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research: Genetic resources

Improved maize varieties and partnerships welcomed in Bhutan

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CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 11, November 2008

nov02Sandwiched between China and India, the Kingdom of Bhutan is a small country that relies on maize in a big way. But maize yields are typically low due to crop diseases, drought, and poor access to seed of improved varieties, among other reasons. CIMMYT is committed to improving Bhutan’s food security by providing high-yielding, pest-resistant maize varieties to farmers and capacity-building for local scientists.

“If there is no maize there is nothing to eat,” says Mr. S. Naitein, who farms maize on half a hectare of land in Bhutan. But it’s not easy to grow, he says, citing challenges such as animals (monkeys and wild boars), insects, poor soil fertility, drought, poor access to improved seed varieties, and crop diseases like gray leaf spot (GLS) and turcicum leaf blight (TLB).

But since planting Yangtsipa—an improved maize variety derived from Suwan-1, a variety introduced from CIMMYT’s former regional maize program in Thailand—Naitein has seen a real improvement in his maize yields. The local maize variety yielded 1,700 kilograms per hectare, whereas Yangtsipa gave him 2,400 kilograms per hectare, a 40% yield increase.

“It’s no wonder that Yangtsipa is by far the most popular improved variety among Bhutanese farmers,” says Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara, CIMMYT regional cereal breeder posted in Nepal. “Nonetheless, many local varieties of maize still occupy large areas of the country and don’t yield well.”

Maize is a staple food in Bhutan. Many people eat Tengma (pounded maize) as a snack with a cup of tea and Kharang (maize grits) are also popular. “Among the food crops, maize plays a critical role in household food security, especially for the poor,” says Ortiz-Ferrara. About 38% of the rural Bhutanese population lives below the poverty line and some 37,000 households cultivate maize. It’s estimated that 80% of this maize is consumed at the household level, according to Bhutan’s Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNRRC).

Leaf us alone: CIMMYT maize varieties help combat foliar diseases

Many farmers in Bhutan have been struggling with crop diseases that cut maize yields. “The recent outbreak of gray leaf spot and turcicum leaf blight affected 4,193 households and destroyed over 1,940 hectares of maize crop,” says Thakur Prasad Tiwari, agronomist with CIMMYT-Nepal. He estimates that maize is grown on 31,160 hectares in the country.

Gray leaf spot is a devastating leaf disease that is spreading fast in the hills of Bhutan and Nepal. To deal with this threat, CIMMYT sent more than 75 maize varieties with possible resistance to GLS and TLB to Bhutan in 2007. Tapping into the resources of its global network of research stations, CIMMYT sent seed from Colombia, Zimbabwe, and Mexico that was planted in GLS and TLB ‘hot spot’ locations in the country.

Ortiz-Ferrara and Tiwari then worked with Tirtha Katwal, national maize coordinator-Bhutan, and his team to evaluate these materials for their resistance.

“Together we identified the top performing lines for gray leaf spot and turcicum leaf blight which will be excellent candidates for Bhutan’s maize breeding program,” says Ortiz-Ferrara. “We are now combining their disease resistance with Yangtsipa, because we know it is high-yielding and well-adapted to Bhutan.”

Kevin Pixley, associate director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, helped to develop a detailed breeding scheme or work plan for Bhutan’s national GLS breeding program. “We want to provide capacity-building for local maize scientists so they themselves can identify and breed varieties that show resistance to crop diseases,” he says.

“We feel more confident in moving forward with the next steps in our breeding program,” said Katwal. He and his team also attended a training course on seed production, de-tasselling, and pollination given by Dr. K.K. Lal, former CIMMYT maize trainee and former chief of the Seed Quality Control Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) in Nepal.

nov03

That’s what friends are for: CIMMYT, Nepal, and Bhutan collaboration

In 2001, Bhutan began collaborating on maize research with CIMMYT-Nepal, the National Maize Research Program (NMRP) of Nepal, and the Hill Maize Research project (HMRP) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Nepal. The terrain and agro-climatic conditions of Bhutan and the Nepalese highland are similar, meaning that technologies adapted for Nepal will likely work well in neighboring Bhutan.

CIMMYT aims to facilitate regional and national partnerships that benefit farmers. For instance, during the past 7 years CIMMYT-Nepal has worked with NMRP and RNRRP to introduce 12 open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) to Bhutan. These modern varieties yield more than the local varieties whose seed farmers save to sow from year to year. Included in these 12 OPVs were several quality protein maize (QPM) varieties; these have nearly twice as much usable protein as other traditional varieties of maize.

nov04“Our CIMMYT office in Nepal has assisted Bhutan with maize and wheat genetic material, technical backstopping, training, visiting scientist exchange, and in identifying key consultants on research topics such as grey leaf spot and seed production,” says Tiwari.

Simply put, CIMMYT has useful contacts. For example, at the request of Bhutan’s Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNRRC), CIMMYT-Nepal put forward Dr. Carlos De Leon, former CIMMYT regional maize pathologist, to conduct a course on identifying and controlling maize diseases in February 2007. In September 2008, CIMMYT and HMRP also recommended two researchers (Dr. K.B. Koirala and Mr. Govinda K.C.) from Nepal’s NMRP to give a course on farmer participatory research that has been successful in the dissemination of new technologies.

