Proceedings of the 2008

APSA - AVRDC WORKSHOP

9-10 April 2008

AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center

Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan

The Center

The World Vegetable Center is the leading international nonprofit research and development institute committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the improved production and consumption of safe vegetables.

Published byAVRDC - The World Vegetable CenterP.O. Box 42Shanhua, Tainan 74199TAIWAN Tel: +886 6 583 7801Fax: +886 6 583 0009

Email: info@worldveg.orgWeb: www.avrdc.org

AVRDC Publication: 08-703ISBN 92-9058-165-4

Editor: Maureen MecozziPhotos and cover: Chen Ming-che

Suggested citationAVRDC - The World Vegetable Center. 2008. Proceedings of the APSA-AVRDC Workshop. 9-10 April 2008. AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, Shanhua, Taiwan. AVRDC Publication 08-703. 44 pp.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA - AVRDC WORKSHOP

CONTENTS

Executive Summary 1

Program 3

Minutes 7

Impressions 32

Participants - APSA 34

Participants - AVRDC 42

Acronyms 44

Appendix: CD ROM

�www.avrdc.org

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The fifth annual joint workshop between the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) and the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) held on 9-10 April 2008 provided a platform for fruitful discussion and opportunities for existing partnerships to expand and new partnerships to grow. Twenty-five 25 APSA members and 33 AVRDC staff participated in the two-day meeting at the Center’s Headquarters in Shanhua, Taiwan. Dr. Jackie Hughes, AVRDC’s Deputy Director General for Research and Dr. Sampan Campiranon, Acting Director of APSA, welcomed seed company owners, managers and scientists from Thailand, Philippines, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, The Netherlands, and South Korea to discuss issues of mutual interest with AVRDC’s management and scientists. Presentations and discussions were followed by a field tour.

Fifteen scientists presented the Center’s recent work in three areas: genetic enhancement and variety development, gene discovery and biotechnology, and socio-economics and capacity building in the seed sector. In the opening presentation, Dr. Peter Hanson discussed the issues evolving from the increasing threat of tospoviruses to tomato. He noted much of the research work must be done in India, as Taiwan does not have many of the viruses, and that preliminary trials are being done without funding -- a situation APSA could help address.

Dr. Sylvia Green presented a review of viruses from 7 African and 3 Asian countries that affect cucurbits, including begomoviruses. Her research determined the squash-infecting begomovirus from Taiwan is very closely related to Squash leaf curl Philippines virus (SLCPHV).

The first systematic screening of pumpkin germplasm for resistance to begomovirus using a molecularly defined distinct virus species is being initiated at the Center.

In the area of capacity building, Dr. Madhusudan Bhattarai spoke about the Center’s proposed seed sector strengthening project in Uzbekistan, a country that had been a regional hub for fruit and vegetable production prior to 1991. He invited APSA members to take part in key stakeholder workshops in Tashkent to help plan the project and welcomed APSA input about the best ways to rebuild variety breeding, seed production and distribution in Central Asia. Dr. Edwin Javier introduced the new International Vegetable Variety Development Network, which has been created to foster efficient germplasm sharing, unbiased evaluation, and the exchange of information in a changing intellectual property environment. One way APSA could be involved in the network is by establishing specific types of nurseries.

Guest speaker Dr. Conrado Balatero of East-West Seeds, Philippines gave a talk on the use of doubled haploid technology in plant breeding. This test-tube production technique complements conventional breeding by combining multiple traits, especially for recessive genes; smaller populations are needed than for conventional breeding. Dr. Balatero’s presentation generated a lively discussion among participants, and there was a great deal of interest in the reduced generation time this method can offer plant breeders.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�

raise high-quality vegetables that fetch good prices in domestic and export markets. The increased income farmers realize from vegetable production reduces poverty in many developing countries, while the increased consumption of vegetables provides much-needed nutrients for all, especially for the world’s most malnourished people.

Dr. Jaw-fen Wang reiterated the value the Center places on APSA members’ opinions and views on topics for future research. Seed companies have a clear idea of farmers’ needs, and can help the Center rationalize priorities. A questionnaire to rank 19 topics of interest to APSA members was distributed; the data will help the Center plan future activities. Options for future training courses on breeding and molecular markers were explored, with the possibility of holding courses at regional centers. On the field tour, participants evaluated 28 anthracnose resistant pepper lines. Sample fruit of selected lines that had been inoculated through micro-injection or high-pressure spray methods were displayed and symptom development was discussed. Participants examined promising pumpkin, summer squash and cucumber lines, and reviewed leafy Brassica selections. Resistance sources for Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) were highlighted, and participants got a closer look at the symptoms of Squash leaf curl Philippines virus (SLCPHV) and Cucumber mild green mottle virus (CGMMV) on pumpkin.

