Annual report of agricultural biotechnology/plant tissue culture : October 1988 to October 1989 -- grant year five

The primary goal of transferring useful plant biotechnology to developing countries was facilitated by the following important activities: 1. In 1/89, the third Conference of the International Plant Biotechnology Network (IPBNet) was held in Nairobi, Kenya. Ninety-two scientists, including 50 African participants, attended. As a direct result of the Conference, an all-African network was formed (APBNet) and made enthusiastic plans for a first meeting in 1990. 2. The second IPBNet Directory was published, listing 473 scientists interested in plant biotechnology as well as 47 funding sources. To date, approximately 1,700 copies have been distributed. 3. In addition to training at TCCP, two international training courses were co-sponsored. The first, held at IAV Hassan II in Morocco in 5/89, graduated nine African students from an intensive training program conducted in French. The second, held at CATIE in Costa Rica in 9/89, graduated 14 South and Central American students from a similar program in Spanish. 4. Field testing of TCCP laboratory-generated germplasm continued at 17 locations including U.S. universities, LDC national programs, and IARC"s. Testing for salinity tolerance, drought resistance, and acid tolerance produced statistically analyzed data with yield components. Data strongly support the hypothesis that selected stress-tolerant variants are useful in the field. 5. Final field testing of fall armyworm tolerant sorghum was completed. Arrangements were made for the first project germplasm release to occur early in 1990. This release will represent the first ever from an AID-funded project through the ASA-sanctioned Crop Science. This resistant germplasm will be useful both domestically and worldwide and demonstrates that somaclonal variants generated in the lab have field utility. 6. Seven graduate students representing six countries continued pathbreaking research in several areas of plant cell culture while working to complete M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. 7. Active collaborations in both research and field testing continued with lARC"s (CIMMYT and CIAT). 8. Cutting edge research continued at TCCP on AID-sponsored and two independently sponsored research activities. (Author abstract)