“Ultimately, our goal is to improve the food security and livelihood of rural households through increased productivity and sustainability of the maize-based cropping system,” says Thakur Prasad Tiwari.

For information: Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara, cereal breeder, CIMMYT-Nepal (g.ortiz-ferrara@cgiar.org) or Thakur Prasad Tiwari, agronomist, CIMMYT-Nepal (tptiwari@mos.com.np)

Biotech in Bogor

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CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 11, November 2005

indo2Young Indonesian researchers are reaping the benefits of collaboration with CIMMYT and at the same time helping farmers in their country.

It could be a biotech laboratory almost anywhere in the world, but this one is the Indonesian Center for Agriculture Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development in Bogor, Indonesia. What makes it remarkable is that just ten years ago Indonesia had virtually no agricultural biotechnology capacity at all. At the lab benches, in standard issue white lab coats, two of Indonesia’s brightest students, each with a strong commitment to helping their country, are doing the painstaking work that molecular biology requires and their PhD supervisors demand.

Marcia Pabendon is doing a maize diversity study, using DNA fingerprinting to identify maize germplasm from diverse sources to use as parents in a breeding program to find resistance for downy mildew and drought tolerance. These are the two most serious production constraints for maize in Indonesia, where half of all maize is grown in dry land areas. By analyzing the DNA she can be sure male and female parents in the breeding program are not closely related, which is detrimental to the hybrids.

Mohamed Azrai wants to convert local maize varieties into quality protein maize, maize with higher levels of the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which occur at low levels in most maize and could result in protein deficiencies for anyone who relies heavily on maize in their diet. “I want my research to result in quality protein maize varieties that farmers will use,” he says. “Maybe quality protein maize can help solve the problem of protein malnutrition on my country.”

indonesia1“This is the untold story of the quiet biotech revolution going on in maize breeding in Asia,” says CIMMYT’s Luz George. “It is a successful transfer of technology from CIMMYT to developing countries which has now found direct application in the work of national program maize breeders.”

It began with the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network, AMBIONET, which was funded by the Asian Development Bank and which George coordinated. K.R. Surtrisno, the Director of the biotech center in Bogor, says the capacity enhancement the network provided was vitally important. “The network has given us, through CIMMYT, genotype data and training in mapping. Now the government of Indonesia has made a commitment to support and improve our facility, just in time to do useful work for farmers.”

His thoughts are echoed by Marsum Dahlan, the head of the Breeding and Germplasm section of the Indonesian Cereals Research institute. “When AMBIONET came we thought not only to help farmers but also to create capacity,” he says. “This technology will help us, though we must still combine it with tests in the field.”

AMBIONET and the work with CIMMYT have proven very valuable to agricultural biotechnology in Indonesia. “Even though the AMBIONET program is over, we still maintain collaboration with CIMMYT,” says Surtrisno. That is good news for Indonesia and good news for promising young researchers like Mohamed and Marcia.

For further information, contact Luz George (m.george@cgiar.org).

New Maize from CIMMYT: No “Throw-away” Lines!

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CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 12, December 2005

newMaizeNew, elite maize lines from CIMMYT offer enhanced nutrition and disease resistance.

CIMMYT has just released two unique maize lines that will interest breeders in developing countries. One is the first to combine maize streak virus resistance in a quality protein maize and the other is a quality protein version of one of CIMMYTs most popular maize lines. Made available every few years to partners, CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs) are among the most prized products of the Center’s maize breeding program.

“These are truly elite maize lines,” says Kevin Pixley, the Director of the Center’s Tropical Ecosystems Program. “They represent a distillation of maize genetic resources from around the world to which CIMMYT, as a global center, has privileged access. Only one of 10,000 lines might become a CML. Breeders in national programs in many developing countries look forward to new sets of these lines.”

The lines are inbred and possess excellent combining ability, which means they can be used to form either hybrids or open pollinated varieties, and so are versatile parent materials for breeders in national programs.

The new quality protein and maize streak resistant line will serve as a natural replacement for a parent in the popular Ethiopian maize hybrid, Gabisa. Maize streak virus is endemic in Africa. Severely infected plants do not produce proper cobs and nor grow to full height. Farmers will have the chance to use a hybrid with the enhanced nutritional characteristics of quality protein maize, plus built-in disease resistance.

The quality protein version of one of CIMMYT’s most successful maize lines—CML264—is virtually indistinguishable from the original parent, which is found in the pedigrees of more than a dozen commercial hybrids in Central America, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Farmers using varieties derived from it will obtain the same high yields as always, while enjoying the higher levels of grain lysine and tryptophan—two essential amino acids that improve nutrition for both humans and farm animals.

A description of the complete set of new CMLs can be found at:
https://data.cimmyt.org/

For more information contact Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org)

Danish Environment Ministers and Parliamentarians Visit CIMMYT

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March, 2004

Denmark’s Minister for the Environment, Hans Chr. Schmidt, and members of the Environment Committee of the Danish Parliament came to CIMMYT on 4 March for a briefing on the role of agriculture and research in development, the conservation and study of genetic diversity, the potential of biotechnology, and biosafety issues. They were accompanied by Sþren Haslund, Ambassador of the Government of Denmark to Mexico. During their visit they were joined by Lisa Covantes, representative of Greenpeace-Mexico.