As always, the Center will ship seed from its collection of 56,000 accessions at the request of any APSA member. APSA can help the Center’s genebank expand further by sharing lines with interesting horticultural characteristics with our Genetic Resources and Seed Unit. The Center encourages all APSA members to acknowledge the use of AVRDC germplasm in their catalogs.Through the continuing strong partnership between APSA and the Center, farmers across the globe can purchase improved seed to

�www.avrdc.org

PROGRAM

Wednesday 9 April 2008

08:15-08:45 Registration

08:45-09:00 Welcome remarks - Jackie Hughes

09:00-09:15 APSA’s new partnership program - Sampan Campiranon

Genetic enhancement and variety developmentChair: Anthony Tse

09:15-09:40 The tomato tospovirus screening trials in India and SE Asia - Peter Hanson

09:40-10:00 Sources of anthracnose resistance in pepper - Paul Gniffke

10:00-10:30 Group photo and coffee break 10:30-10:50 Progress of the cucurbit breeding program at AVRDC - Zhanyong Sun

10:50-11:10 Resistance to bacterial wilt in tomato - Jaw-fen Wang

11:10-11:30 Integrating doubled haploid technology in plant breeding - Conrado Balatero, East-West Seeds

11:30-12:00 Discussion on genetic enhancement and variety development (Rapporteur: Warwick Easdown)

12:00-13:00 Lunch

Gene discovery and biotechnologyChair: Peter Hanson

13:00-13:25 Molecular diversity of Cucurbitaceae-infecting geminiviruses and implications for developing resistance - Sylvia Green

13:25-13:45 Monitoring the population shift of Phytophthora infestans in Taiwan, 1997-2007 - Tien-chen Wang

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�

13:45-14:10 Introgression and mapping genes for TYLCV resistance - Robert de la Peña

14:10-14:30 Molecular identification of thrips species, vectors of tospoviruses in vegetable crops - Kadirvel Palchamy

14:30-15:00 Discussion on gene discovery and biotechnology (Rapporteur: Warwick Easdown)

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

Seed, socio-economics and capacity buildingChair: Sylvia Green

15:30-15:50 Enhancing the AVRDC and APSA partnership through the International Vegetable Variety Development Network (IVVDN) - Edwin Javier

15:50-16:10 vBSS research activities and the link with vegetable seed companies - Rémi Nono-Womdim

16:10-16:30 Highlights of AVRDC program activities in Central Asia and the proposed seed sector strengthening project in Uzbekistan - Madhusudan Bhattarai

16:30-16:50 Regional collaboration to enhance vegetable research and development - Peter Ooi

18:30-20:30 Welcome dinner, AVRDC Guest Dining Room

Thursday 10 April 2008

Seed, socio-economics and capacity buildingChair: Wendy Wu

08:30-08:50 GRSU’s contribution and potential contribution to the private sector - Liwayway Engle

08:50-09:10 The importance of the vegetable sector in tropical Asia - Mei-huey Wu

�www.avrdc.org

09:10-09:30 Training APSA members on vegetable disease screening - Jaw-fen Wang

09:30-10:00 Discussion on seed, socio-economics and capacity building - Wendy Wu (Rapporteur: Warwick Easdown)

10:00-10:30 Final overall discussion - Sampan Campiranon

10:30-11:00 Coffee break 11:00-12:00 APSA Closed-Door Session

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:30-17:00 AVRDC field tour

18:30-21:00 Farewell dinner in front of Shen Hall

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�

AVRDC Field Tour - Coordinator: Srinivasan Ramasamy

13:30-14:05 Pepper Unit Evaluation of 28 anthracnose-resistant pepper lines

14:05-14:40 Cucurbit Unit Promising pumpkin, summer squash and cucumber lines

14:40-15:15 Virology Unit Symptoms of Squash leaf curl virus and Cucumber mild green mottle virus on pumpkin

15:15-15:50 Refreshment break

15:50-16:25 Crucifer Unit Evaluation of leafy Brassica selections

16:25-17:00 Biotechnology and Molecular Breeding Unit Exploring resistance sources for TYLCV

