Outline of Workshop

Participants of the Open Seminar

The open seminar on "Application of Mutation Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture" was held in conjunction with the "4th International Symposium on Germplasm Innovation and Molecular Breeding (4th ISGIMB)" by attending with more than 150 participants from Zhejiang University, agricultural institutes, universities and FNCA member countries. At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Zhu Shuijin, Deputy Dean of College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, delivered welcome remark to all participants. Prof. Hirokazu Nakai, Professor Emeritus of Shizuoka University, FNCA Mutation Breeding Project Leader of Japan, delivered opening speech and thanked Zhejiang University for their hospitality and effort to arrange the workshop.
At the session 1, Prof. Nakai outlined purpose and challenge of the workshop on FNCA Mutation Breeding Project. Secondly, Prof. Liu Luxiang, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, presented history and development of mutation breeding research in China. Prof. Nakai reported trial on mutation breeding of rice for adaptability to sustainable agriculture; nature or organic farming. Dr. Atsushi Tanaka, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, discussed application of ion beam iradiation in mutation breeding research.
At the session 2, Prof. Zhang Guoping, Zhejiang University, reported on identification of salt-tolerant barley germplasm and characterization of the tolerance mechanisms. Prof. Mei Hanwei, Shanghai Agribiological Gene Centre, presented research & development on drought tolerant and water-saving rice for sustainable agriculture. Dr. Thomas Frank, Technical University of Munich, introduced metabolite profiling of low phytic acid mutant rice and soybean.
At the session 3, Prof. Le Huy Ham, Institute of Agricultural Genetics, Vietnam, presented success story for mutation breeding research of rice in Vietnam through FNCA activities. Dr. Sobri Bin Hussein, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, presented success story for mutation breeding research and commercialization in Malaysia through FNCA activities. Lastly, Prof. Wu Dianxing, Zhejiang University, reported on rice mutation breeding for functional foods. Prof. Shu Qingyao and Prof. Zhang Guoping had a speech to close the seminar and expressed appreciation to all participants.

Report on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture and Follow-up for Sub-project on Sorghum and Soybean, Orchid, Banana
Progress for the project on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture was reported by each member countries. Then follow-up reports on the Sub-projects in Banana, Orchid, Sorghum and Soybean were presented respectively. After the reports, it was discussed how to use mutation breeding to contribute to low input sustainable agriculture.

Cooperation with RCA/IAEA
Prof. Liu Luxiang reported progress of the RCA project RAS5056 and introduced the new project commencing 2016-2019, focusing on promoting mutation techniques and related biotechnologies for the development of green crop varieties.

Cooperation with FNCA Biofertilizer Project
Malaysia and the Philippines have some significant findings in the Biofertilizer and Electron Accelerator Application Project focusing on oligochitosan, particularly in increasing the yield as well as in reducing the use of pesticide in rice, respectively. Oligochitosan showed good results on longan and sugarcane plantations in Thailand. It was suggested to facilitate cooperation between Biofertilizer and Mutation Breeding Project to reduce the cost of production.

Plan for Project on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture
Prof. Nakai delivered lead speech concerning about ‘What is sustainable agriculture?'. Through deep and full discussion among each country, it was generally recognized that considering not only low input and high yielding but also economical competitiveness, organic or nature farming, and diversity of varieties (local variety) have important roles for sustainable agriculture. For mutagens, effective results are shown by using ion beams, which will be used hereafter.

Closing Session
Prof. Shu and Prof. Nakai delivered closing remarks and thanked all participants for their efforts and cooperation to this workshop. All participants expressed their gratitudes to the members of Zhejiang University for their great arrangements and hospitality.

Technical visit
On the second day, participants had a technical visit to China National Rice Research Institute. After brief introduction of the institute, participants visited laboratories, and observed research equipment and gene bank of the institute.