The briefing ended with a short tour of CIMMYT’s laboratory, greenhouse, and genebank facilities. In the laboratory, researchers described how biotechnology tools increasingly facilitate the study and use of genetic resources. As one example, they presented a “maize family tree” developed on the basis of genetic analyses that assess the extent to which maize varieties and races from throughout the world are genetically similar or quite distinct. The visitors saw transformed maize and wheat plants growing in the biosafety greenhouse. In CIMMYT’s genebank, where some of the world’s largest collections of maize, wheat, and related species are held in trust for humanity, the visitors learned how these genetic resources are used to develop new varieties. They heard about CIMMYT’s work in Mexico to understand how traditional farmers manage maize diversity on the farm, and then visited one of the cold storage vaults where seed is kept.

Denmark is a world leader in its strong and thoughtful commitment to reducing poverty in developing countries through economic growth and environmentally sustainable development. The visit of the Danish delegation provided a welcome opportunity to exchange views on the role of public agricultural research for development.

The visiting members of the Environment Committee of the Danish Parliament included Eyvind Vesselbo, Mogens NÞrgÄrd Pedersen, Torben Hansen, JÞrn Dohrmann, Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Keld Albrechtsen, Helge Mortensen, Lone MÞller, Jacob Buksti, Inger Bierbaum, Jens Vibjerg, Helga Moos, SÞren Gade, Gudrun Laub, Freddie H. Madsen, and Inger StÞjberg.

1) From left to right: Eyvind Vesselbo, Minister Schmidt, and Director General Iwanaga
2) Minister Schmidt and Eyvind Vesselbo in the briefing room
3) Visiting the biotech lab
4) Visiting the genebank

Gene Flow Study Explores How Farmers Keep Maize Thriving and Changing

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June, 2005

gene_photo1What role do farmers play in the evolution of maize diversity? How extensive are the farming networks and other social systems that influence gene flow? These and other questions are helping researchers to combine knowledge of the genetic behavior of plants with information on human behavior to understand the many factors that affect maize diversity.

Outside a straw and mud-walled house in rural Hidalgo, Mexico, with chickens walking around and the smell of the cooking fire wafting through the air, CIMMYT researcher Dagoberto Flores drew lines with a stick in the red earth as he explained to a farmer’s wife how maize seed should be planted for an experiment. Along with CIMMYT researcher Alejandro Ramírez, Flores was distributing improved seed in communities where they had conducted surveys for a study on gene flow.

The movement of genes between populations, or gene flow, happens when individuals from different populations cross with each other. CIMMYT social scientist Mauricio Bellon is leading a study that aims to find out the impact of farmers’ practices on gene flow and on the genetic structure of landraces. It will document how practices differ across farming systems, analyze their determinants, figure out how much farmers control gene flow, and explore gene flow’s impacts on maize fitness and diversity and on farmers’ livelihoods.

gene_photo2The farmers visited by Flores and Ramírez in early June near Huatzalingo and Tlaxcoapan, Hidalgo are from just 2 of 20 study communities spanning ecologies from Mexico’s highlands down to the lowlands. Six months earlier, when farmers in these communities responded to researchers’ survey question, they asked some questions of their own: What does CIMMYT do? How can we get seed?

The team made it a priority to give the farmers what they requested for free. They drove around in a pick-up truck with seed they had acquired from CIMMYT scientists. They brought black, white, and yellow varieties that were native to the area and had been improved with weevil and drought resistance, and they also brought three CIMMYT varieties that were well adapted to a similar environment in Morelos, Mexico. They explained to the farmers how each variety should be planted in separate squares to facilitate pure seed selection.

“It’s a way to thank them, to bring something back to the communities,” says Bellon. Bringing improved germplasm for experimentation to interested small-scale farmers also allows researchers to get feedback in a more systematic way. The farmers will produce the maize independently, and they can save or discard seed from whichever varieties they choose. The team also distributed seed to farmers in Veracruz, and they plan to return after flowering and at harvest time to see how the improved seed fares compared with native varieties. That component of the project could be the beginning of further research in collaboration with farmers.

gene_photo3Farmers in the survey area of rural Hidalgo grow maize on the poorest, most steeply sloping land and struggle with soil diseases, low soil fertility, leaf diseases, low grain prices, and limited information about the use of chemical herbicides. Strong wind, rain, and hurricanes damage crops. Landslides cause erosion. Some farmers have access to roads and can transport their harvest by vehicle, but some farms located far from the communities have no highway access. The paths to farmers’ fields can be so narrow that not even cargo animals can maneuver on them with loads, so farmers must carry the harvest on their backs. Some walk 10 kilometers up and down slopes with heavy bags on their backs.

Many people grew coffee around Huatzalingo until about 10 years ago when the price plummeted. A kilogram of coffee used to fetch a price of about 20 pesos, or US$ 2. Now it fetches about five pesos, or 50 cents, per kilo, and even less during harvest time when the crop is abundant. Coffee producers in the area receive average government subsidies of between 125 and 300 pesos, or between US$ 10-30. One effect of the price drop has been increased immigration to Mexico City, to the city of Reynosa near the US border, and to lowland areas where orange cultivation is booming.

