MINUTES of FNCA 2003 Workshop on Mutation Breeding September 22-26, 2003 Cavite and Manila, the Philippines
Following the agreement at the Fourth Coordinators Meeting in March, 2003 in Okinawa, Japan, the FNCA 2003 Workshop on Mutation Breeding took place as follows
Date: Monday, September 22 - Friday, September 26, 2003
Venue:
Manila Southwoods Manor, Carmona, Cavite, Philippines and
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, Manila, Philippines
Host Organizations:
Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI)
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)
In Cooperation with: Japan Atomic Industrial Forum Inc. (JAIF)
Working Language: English
Participants: Total 24 from 8 countries, i.e. China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
At Session 1 “Presentation of Country Reports”, a total of seven papers on the current status of “Techniques on Reproductive Pattern in Root Crops” in the participating countries were presented to share their experiences.
At Session 2 “Invited Paper”, Dr. J. Eusebio, PCARRD, presented a paper on Root Crops R & D Status and Directions: Philippines.
At Session 3 “Drought Tolerance in Sorghum and Soybean Project”, Dr. Shigemitsu Tano, Project Leader of Japan presented the “Strategy for Drought Tolerance in Sorghum and Soybean Project and Insect Resistance in Orchid Project”. Country Reports concerning the “Drought Tolerance in Sorghum and Soybean” were presented by participating countries and “Action Plan for Drought Tolerance in Sorghum and Soybean” was discussed. The points agreed upon are as follows:
China and Indonesia have been involved in mutation breeding of sorghum project, while the Philippines and Vietnam participated in the soybean project. Following the agreement during the project formulation meeting, breeding materials of sorghum and soybean have been exchanged between the respective participating countries.
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The breeding materials have been included in mutation breeding program in each participating country, and results from early stage of research were reported. Each participating country found that it was beneficial to join the project, and would use the breeding materials to produce new improved varieties as the final goal
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During the discussion, it was suggested that development method of increasing plant genetic variability by induction of mutation should be considered. With regard to this, the utilization of ion-beam for plant breeding purposes was encouraged. Since the ion-beam facility is available in China and at JAERI, Japan, The Office of Coordinator of Japan will facilitate a system of research collaboration by bridging the gap among participating countries. |
Malaysia and Indonesia expressed their interest to participate in the research project of drought tolerance in soybean, starting next year and was agreed by the group
At Session 4, after presentation on “Insect Resistance in Orchid Project” by participating countries, “Action Plan for Insect Resistance in Orchid” was discussed. The points agreed upon are as follows:
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Two clones from Thailand and one clone from Malaysia were exchanged at the Workshop. Indonesia will send one clone for exchange at a later date
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For the year 2004 participating countries will implement the working plans
agreed upon during the formulation meeting in Beijing which include
- Irradiation of protocorm like bodies (PLBs) of clones received from each participating country
- Determination of radiation sensitivity and optimum dose
- Development of in vitro selection techniques
- Multiplication of irradiated PLBs up to three subcultures
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In addition, the participating countries will continue discussion and to exchange ideas through e-mails in designing detailed technical procedures especially on in vitro selection techniques. Thailand has offered training on in vivo screening technique for thrip resistance in 2004 to researchers from Malaysia and Indonesia.
At Session 5 on “Sub Projects”, three ongoing sub projects, i.e. “Mutation Breeding Database (MBDB)”, “Mutation Breeding Manual” and “Mutant Stock Repository (MSR)” were discussed.
(1) Mutation Breeding Database (MBDB)
Dr. S. Tano reported that the Office of Coordinator of Japan has revised the system with ACCESS 2000 and sent ten copies of MBDB to each participating country in CD-ROM for their use. MBDB was also linked to FNCA website. However, participating countries indicated that both the MBDB CD-ROM and MBDB website were not accessible.
The Office of Coordinator of Japan will include the introduction page in the MBDB website on the type of information available in the database. Help Manual on the use of the database will be made available for downloading.
The followings were suggested and agreed upon:
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The problems in accessing the MBDB on the website will be rectified
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Request to access certain information in the MBDB in the website will be granted to individuals upon approval by the Office of Coordinator of Japan.
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The Office of Coordinator of Japan will seek permission from researchers listed in the database for confidential information to be accessed. |
(2) Mutant Stock Repository (MSR)
Dr. S. Tano introduced present situation of MSR use. MSR has been managed under cooperation of Thailand and the Philippines after Bangkok Workshop in 2001. However, because of regulations, the distribution and deposition of materials from participating countries are currently restricted. Since stocking the mutants under the framework of the FNCA will be useful in the future, MSR will be put on hold temporarily and can be resumed in the future.
(3) Mutation Breeding Manual
Dr. Florencio-Isagani S. MEDINA, III, presented the contents of the manual. The manual consists of three parts, namely
PART I: |
The Essential Basic Information.
This covers the necessary background a beginner needs to know about the principles and practices of mutation.
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PART II: |
Induced Mutation Techniques
This is a discussion of mutation breeding techniques and methodologies used by members for mutation induction.
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PART III: |
Cell and Molecular Biotechnology Techniques in Mutation Breeding |
This part presents the different methodologies in cell and molecular biotechnology as it applies to mutation breeding either in the preparation of the samples prior to or after exposure to mutagenic treatments for mutation induction.
Each participating country is requested to send comments on the manual, and unless there are no additional contributions, then the manual is considered complete and will be published in the Website. This will be finalized depending on the comments of Dr. Etsuo Amano, one of the editors. The Office of Coordinator of Japan will be requested to reproduce a limited number of copies and distribute to the Project Leaders in each country.
On Wednesday, September 24, the participants went on a technical visit to the IRRI. The participants expressed their sincere gratitude to the organizers. Participants visited Riceworld Museum and Learning Center and IRRI's Rice Gene Bank. Participants were introduced highlights, results on plant molecular biology laboratory in the last time up to now, especially in resulting and directing on application new molecular technique in rice breeding with high yield, good quality and resistant to biotic and abiotic stress. IRRI achieved successful results of creation Bt rice and gold rice, and continue testing them in the glass house. All participants learned experiences and highlight results in rice genetics and breeding researches of IRRI. We appreciated effort of Workshop organaizers to be given chance of this technical visit to IRRI.
At Session 6, future plans proposed and agreed by the participants were as follows,
1. Phase III
Participants agreed to change the present way of information exchange (from theme to project/program meeting). In accordance with the consensus of previous Workshop, participants chose to focus on "Clonally Propagated Crops" for FNCA 2004 Workshop.
2. Next Workshop
It was agreed that Indonesia would host the FNCA 2004 Mutation Breeding Workshop. All participants appreciated the candidature of Malaysia as the tentative venue for the 2005 Mutation Breeding Workshop.
3. “Disease Resistance in Banana”
Start of the "Disease Resistance in Banana" was agreed with participation of four countries, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. These four countries will participate in the Project Formulation Meeting for “Disease Resistance in Banana” to be held on September 29 and 30 in Manila, the Philippines. It is expected that status of banana research, proposals from each country and working plan will be presented, discussed and formulated.
The Minutes were discussed and agreed upon by all participants in the Workshop. This will be reported at the Fourth FNCA Coordinators Meeting to be held in March 2004 in Tokyo, Japan.
Open Lecture with a theme on “Mutation Breeding of Ornamentals” was held on Friday, September 26 in the PNRI Auditorium. The lecture was found significant and very useful to disseminate information on Mutation Breeding technology to farmers and breeders. The public of around 60 people was also invited to attend this open lecture.
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