AVRDC FIELD TOUR

�www.avrdc.org

DAY 1 Wednesday 9 April 2008

AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan

Welcome remarks - Jackie Hughes

On behalf of our Director General and our Director General-elect it is a great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop. I would like to especially extend my welcome to Dr. Sampan Campiranon, the Director of APSA and to all the participating seed companies. I regret that this time we do not have representatives from Bejo Sheetal, Century, Namdhari, Nodai, Nuziveedu, Tokita and Unicorn seed companies with us. This year, we have several AVRDC --The World Vegetable Center new staff members joining us for the workshop: Dr. Madhu Bhattarai, agricultural economist; Dr. Kyeong-ho Chung, a seconded scientist from Korea; Dr. Edwin Javier, coordinator of our International Vegetable Variety Development Network, and Dr. Rémi Nono-Womdim, the Research Manager of the Vegetable Breeding and Seed Systems for Poverty Reduction (vBSS) project in Africa funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the third year of our current partnership, and APSA’s contribution to our Center’s core funding has provided support for research which is of direct benefit to APSA members. Our partnership has raised the profile of APSA as an example of the private sector’s contribution to overcoming world poverty and malnutrition, and our successful partnership is seen as a model for others. I was in Mali when the President of the African Seed Trade Association recently expressed interest in a similar partnership with AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center. I welcome you all to our joint workshop.

MINUTES

APSA’s new partnership program - Sampan Campiranon

APSA has partnership programs with many different institutions, and the AVRDC partnership model works effectively for us. With 434 members from 44 countries, APSA aims to improve the production and trade of quality seeds and planting materials of agricultural and horticultural crops and is seeking to expand across the region. This year’s focus is India, China and Central Asia. Even though multinational companies dominate global seed markets, there are attractive niche markets for small- and medium-sized companies. Nowadays, heavy investment in R&D is required to be a leader in the market. It is also important to be aware that regulatory issues are becoming more stringent. APSA and its members are working on this problem.

The Asia-Pacific region represents an estimated 30% of the global seed industry at about $33 billion. The majority of seed is proprietary; vegetable seed accounts for about 14% of the industry. Transgenic crops are growing in importance; that’s why one of the technical presentations at last year’s Asian Seed Congress (APSA’s yearly event) helped members better understand the technology.

APSA partnership programs are based on equal contributions of resources with mutual benefits and responsibilities. The partnership with AVRDC has included the development of the Ty-2 marker (2004-6), core funding (2006-8) and the development of SSR markers (2008-9). Other APSA partnerships also include ASTA; for quarantine and trades issues, CIMMYT for corn, IRRI for rice; the Danish Seed Health Center for workshops on seed

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�

called Sw-7 was recently introgressed from S. chilense into tomato line CK12, but the effectiveness of Sw-7 to Asian tospoviruses is unknown. Unless Sw-7 provides adequate protection, chances of a fast and easy genetic solution to the Asian tospovirus problem are slim.

There are many reports of resistance in the literature from wild relatives such as S. peruvianum, but there is a lack of reliable mechanical screening techniques for tospoviruses. Tospovirus is a complicated problem, and mechanical screening will require a number of breakthroughs.

Field evaluations to screen 14 S. peruvianum accessions under natural tospovirus pressure are being done in recommended hot spots identified by Indian seed companies using a common protocol design and visual incidence scoring. Seed for the accessions was multiplied by the AVRDC Genetic Resources and Seed Unit and provided to three Indian seed companies (Namdhari, JK, Syngenta) and East West Seed (Vietnam). The first trial managed by Namdhari Seed at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu is ongoing. Other company-managed trials are planned for Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Preliminary trials are being done without funding, and this situation cannot continue. Much of the work must be done in India as Taiwan does not have many of the viruses. A number of groups are now working on this issue; there is a need for coordination to efficiently solve the problems.

In the long term, resistant varieties offer the best chances of tospo control, but interspecific crosses and introgression will take 6-10 years.

testing; FAO for seed development in Central Asia and regulatory issue development; GNIS for IPR and PVP; and workshops with ISTA.

APSA will hold the Asian Seed Congress in Hyderabad, India from 9-13 November 2008. This is in partnership with the National Seed Association of India. I invite all of you to join this important gathering of all stakeholders in the seed industry -- not just in the region, but beyond.