Partly in response to the crisis, farmers have started diversifying into alternative crops such as vanilla, citrus fruits, bananas, sugar cane, sesame, beans, chayote, chili peppers, and lentils, but the poor soils do not favor more lucrative crops. Maize is still the most important agricultural product in people’s diets in this area, and farmers grow it primarily for family consumption. They exchange seed with friends, neighbors, and producers in nearby communities, and they have conserved diverse native varieties.

In Mexico, maize has such great genetic diversity because farmers’ practices encourage the further evolution of maize landraces. Maize was domesticated about 6,000 years ago within the current borders of Mexico. Farmers created a variety of races to fit different needs by mixing different maize types, and they still experiment like that to this day. They save seed between seasons and trade seed with each other, and the wind carries pollen between different cultivars to create new mixtures.

“They are not artifacts in a museum,” Bellon says about landraces. “They are changing, they are moving.” Seed selection has a great impact on gene flow. Poor farmers typically exchange seed with each other, but little has been documented about the social relations that drive seed systems. With growing concerns about a loss of crop genetic diversity and a need to conserve genetic resources in recent years, it is important to understand the social principles of seed flow (and ultimately gene flow) in Mexico. The study findings will assist in exploration of the potential impact of transgenes. The researchers will develop models to try to predict how a transgene would diffuse and behave after it has been in a population for 10 or 20 years.

By learning about the relationships between farmers’ practices and gene flow, researchers hope to promote more effective policies regarding the conservation of diversity in farmers’ fields, the distribution of improved germplasm, and transgene management. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the study combines social science with genetics to connect social and biological factors in maize varieties. Molecular markers will help show how much gene flow has occurred over time between the Mexican highlands and lowlands.

Researchers used geographic information systems to choose varied environments for the survey. Starting in October 2003, they sampled maize populations and interviewed the male and female heads of 20 households in each community for a total of 800 intensive interviews in 400 households. They asked about topics such as principal crops, planting cycles and methods, maize varieties, machinery and tools, infrastructure, language, seed selection, fertilizer, pest and weed control, plant height, harvest, transportation, production problems, maize uses, the sale and demand of different varieties, knowledge about maize reproduction, husk commercialization, and level of migration.

Preliminary findings have already surprised Bellon. A growing market for maize husks, which are used to wrap traditional foods such as tamales, is changing the economics of maize production. Owing to increasing demand from the US, husks have become more commercially important and profitable than grain in some communities. Facing abysmally low grain prices, the success of husk production has caused some producers to seek maize varieties with high quality husks, almost regardless of grain quality.

Bellon was also surprised at the lack of improved varieties in the areas they studied. Farmers tended to seek out and plant native varieties instead of hybrids. Some farmers thought hybrids were expensive, produced poor quality husks, and required good land, chemicals, and fertilizer, but they thought native varieties adapted easily to marginal local conditions.

The study grew out of a six-year project in Oaxaca that examined the relationship between farmers’ practices and the genetic structure of maize landraces and seed flow among farmers. It also explored the implications of transgenic technologies. However, while the Oaxaca project examined a few communities located in one environment, the idea with this follow-up study was to examine many locations in the same and different environments. In that way researchers can find out if gene flow is localized or if it crosses between regional environments. “It’s the same research model on a broader scale,” says Bellon.

For information: Mauricio Bellon

The genetic revolution continues at CIMMYT

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CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 8, August 2007

Faster, cheaper, more efficient: gift from DuPont helps CIMMYT scientists look for genes in wheat and maize—and gives breeders an affordable tool to help select the best.

aug07A quiet revolution is taking place in CIMMYT’s biotechnology labs. The team has just received a new generation of genotyping machines. These semi-automated work-horses will make it much easier to determine whether breeding lines contain specific useful genes. It is hoped that this will help maize and wheat breeders—through a process known as marker-assisted selection (MAS)—to make breeding more effective and get crop varieties with valuable traits to poor farmers more quickly.

Traditionally, the only way to find out whether the offspring from a particular cross have inherited useful characteristics, such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, or grain quality, has been to grow them in the field and evaluate the adult plants. MAS can speed up the breeding process, since it makes it possible to track the presence of desired genes in every generation. This does not bypass the need for field evaluation, but can greatly improve the efficiency of the process. “Field screening takes time, space, and resources, and our capacity is limited,” explains CIMMYT maize breeder Gary Atlin, “but with MAS we could use resources more effectively, zeroing in on the best lines to test in the field and filtering out those that haven’t inherited the characteristics we need.”

When researchers want to find out whether a particular line of wheat or maize has the useful version of a gene (for example, disease resistance rather than disease susceptibility), they use nearby, identifiable sections of DNA known as markers, labeled with a fluorescent dye. Different versions of markers and genes are called alleles. DNA that is close together on the chromosome tends to stay together over generations, so a specific allele of a marker will be routinely inherited alongside the desired allele of a nearby gene. Using the new capillary electrophoresis genotyping machines, the sample is forced along a narrow capillary tube under the influence of an electric current. A laser at the end of the tube detects the different alleles of the fluorescent markers, indicating to the scientist whether the sample contains the allele they want.

aug08The two ABI 3700 machines have been generously donated to CIMMYT by DuPont through its Pioneer Hi-Bred seed business, reflecting a fruitful collaborative relationship of more than a decade’s standing. Until now, CIMMYT has run most of its marker-assisted selection work on manual, gel-based electrophoresis apparatuses. In addition, analyses of genetic relationships between different wheat or maize lines have been run on older ABI genotyping machines, including two based on the previous, much slower generation of gel-based machines. The new machines can handle many more samples—96 each at a time—but it’s the savings in hands-on time that makes the real difference. “There’s no comparison,” says Marilyn Warburton, Head of CIMMYT’s Applied Biotechnology Center. “It will take us ten minutes to load one of these new machines, whereas it takes about four hours to make and load a manual electrophoresis gel.”