1) Outline of Workshop

Opening Session and Open Seminar on Application of Mutation Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture
The open seminar on "Application of Mutation Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture" was held in conjunction with the "4th International Symposium on Germplasm Innovation and Molecular Breeding (4th ISGIMB)" by attending with more than 150 participants from Zhejiang University, agricultural institutes, universities and FNCA member countries.
At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Zhu Shuijin, Deputy Dean of College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, delivered welcome remark to all participants. Prof. Hirokazu Nakai, Professor Emeritus of Shizuoka University, FNCA Mutation Breeding Project Leader of Japan, delivered opening speech and thanked Zhejiang University for their hospitality and effort to arrange the workshop.
At the session 1, Prof. Nakai outlined purpose and challenge of the workshop on FNCA Mutation Breeding Project. Secondly, Prof. Luxiang Liu, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, presented history and development of mutation breeding research in China. Prof. Nakai reported trial on mutation breeding of rice for adaptability to sustainable agriculture; nature or organic farming. Dr. Atsushi Tanaka, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, discussed application of ion beam iradiation in mutation breeding research.
At the session 2, Prof. Guoping Zhang, Zhejiang University, reported on identification of salt-tolerant barley germplasm and characterization of the tolerance mechanisms. Prof. Hanwei Mei, Shanghai Agribiological Gene Centre, presented research & development on drought tolerant and water-saving rice for sustainable agriculture. Dr. Thomas Frank, Technical University of Munich, introduced metabolite profiling of low phytic acid mutant rice and soybean.
At the session 3, Prof. Le Huy Ham, Institute of Agricultural Genetics, Vietnam, presented success story for mutation breeding research of rice in Vietnam through FNCA activities. Dr. Sobri Bin Hussein, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, presented success story for mutation breeding research and commercialization in Malaysia through FNCA activities. Lastly, Prof. Dianxing Wu, Zhejiang University, reported on rice mutation breeding for functional foods.
Prof. Shu Qingyao and Prof. Zhang Guoping had a speech to close the seminar and expressed appreciation to all participants.

Session 1 Report on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture
Progress reports of 2014 and plans for project on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture were presented by eight member countries. The summaries of the reports are attached as Annex 3.

Session 2 Follow-up for Sub-project on Sorghum and Soybean, Orchid, Banana
Follow-up reports on the Sub-projects in Banana, Orchid, Sorghum and Soybean were presented respectively. The summaries for each presentation are attached as Annex 3.

Discussion for Session 1 and 2
Topic for disussion raised was how to use mutation breeding to contribute to low input sustainable agriculture. Current agricultural practices use too much chemical fertilizers and pesticides to attain higher yield but cause a lot of environmental and health problems. It was recognized that low input and organic agriculture is important for sustainability, therefore mutant lines should be tested in different low input ecosystems to reveal their capacity for the use of low input agriculture including organic agriculture.
It was also recognized that any agricultural technology should provide competitive economic benefit to farmers. This could be achieved through mutation breeding of crop variety with higher yield, better quality or with other valuable functional traits. Development of biotic and abiotic tolerant crop varieties via mutation breeding and application of other nuclear techniques for integrated farming system could also help reduce input in crop production and make it more sustainable.

Session 3 Cooperation with RCA/IAEA
Prof. Liu Luxiang reported progress of the RCA project RAS5056 and introduced the new project commencing 2016-2019, which will be focusing on promoting mutation techniques and related biotechnologies for the development of green crop varieties. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce a new type of crop varieties that possesses high quality traits such as high yield, high photosynthetic efficiency, ideal plant type, resistance to abiotic stress and less agriculture inputs. He also suggested that only breeder is to be involved in this project. Meanwhile, Prof. Nakai suggested to include RCA project as the sub-project under the FNCA mutation breeding group.

Session 4 Cooperation with FNCA Biofertilizer Project
Prof. Nakai mentioned that Malaysia and the Philippines have some significant findings in the Biofertilizer and Electron Accelerator Application Project focusing on oligochitosan, particularly in increasing the yield as well as in reducing the use of pesticide in rice, respectively. Therefore, some efforts should be continued to further benefit both FNCA Biofertilizer and Mutation Breeding Projects. According to Mr. Suniyom, oligochitosan showed good results on longan and sugarcane plantations in Thailand. Suggestions were made to facilitate cooperation between biofertilizer and mutation breeding platform in order to combine efforts of these two networks to reduce the cost of production.

