TISSUE CULTURE FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

CSU will implement the project with technical assistance from A.I.D. Adaptive research will be carried out to increase the tolerance levels of three crops. (1) Wheat varieties will be developed to withstand drought, high temperatures, and ordinarily toxic levels of sodium and aluminum in the soil through an artificially-controlled mutant selection process. (2) Rice varieties will be developed that are resistant to sodium and aluminum toxicity. (3) Millet species will be developed to tolerate sodium and drought. To develop these new varieties the following controlled selection process will be used: a cell culture will be established for each crop variety; cells will be allowed to proliferate until a large population of cultivated cells is obtained; the cells will be cultured on a solid medium or in a liquid suspension where they will be exposed to sodium, aluminum, drought, and heat until a level is reached where growth of normal cells is inhibited, but growth of mutant, stress-tolerant cells is favored; and plants will be regenerated from the mutated cells, and will be tested, first in greenhouse experiments, and later at International Agricultural Research Centers (IARC"s). National Agricultural Research Centers (NARC"s) and IARC"s will recommend to CSU laboratory personnel which crop varieties to use and which stress tolerances to obtain. IARC"s and NARC"s will also provide germplasm to be used in tissue culture stress selection. Visits will take place and information will be exchanged between personnel from international crop breeding centers and CSU tissue laboratory personnel. Research results will be presented at international and national plant breeding and tissue culture meetings, and in publications to be distributed internationally. Some 270 million inhabitants living in tropical and sub-tropical LDC"s are expected to benefit from this project.