As well as being much quicker and less labor-intensive, capillary electrophoresis makes it possible to test for more than one marker and run more than one sample at once in each tube. By using different colors of fluorescent dye for each sample, markers for each can be distinguished, like teams of runners wearing different-colored jerseys. For maximum efficiency, scientists can also set up groups of samples to run at slightly different times, like runners set off in a staggered start. CIMMYT will even be able to develop a new type of marker, known as SNPs, which allow numerous traits to be tested simultaneously, providing more information per sample.

All of this means that the new machines have a much higher throughput capacity, and can process many more samples for the same labor input, drastically reducing the per-sample cost—currently the major constraint on use of MAS. “If MAS were significantly cheaper, I would certainly use it in maize breeding,” says Atlin. “Effectively, it lets you quickly transfer the genes you want into improved varieties. If you’re doing a backcross between a donor with a desired trait and an improved parent with good agronomic performance, you’re trying to select for one characteristic from the donor, but against all its other genes. With a number of markers, MAS makes it possible to determine exactly which progeny combine the desired gene from the donor with the good genes from the other parent. You can get results in two generations, compared to four or five normally.”

The challenge for MAS is finding genes with substantial effects, especially for complex traits such as drought tolerance in maize. Atlin believes such genes are still to be found. “In the past, donors with a single useful gene or trait but otherwise poor agronomic qualities were very difficult to use in breeding, as they introduced so much bad material. We can get rid of that useless material through MAS. That opens up the field to look for useful genes in a wider range of parents. And genotyping technology is getting cheaper and better at finding genes all the time.”

In wheat, the hunt for useful markers at CIMMYT is more advanced. “We’re working with new markers to select for nematode resistance, leaf and stem rust resistance, boron tolerance, Fusarium resistance, and grain quality,” says Susanne Dreisigacker, CIMMYT wheat molecular biologist. “Our current work is all gel-based, which means running tests sample by sample and marker by marker. Being able to run many samples at the same time will make a huge difference.”

For more information: Marilyn Warburton, molecular geneticist (m.warburton@cgiar.org)

New Japan–CIMMYT Project Hunts for Genes to Fight Disease

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June, 2004

No single strain of wheat, barley, or related species completely withstands Fusarium Head Blight, a disease that is making increasing inroads on health and harvests worldwide. A new project offers better methods and broader gene pools for finding genes to ward off the disease.

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), one of the most destructive wheat diseases in warm and humid regions, seriously threatens wheat and barley production around the world. Even worse, the toxins produced by Fusarium fungus cause acute food poisoning in people and harm animals that eat infected grain.

A new five-year-long collaborative project between CIMMYT and the government of Japan aims to discover genes that control FHB resistance, identify wheat germplasm that can be used in FHB resistance breeding programs, and develop FHB resistant wheat by using DNA markers.

Scientists in Japan began conducting genetic and breeding studies on FHB resistance in the 1960s, after an epidemic swept across more than 400,000 hectares in 1963 and caused estimated yield losses of more than 50%. More recent epidemics in 1996 and 1998 affected about 26% of the land in Japan. Developing countries also suffer losses from FHB, and CIMMYT started its own breeding program on FHB resistance about 20 years ago.

In the United States, FHB is the worst plant disease to emerge since the 1950s, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. In the 1990s, epidemics in seven US states caused more than US$ 1 billion in crop losses. Partly due to climate changes caused by global warming and the increased use of reduced tillage practices, FHB has become more widespread in recent years.

Sources of resistance to the disease have been elusive. Researchers have never found an accession of wheat, barley, or their wild relatives that is completely immune to FHB, according to Tomohiro Ban, a scientist at Japan International Research Center for Agriculture Sciences. A lack of good sources of resistance and good methods for finding them prompted the government of Japan to fund the new project with CIMMYT, which Ban is now leading at CIMMYT-Mexico.

The genetic constitution and chromosomal location of FHB resistance genes are not well known, but current research suggests that several quantitative trait loci or minor genes control resistance. DNA markers could identify and evaluate these genes. It is hoped that the project’s search for resistance genes will also advance because of access to CIMMYT’s genebank, which has one of the world’s largest collections of wheat and its wild relatives. Researchers will be able to screen materials from a great diversity of gene pools and environments.

“We are going to use the untapped potential of these diverse genetic resources and find new sources of resistance,” says CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga. Even more important, the program could become the focus for a more organized worldwide effort to combat the disease. “We would like to facilitate a platform for international collaboration, because this is a global problem,” comments Iwanaga.

For information: Tomohiro Ban

New maize storage system as CIMMYT expands

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IMG_1331-aAll of us who work at CIMMYT have noticed its recent growth—new faces, new projects, and new facilities being constructed at El Batán and elsewhere. All of this means more research is getting done, and, inparticular, the global maize program is using and producing more breeding materials.