Session 5 Future Plan for Project on Mutation Breeding of Rice for Sustainable Agriculture
Prof. Nakai delivered lead speech concerning about ‘What is sustainable agriculture?' Through deep and full discussion among each country, it was generally recognized that considering not only low input and high yielding but also economical competitiveness, organic or nature farming, and diversity of varieties (local variety) have important roles for sustainable agriculture. For mutagens, effective results are shown by using ion beams, which will be used hereafter. Mongolia would be the candidate for the next workshop.

Closing Session
Prof. Shu and Prof. Nakai delivered closing remarks and thanked all participants for their efforts and cooperation to this workshop. All participants expressed their gratitudes to the members of Zhejiang University for their great arrangements and hospitality.

2) Technical visit
On the Second day, FNCA participants had a technical visit to Pusakanegara rice experimental station belonging to the Indonesian Center for Rice Research (ICRR), the Ministry of Agriculture. Staff of the ICRR explained organization structure and their research activities. Participants observed BATAN mutant rice materials and varieties for different research projects in the rice field.

3) Attachments
Annex 1 Program
Annex 2 List of Participants
Annex 3 Session Summary

January 27th (DAY 1st)

January 28th (DAY 2nd)
Technical Visit to China National Rice Research Institute

Bangladesh
Dr. ANK Mamun (PL)
Principal Scientific Officer & Head
Plant Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering Division
Institute of Food and Radiation Biology (IFRB)
Atomic Energy Research Estabulishment (Savar) (AERE)
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC)

China
Prof. Shu Qingyao (PL)
Professor and Deputy Director
Institute of Nuclear Agricultural Sciences
Zhejiang University

Indonesia
Dr. Sobrizal (PL)
Head of Agricultural Division
Center for the Application of Isotopes and Radiation Technology (PATIR)
National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN)

Japan
Prof. Hirokazu Nakai (PL)
Professor Emeritus, Former Vice President
Shizuoka University

Dr. Atsushi Tanaka
Director
Research Co-ordination and Promotion Office
Quantum Beam Science Center
Sector of Nuclear Science Research
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)

Ms. Aki Koike (Secretariat)
International Affairs and Research Department
Nuclear Safety Research Association (NSRA)

Malaysia
Dr. Sobri Bin Hussein Research Officer
Agrotechnology & Biosciences Division
Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia)

Mongolia
Dr. Bayarsukh Noov (PL)
Director
Plant Science and Agricultural Research, Training Institute (PSARTI)

The Philippines
Ms. Adelaida C. Barrida (PL)
Senior Science Research Specialist
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI)

Thailand
Dr. Suniyom Taprab (PL)
Senior Agricultural Scientist
Prachinburi Rice Research Center
Bureau of Rice Research and Development
Rice Department (RD)
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC)

Ms. Udompan Promnart(Observer)
Senior Agricultural Scientist
Prachinburi Rice Research Center
Bureau of Rice Research and Development
Rice Department (RD)
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC)

Mr. Peera Doungsoongnern (Observer)
Senior Agricultural Scientist
Prachinburi Rice Research Center
Bureau of Rice Research and Development
Rice Department (RD)
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC)

Vietnam
Dr. Le Huy Ham (PL)
Director General
Institute of Agricultural Genetics (AGI)

Dr. Vo Thi Minh Tuyen (Observer)
Vice Head
Mutation and Heterosis Breeding Division
Institute of Agricultural Genetics (AGI)

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong (Observer)
Researcher
Mutation and Heterosis Breeding Division
Institute of Agricultural Genetics (AGI)

IAEA/RCA
Prof. Liu Luxiang
LCC of IAEA/RCA Project RAS5056
Director
National Center of Space Mutagenesis for Crop Improvement
Institute of Crop Science
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)