Genetic enhancement and variety development

The tomato tospovirus screening trials in India and Southeast Asia

- Peter Hanson

Tospoviruses are an established threat with increasing epidemics in India, southern China and Southeast Asia. They are very diverse, with at least 16 different types and 12 species of thrips that transmit them. Tolerance or resistance found so far has been short-lived. Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) seems to be the major tomato-infecting tospovirus in India; Capsicum chlorosis virus (CaCV) infects both pepper and tomato in Thailand and probably other parts of Southeast Asia. Watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMV) is the main tomato tospovirus in Taiwan, but the disease occurs sporadically.

Sw-5, the major tospovirus resistance gene in tomato, confers resistance to Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) but not PBNV or CaCV. A second tospovirus resistance gene

�www.avrdc.org

Multinationals probably will not invest in this research because tospovirus is a regional problem. The best solution is a public-private collaboration. APSA members ranked tomato tospovirus resistance as a high research priority in the 2006 and 2007 workshops. In response, AVRDC submitted a tospovirus proposal to APSA in 2007, emphasizing a regional approach and strong private sector involvement.

The University of Agricultural Sciences-Bangalore (UASB) and the Indian Institute of Horticultural Science (IIHR) will submit a tomato tospovirus proposal to the Seed Association of India (SAI) focusing on PBNV. Workplans of the two proposals overlap, and AVRDC supports long-term SAI funding of UASB-IIHR tospo research. We need to ask ourselves: How important is a regional approach to the tomato tospovirus problem, and what is the best role for AVRDC?

Questions & Answers

Dr. Green stated it will be necessary to consider using cultured thrips as a part of the screening process as past trials with mechanical inoculation for Watermelon silver mottle virus didn’t produce good results. Dr. Hanson agreed, and said it doesn’t matter whether mechanical or cultured thrips are used to infect crops, as long as it works. Dr. Hughes stated that the Intergrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Project (CRSP) includes work on thrips and they need to be working with us. Dr. Hanson agreed that a workshop to bring together all the groups investigating the problem to develop a workplan would be helpful, but would require funding. He stated there are mechanical protocols for infections that have been developed, but not

published. Dr. Ramasamy stated that the vectors vary a lot between regions.

An APSA member asked if there was any relationship between thrips species and particular viruses. Dr. Hanson stated that this is part of the CRSP, but has not been worked out yet. Dr. Naidu clarified that the IPM CRSP is seeking to understand the genetic diversity of tospoviruses in India. In tomato there are more than three species of thrips involved, but it is difficult to maintain colonies of thrips under controlled conditions. Work is underway to find out which thrips in India carry the virus. He agreed that the transmission of viruses via mechanical means based on previous protocols used for studying Peanut mottle virus has been erratic. Dr. Green asked if the development of GMOs could be considered for control of this virus; she noted other groups taking this route may solve the problem before our approach is complete.

Sources of anthracnose resistance in peppers

- Paul Gniffke

Anthracnose is a major disease of peppers leading to severe losses of up to 85% of the crop in India, and costing the industry approximately $0.5 billion per year. It usually infects the crop when it is mature, but in recent years the species Colletotrichum accutatum has been found to infect green fruit. Postharvest disease development continues even if fruit show no

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�0

symptoms in the field. Fruit features, such as the cuticle, may confer pre-infection protection; the cuticle appears to be a major means of resistance.

C. acutatum is the main problem in Taiwan and the focus of AVRDC research work. Forty-four accessions of pepper, including representatives of Capsicum annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, and interspecific progenies, were evaluated at AVRDC during the spring and summer of 2007. Evaluation methods included field grow-outs, high-pressure spray, microinjection assays on green and red-ripe fruit, and an evaluation of foliar DNA with an AFLP-derived marker.

Many sources of resistance have been reported with locally differing results due to many variables. A correlation matrix to compare field results with assay results indicated only one line out of 44 showed high resistance in the field and in the lab, but it has low yields.

Resistance is not strongly correlated with markers, but markers can be useful, particularly with the C. chinense crosses. Breeding for resistance has focused on crosses with C. chinense, and recent work in Korea has had some success with crosses with C. baccatum. Markers are now increasingly used to help identify genes for resistance. Resistance at different crop stages is genetically distinct. There is more going on than what the genes control and no mechanical assay method is a true guide to breeding.

AVRDC has released several resistant lines and these are getting closer to commercial quality. A cooperative

evaluation of candidate lines by a network of interested researchers can help identify lines displaying robust resistance under many environmental conditions.

Questions & Answers

Dr. de la Peña stated that markers are very specific and one marker will not work for everything.