Until recently, the question for the maize program was, where to put them? “The old system just didn’t havethe capacity to store any more seed,” says EfrĂ©n RodrĂ­guez, head of data processing and seed distribution.

In a smart solution to the space problem, between 07 February and 16 March 2012 a new system of movable shelving units was installed in the genetic resources center. These can be moved sideways using a winding handle, eliminating the need for a permanent passage between each set of shelves.

The previous fixed shelving had a capacity of 2,880 boxes,whereas the new storage system can hold 4,104—an increase in capacity of more than 40%, with further space available on topof the units if needed. It also takes up slightly less space.

Thanks to Gary Atlin, FĂ©lix San Vicente, and Natalia Palacios for their support to this project.

The new storage system is an essential step in supporting the Maize Improvement Consortium for Latin America (IMIC-LA),which is a component of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) initiative. Improvements will also be made in on other places such as a second drying room and storage space for Seeds of Discovery materials.

Integration of farmers and science through patronato a “model” for linking researchers and farmers

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On 15 March 2012, Mexican producers and representatives of INIFAP, Patronato, the Sonoran Government, representatives of different dependencies of SAGARPA, CIMMYT and numerous local collaborators gathered at the Centro Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, to discuss technologies currently being developed as part of the MasAgro initiative. The meeting was led by SAGARPA Undersecretary for Agriculture, Mariano Ruiz-Funes Macedo, Hans Braun, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, and Bram Govaerts, leader of the Take it to the Farmer component of MasAgro.

sonora

As a state, Sonora has embraced MasAgro. It currently has 11,875 hectares of impact including conservation agriculture (CA), crop diversification and the use of infrared sensors for wheat. Govaerts explained that, apart from CA techniques, producers in the region are already using calibrated technologies for precision agriculture, such as the GreenSeeker or SPAD, for calculating the optimal levels of required fertilizer, this as a result of the intense work Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio has been developing together with local farmer unions. CENEB has been the cradle for the development of most of the wheat varieties available worldwide, said Braun, who also highlighted the important role of Mexico, through MasAgro, to identify more varieties resistant to drought, diseases, and pests.

sonora21During the visit, Govaerts demonstrated the MasAgro machinery platform, and explained the importance of Mexico being able to manufacture crop machinery and implements that can be used in the different agro-ecological zones of the country. Govaerts stressed that these technology transfer processes must impact farmers, technicians, researchers, and companies which develop this type of machinery in the different regions.

Ruiz-Funes also visited the Patronato facilities where, through the SAGARPA Genetic Resources program, and the Patronato’s own funds, they have strengthened their capacities for multiplying seed as part of MasAgro, according to Patronato leader, Antonio Gándara. The linkage with Patronato is a perfect example of researchers working hand in hand with farmers said Ruiz-Funes. We should replicate this effort in other states, he added.

A living genebank in Tajikistan

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway recently received 25,000 seed samples from all over the world. Speaking to NPR radio, Cary Fowler, director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which runs the Svalbard vault, highlighted the importance not only of storing new and current varieties, but also the old varieties that farmers do not use anymore. In doing so the genepool can be preserved and we can safeguard for future eventualities such as climate change or the emergence of new diseases, he said.

Among the batch of seeds was the vault’s first delivery from Tajikistan. CIMMYT wheat breeder Alexey Morgounov also featured in the NPR weekend segment, which typically has a listenership of over one million. Originally from Russia but now based in Turkey, Morgounov spoke about the unusual nature of wheat farming in Tajikistan. Unlike most other wheat-growing countries, farmers in Tajikistan are still planting the same ancient varieties that have been cultivated on the land for thousands of years. “They don’t want to give up growing them,” says Morgounov, “because those varieties have the taste and texture that they want.”

Instead it is the attitude of breeders that is changing. Morgounov says that before, he would have tried to persuade farmers to replace their old varieties with new, more productive kinds of wheat. Now however, he works with the farmers to improve the ancient wheat lines through traditional methods, whilst retaining the qualities that Tajikistanis desire in their flatbreads. In a country where homemade bread is “the centrepiece of life,” according to Morgounov, and where the people get half their calories from such bread, this is a very important mission indeed, and means that these ancient varieties can be preserved not only in genebanks such as the Svalbard vault and CIMMYT’s own genebank, but in the field as well.

You can listen to the NPR segment here.

Capacity building for detecting plant pathogens using real time PCR

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Mexico has a network of state and private laboratories with authorization from the Mexican Plant Health Authority (DGSC), an office of the National Service of Agri-Food Health, Safety, and Quality (SENASICA), to examine and identify plant diseases, in order to protect crops in Mexico. It is vital that the technicians at these facilities continue to receive and update their training, in order to ensure the highest levels of competence, and to help deliver the projects of MasAgro.

As part of its component to develop genetic resources and seed multiplication, deliver new technologies, and build capacity, MasAgro funded the second theoretical-practical course on detecting plant pathogens using PCR in real time, during 24-26 January 2012, at El Batán. The course was organized by Mónica Mezzalama, Head of CIMMYT’s Seed Health Laboratory, and lead by Paul Vincelli, Professor at Kentucky State University, USA. The 16 participants came from SENASICA-SAGARPA, Plant Health State Committees, universities, the private sector, and CIMMYT.

