Following the agreement at the Seventh Coordinators Meeting on March 1-3, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan, the FNCA 2006 Workshop on Mutation Breeding took place as follows,

The Opening Session began with the opening address by Mr. Kenichi Miyazawa, Special Staff, Atomic Energy Division, Research and Development Bureau, MEXT, followed by welcome remarks and the project review on FNCA Mutation Breeding Project by Dr. Hitoshi Nakagawa, Project Leader of Japan.

Mr. Kenichi Miyazawa	Dr. Hitoshi Nakagawa

In Session 1, progress reports 2006 and final reports on Drought Tolerance in Sorghum and Soybean were delivered by China , Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines and Vietnam . Final report was agreed and summarized by participating countries. Research progress and outcomes and remaining problems and future issues were discussed. The points discussed and agreed upon are given in the minutes. After discussion, all the participating countries agreed that this project would be terminated in 2006.

In Session2, report on the sub-project meeting on Disease Resistance in Banana which was held on July 25-28, 2006 in the Philippines was presented by the project leader of Malaysia . After his presentation, the mid-term report on banana and the future work plan were discussed and accepted.

In Session3, progress reports 2006 on Insect Resistance in Orchid were delivered by Indonesia , Malaysia and Thailand . Present status and future work plan were discussed. The points discussed and agreed upon are given in the minutes.

In Session 4, Keynote speech on "Prospective of FNCA and some Views on Mutation Breeding Project" was delivered by Dr. Sueo Machi, FNCA Coordinator of Japan, followed by four special lectures by Japan and Bangladesh .

In Session 5, the status of composition or quality crop breeding mainly focused on rice in Japan and Korea was introduced by both speakers; Dr. M. Nishimura from Japan and Dr. S.-Y. Kang from Korea respectively, followed by proposals for the new sub-project on Composition or Quality Crop Breeding by China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Among them, China , Indonesia , Japan , Korea , Malaysia and Vietnam suggested research on rice especially focused on amylose and other composition contents. Also composition breeding researches on wheat, sweet sorghum, mungbean and soybean were suggested by China , the Philippines and Vietnam as a new sub-project item. Firstly, the composition or quality crop breeding on rice was selected primarily as low amylose content and then the points were discussed and agreed upon are given in the minutes.

In Session 6, the future plan and prospects of the project were discussed. The points suggested and agreed upon are as follows:

• Japan proposed to establish the mutation breeding publication database (MBPD). Example of the format was presented.
• FNCA Publication of final report on sorghum and soybean sub-project will be drafted by the end of 2006 by each participating country.
• FNCA 2007 workshop on mutation breeding will be held in Korea . The orchid meeting will be held in Malaysia in 2007.

Participants made a technical visit to Irradiation Facilities at Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, JAEA. The participants looked on Co-60 Irradiation Facility, Electron Accelerator and Ion Accelerator.

This visit was followed by field visits to Nagano Chushin Agricultural Experiment Station and Nagano Prefectural Livestock Experiment Station located in Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture , where various crops are cultivated because of conductive climatic and traffic conditions.