Progress of the cucurbit breeding program at AVRDC

- Zhanyong Sun

The World Vegetable Center initiated its Cucurbit Breeding Program (CBP) in 2006. CBP has selected cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and pumpkin/squash (Cucurbita) for variety development and genetic improvement based on their economic and nutritional importance.

CBP works mainly with Central Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and East Asian cucumber types to improve downy mildew resistance, femaleness and non-bitterness, and heat tolerance. Little breeding work has been done in Uzbekistan since its independence in 1991 and AVRDC is now testing a range of hybrids and inbred lines there. In South Asia and Southeast Asia, 35 monoecious and 23 gynoecious F1 were tested and 15 monoecious and 17 gynoecious and non-bitter F2 populations have been developed and are being evaluated. In East Asia, mainly Chinese type 3 PIs and 15 F1 were selected from 99 PIs and 62 F1 evaluated, respectively.

��www.avrdc.org

Eighteen F2 populations have been developed and are being tested. Eight advanced inbred lines and 2 hybrids are selected for advance trial.

There is a wide nutritional variation in pumpkins and this is being assessed along with fruit quality and horticultural traits. Three commonly cultivated species of pumpkin/squash -- C. pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima -- are rich in carotenoid and minerals. One hundred fifty three entries collected from private companies and US genebanks were evaluated; selected entries have been advanced based on field disease resistance, earliness, fruit shape, color and quality, etc. F3 lines developed from 12 C. moschata and 18 C. maxima will be evaluated in the next season. Moreover, 29 advanced inbred lines of C. pepo are being increased for advance trial. Foliar diseases, including viruses, are the major production constraints. CBP has initiated a Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV)-resistant breeding program for C. moschata; F1 have been made and backcrossing will be conducted in the next season. Work is continuing on developing multiple virus (WMV, ZYMV, PRSV, CMV) resistant pumpkin cultivars (C. moschata) for farmers in South and Southeast Asia and Africa. Our prior achievements in cucumber variety development and pumpkin genetic improvement provide a strong base for the CBP to contribute to the production of safe vegetables in developing countries.

Questions & Answers

What temperatures would be considered the “cool season”?

Dr. Sun replied that night temperatures need to be below 25°C.

What work is being done on durable resistance?

Dr. Sun answered that we will need to go to wild germplasm for disease resistance as cucumber has a narrow genetic base.

Is AVRDC working on nematode resistance?

Dr. Sun replied that it is not.

Resistance to bacterial wilt in tomato

- Jaw-fen Wang

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating disease of tomato production in warm and humid regions worldwide. Bacterial wilt resistance is location-specific and strain- and temperature-dependent; there is no source of immunity. There are four phylotypes in the species complex of R. solanacearum. Work has focused around the tomato variety Hawaii 7996 as the main source of stable resistance.

A population of 188 recombinant inbred lines developed from the cross of resistant Hawaii 7996 with susceptible West Virginia 700 was evaluated for disease reaction in a total of 16 field or greenhouse trials conducted in six countries. All strains in trials were race 1/biovars 3 or 4, except on Réunion, where a strain of race 3/biovar 2 was used. A total of 119 loci (32 AFLP, 59 DArT, 6 RFLP, 11 SSR) distributed over 15 linkage groups was used for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. A major

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

QTL detected in an interval of 50 cM on chromosome 6 was associated with disease reactions observed from 11 of the 16 datasets. Other important QTLs were detected on LGA associated with markers TG564 from 14 of the 16 datasets.

After screening 252 wild tomato accessions, five accessions of Solanum pennellii (LA1943, LA716, LA1656, LA1732 and TL01845) were found to be resistant to race 1/biovar4 strain Pss186. When challenged against two other more aggressive strains Pss4 and Pss190, all the five S. pennellii accessions were susceptible to Pss4, but displayed high to moderate resistance to Pss190. Pss190 is an aggressive strain that made Hawaii 7996 susceptible. LA3501, which has an introgression segment of LA716 on chromosome 6, was found to be resistant to Pss186 among the screened introgression lines. This confirms the importance of resistance QTL on chromosome 6 identified by other studies.

Questions & Answers

Dr. Hanson asked what is the mechanism of resistance in the S. pennelli lines? Dr. Wang replied that they have worse resistance than the best cultivated S. esculentum lines. The mechanism of resistance appears to be similar to that of S. esculentum in which the organism can enter the plant, but colonization is poor.