“The course was excellent and reached the objectives set,” said Kenia Rodriguez, Technician at the Molecular Biology Laboratory, Morelia. “I learnt a lot about things I do at the National Center of Phytosanitary Reference, particularly on techniques I didn’t know about.” Daisy Fuentes, Head of GeMBio, Science Research Center, Yucatán AC, said that the course will be helpful for her daily activities after being exposed to the PCR techniques in much greater detail.

The certification ceremony was presided over by Marco Antonio Caballero GarcĂ­a, Director of Production Inputs, SAGARPA, with Kevin Pixley, Director of CIMMYT Genetic Resources, and Mezzalama. Congratulations to all the graduates!

Data, data, everywhere!

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Over 23-24 January 2012, CIMMYT’s global maize program received an unprecedented gift: over 2 billion maize marker data points from 4,000 CIMMYT lines. “For each line, we are now able to detect over half a million markers,” said Gary Atlin, Associate Director of the program. “These ‘signposts’ give us great power to do genetic analysis; they are distributed more or less randomly across the 10 chromosomes of maize, so we are able to track very small pieces of chromosome,” he added.

CIMMYT is currently working with USDA maize geneticist Dr. Ed Buckler at Cornell University’s Institute for Genomic Diversity, whose team produced this data for CIMMYT using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) technology. As the operation increases, CIMMYT is partnering with Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd (DArT P/L) to establish a self-sustaining genetic-analysis service in Mexico, which will be based on GBS (“Servicio de AnĂĄlisis GenĂ©tico para la Agricultura” or SAGA in Spanish). SAGA will genotype large numbers of genebank accessions for the Seeds of Discovery project, whilst also serving the needs of breeding programs, both at CIMMYT and in Mexican partner organizations.

Using both these data and phenotypic information, researchers will learn how to select lines which perform well under drought, or low soil nitrogen levels, or possess resistance to a particular disease. Previously, CIMMYT was using SSR genotyping, at a cost of around $1 per data point. SSRs span several hundred base pairs, essentially allowing them to detect more alleles and therefore provide four or five times more information than the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) currently being used. However, there are fewer SSR loci and SSR visualization technologies are more expensive; in fact, whilst the current data set cost less than $160,000 to obtain, in 2005, using SSRs, it would have cost around $400,000,000. “It’s a new ballgame,” states Atlin. “GBS genotyping costs us about $40 per line, and will likely drop to around $20 next year. This is about the same cost as evaluating the line for yield in a single field plot. At this price, we can genotype all CIMMYT maize breeding lines entering replicated field testing, and build powerful models to predict performance in the field for traits that are difficult and expensive to measure.” He notes that it will also speed up the breeding cycle, resulting in greater yield gains per year.

Getting the two billion marker data points is just the beginning; next steps include analyzing and converting the data to information. The team plans to generate at least this much data annually henceforth. “It’s a huge job,” says Atlin, “but already a significant achievement.”

A pillar retires: farewell for Suketoshi Taba

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tabaAt El BatĂĄn on 20 December 2011, CIMMYT staff, family, and friends joined specialists from Mexican universities and national research programs, Second Secretary Shin Taniguchi of the Japanese Embassy in Mexico, and farmers in a gala farewell luncheon for the retiring head of maize genetic resources, Suketoshi Taba, after an illustrious 36-year career at CIMMYT in the study, conservation, and use of maize diversity.

In the opening tribute to Taba, CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin credited his many years of participatory research with farmers to improve landraces for traits like yield and insect resistance, while preserving their grain quality for local food products. “This is work few breeders have done, and it’s greatly appreciated by CIMMYT,” said Lumpkin. Researchers Flavio Aragón, of Mexico’s National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Institute (INIFAP) and Humberto Castro of the Autonomous University of Chapingo—both of whom have worked shoulder to shoulder with Taba and farmers—recalled their long collaboration with the retiring scientist. Castro brought a commemorative plaque from the University and news of renewed funding for the project they had pursued.

A commemorative plaque from CIMMYT was also awarded by Lumpkin at the CIMMYT Christmas party on 16 December 2011. Lumpkin made reference to Taba’s successful coordination of work of national seed banks in 13 Latin American countries to rescue and regenerate more than 15,000 endangered seed collections of native maize races, as well as bringing to 27,000 the number of unique seed samples in CIMMYT’s maize germplasm bank. Staff from the Tlaltizapán research station came personally to present Taba with a plaque of appreciation from station personnel.

In his speech, Taba thanked all present and made special mention of his mentors, his team, and co-workers. “I could not have achieved anything without the hard work and support of colleagues,” he said. “I sincerely hope that CIMMYT will continue to focus on farmers in its work.”

Born on Okinawa just following World War II, Taba grew up on a farm there at a time when, in his words, “
there were no supermarkets, and we ate only what we could grow.” A particularly momentous year in his life was 1975, when he obtained a PhD in plant breeding at Kansas State University, got married, and arrived at CIMMYT as a post-doctoral fellow. After serving during 1977-86 as the center’s maize breeder for the Andean Region, Taba took up an appointment as head of maize genetic resources in 1987.

With wonderful dishes from CIMMYT’s food services unit and a background of spirited music from a local mariachi band, guests saw Taba receive a unique gift from the global maize program: an original watercolor painting by local artist and former CIMMYT staff member Linda Ainsworth. Withal, the fond wishes of those at the event, which went on into the evening with celebration and shared recollections, constitute a souvenir that Taba will take with him wherever he goes.

