysine and tryphtophan compared to non-QPM variety. At present QPM varieties have been released in Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia.

Published in 2006

Technical staff of the Njoro Agricultural Research station of KARI in Kenya have completed planting a large stem rust screening trial. Ten thousand different wheat samples from more than 30 countries were planted as part of the Global Rust Initiative.

CIMMYT, ICARDA, and national partners are testing the samples to assess the world’s wheat germplasm for vulnerability to Ug99, the new and virulent form of stem rust that is now in eastern Africa. In addition, the team hopes to identify sources of potential resistance that could be used in breeding programs to produce new varieties resistant to the disease.

Past outbreaks of stem rust have destroyed up to 40% of wheat production in affected countries. The Njoro station is in the middle of Kenya’s wheat growing area near Nakuru. This region is a known hot-spot for rust diseases like Ug99, where local wheat is already infected by the fungus, and so makes a perfect test ground.

Rick Ward, co-facilitator of the Global Rust Initiative, went to Njoro to monitor the planting. The actual screening for susceptibility will take place in late August or September, when the wheat plants mature.

Published 2006

Experts from around the world met at headquarters this week to begin hammering out a strategy to ensure the long-term conservation of the genetic diversity of maize, a central pillar of humanity’s food security. Pivotal to this issue is the well-being of gene banks. Both national and international gene banks have not fared well, as investment in public sector agricultural research has steadily declined and fierce competition for dwindling resources in the agricultural sciences has risen.

The meeting, sponsored by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the World Bank, and CIMMYT, was called to initiate a global response to this growing crisis, with nothing less at stake than the survival of the genetic heritage of this essential crop. At a time when molecular genetics opens new opportunities daily to exploit genetic resources carrying resistance to combat plant diseases, insect pests, and threats such as drought, soil salinity, and heat stress, collecting and preserving the basic sources of resistance traits takes on added importance.

Given the global distribution and subsequent evolution of maize, the job is too large for a single institution or nation—thus the need for a broad-based solution, says maize genetics expert and meeting co-organizer Major Goodman of North Carolina State University.

“With the experience and expertise at this meeting,” says Suketoshi Taba, director of the CIMMYT maize gene bank, “we are posed to discuss and make recommendations, based on ground-level reality, to address the threats to conserving the genetic treasures of maize and to focus our efforts and resources.”

Published 2006