A frequent visitor to CIMMYT, retired University of Massachusetts at Boston Professor Garrison Wilkes, could not be present at the luncheon but sent Taba a letter which closed with the words: “Never have so many people who plant and consume maize, now and in the future, owed so much to a single person
We value what you have accomplished and future generations of humans will be more food secure because of your service.”

CIMMYT strengthens links with China

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On 11 January 2011, CIMMYT welcomed a delegation of representatives from the Chinese embassy to Mexico. The Ambassador’s wife, Linge Liu, was accompanied by Wenling Ding, First Secretary of Education, and Yue Lan, Third Secretary of Science and Technology.

The delegation toured CIMMYT’s facilities including the Wheat Quality Laboratory, Applied Biotechnology Center, and the Wellhausen- Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center. They met with Director General Thomas Lumpkin, who stressed CIMMYT’s vision and objective to develop stronger relations and promote South- South cooperation between India, China, and Mexico. “China and CIMMYT have a long history of bilateral relations. Today, China is becoming the strongest country in the world. China and CIMMYT must work very closely together as the future develops,” stated Lumpkin.

CIMMYT currently has five senior scientists based in China: Zhonghu He, Jiankang Wang, and Yunbi Xu are posted at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing, Daniel Jeffers is based at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science, and Garry Rosewarne at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Science.

For the first time this year, China became a net importer of maize, and it recently overtook rice as the country’s primary crop. Maize is currently produced on 30.2 million hectares in China compared to 29.5 for rice and 23.9 for wheat, and Lumpkin expressed concern over the current maize market and importexport trends. By 2015, China is expected to import 15 million metric tons of maize from the US alone. Both Mexico and China are current importers of maize, and may compete for maize in the future.

Zhonghu He, Country Liaison officer for China, also joined the meetings and highlighted CIMMYT’s strong training component to develop the next generation of Chinese agricultural science researchers. CIMMYT currently has a total of 16 Chinese Postdoc students pursuing specialized research in maize and wheat genetics, diseases, and breeding, and in addition to recruiting these specialized scientists, over half of China’s maize seed bank genetic resources are sourced from CIMMYT.

Biosafety, regulations, and policy issues for biotechnology in Kazakhstan

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1Seminar-Biosafety-CIMMYT-Kazakhstan-Dec-20111Since 2010, CIMMYT has been orchestrating the project “Strengthening the Plant Biotechnology Capacity for Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Kazakhstan”, in conjunction with the National Center for Biotechnology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC “KazAgroInnovation” of the Ministry of Agriculture, and FAO. This initiative aims to improve breeding methods for the most important crops through the application of biotechnology and effective use of plant genetic resources, as well as identifying priorities and measures to develop these areas within Kazakhstani research institutions.

As part of the project, CIMMYT organized a training workshop on biosafety, regulations, biotechnology policy issues, plant genetic resources, and breeding, during 05-09 December 2011, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event was attended by scientists and experts from breeding organizations affiliated with JSC “KazAgroInnovation” and academic institutions of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. Welcoming the participants, Muratbek Karabayev, CIMMYT-Kazakhstan, spoke of Kazakhstan’s potential to become a world-leading exporter of high-quality grain and crops, given its huge land resources, well-developed agricultural infrastructure, and scientific capacity. Izbassar Rahimbayev, Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology and Guy Riba, National Institute for Agricultural Research, France, then both highlighted the importance of biosafety and bioethics in the experiments and applications of genetic engineering. Riba informed participants about the large contribution of biotechnology to food security, and emphasized the role of well-established international collaborations in the development of agriculture. The legal aspects of labeling genetically modified products were elaborated on by Evgeniy Klimov, President of the Kazakhstan Foundation for Integration of Ecological Culture.

Edgar Klose, Maerkish Institute for Promotion of Technology and Innovation, Germany, lectured on the concept of sustainable development, with particular reference to reasonable economies, the environment, and social justice. He also briefed participants on the latest devices and technologies being used in Europe for plant breeding, crop production, and ecology. Representing the Quarantine Nursery of Cereal Crops, Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture, Amangeldy Sarbaev, reported on issues related to testing imported seed material, as well as the ongoing collaborations between CIMMYT and the Kazakh Research Institute of Farming and Crop Production. Shymbolat Rsaliev, Institute for Biological Safety Problems, Kazakhstan, also spoke of the necessary international approach, especially when considering plant pathogens such as the potential threat of the stem rust Ug99.

Nazira Bishimbaeva, Institute of Plant Biology and Technology, Kazakhstan, spoke of the possibilities of expanding the genetic basis of selection through biotechnological techniques, particularly stem cell engineering and somaclonal variation. She described the genotype-independent plant regeneration technology for wheat lines with valuable traits, which was developed at the Institute. Biotechnology methods are already being used at the International Potato Center (IPC), and were explained at the workshop by Carlos Carli, IPC Central Asian Liaison Officer. The participants were unanimous in concluding that the national agricultural and biological research systems in Kazakhstan should utilize plant genetic resources for the benefit of food production, as well as ensuring that research and commercial production integrates advanced approaches and technologies. This will increase the efficiency of the agricultural sector in maintaining improved national food security and agricultural export capacities.