Integrating doubled haploid technology in plant breeding

- Conrado Balatero, East-West Seeds

The doubled haploid (DH) technique offers many advantages to complement conventional plant breeding. This technique allows quick development of perfectly homozygous lines, reduces generation time for inbreeding or inbred line development, and enables effective selection for quantitative trait loci. With DH lines, a smaller population is required than those used with conventional breeding or selection methods. While some argue that “test tube” plants can never be as good as selections that have been exposed to environmental conditions during selection, the practical use of DH depends on how it is deployed in a breeding program.

Several techniques of producing haploid plants were discussed, including androgenesis, gynogenesis, and irradiated pollen technique combined with embryo rescue.

Androgenesis using anther culture: Anthers are isolated and grown in special nutrients and haploid plants obtained from embryogenesis. Good growing conditions for donor plants are essential. Contamination from insects can cause problems but pesticide applications must be avoided, because pesticides can reduce pollen quality. For some donor plants, a phytotron is a significant investment. If more than 5% contamination is found in in vitro cultures, then it is an indication of quality problems in the donor materials. It is difficult to work with plants that are partly sterile, such as the early generations of interspecific

��www.avrdc.org

hot pepper crosses. It is also difficult to collect pollen at the right stage, as this varies for each genotype.

Gynogenesis: Mainly using ovule culture, gynogenesis has been used for cucumber and pumpkin. It is time consuming and less popular than anther culture. Responses are highly genotype specific with a callus obtained instead of direct embryogenesis. Extraction of ovules is very laborious and time consuming compared to anther culture.

Irradiated pollen or embryo rescue: One day before anthesis male flowers are irradiated and used to pollinate female flowers of donor plants. It is difficult to establish the correct radiation dose and not all rescued embryos are true haploids. It is also difficult and slow to regenerate from highly abnormal embryos. Although the lab equipment is relatively simple, the technique still involves a major investment for small companies. It can be a hit-and-miss approach with low efficiency. Experience plays a big part in any success.

Questions & Answers

What is the success rate for irradiation treatments?

In general an efficiency of 20-25% for doubled haploids can be achieved, but this is lower for some species.

What difficulties have you found with doubling chromosomes?

Efficiency is being improved, but if we have 100 haploid plants and can obtain 70% that is good. The main advantage of these techniques is in reduced generation time.

How successful has this been in tomato?

Based on the literature, there is very low success with anther culture in tomato so far.

What experience have you had with Brassicas?

We haven’t worked with them.

Are you varying does of radiation and over what range?

A range of 100 – 300 Gy is being used for pumpkin.

Are your breeders now able to effectively select donors?

They are routinely using it for peppers but we have just started the process in eggplant. It is best used in breeding for disease resistance but conventional breeding is better for other needs. For pumpkin we are still undecided if we will use irradiation or ovule culture.

How long does it take to get to the final product?

The main time saving is in the early stages of creating inbred lines.

Dr. Gniffke noted that it is difficult to apply to these techniques to interspecific crosses as the genome sizes vary, so it is difficult to know if a haploid or diploid or something else has been produced.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Gene discovery and biotechnology

Molecular diversity of Cucurbitaceae-infecting geminiviruses and implications for developing resistance

- Sylvia K.Green, Wen-shi Tsai, Fuh-jyh Jan, Su-ling Shih, and Li-mei Lee

More than 40 viruses are reported to infect cucurbit crops worldwide, often resulting in mixed infections and high yield losses. AVRDC collected leaf samples of eight different cucurbit crops from 7 Asian and 3 African countries and tested each by ELISA for common poty, tospo, tobamo and cucumoviruses. It was found that 25% of 721 cucurbit samples collected were positive for Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV); 22% for Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV-W), 19% for begomoviruses, and 8% for Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV).

PCR was used for begomoviral DNA-A and DNA-B detection. Begomovirus-positive samples were detected in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Ethiopia. Squash, pumpkin, melon, bottle gourd and ridge gourd were found to have a high incidence of begomoviruses.

Surveys of cucurbit crops done in Taiwan showed that 35% were infected with PRSV-W and 28% with begomoviruses. Fifteen distinct begomoviruses are reported to infect cucurbits; no resistance is available in commercial cultivars. Only one distinct begomovirus has been identified in Taiwan so far.

Two begomoviral DNA-As and one DNA-B from Cucurbita moschata from Taiwan (Tainan) were selected for cloning and sequencing. The Taiwan begomovirus showed 93.9% DNA-A and 84.7% DNA-B nucleotide sequence identity with the respective DNAs of Squash leaf curl Philippines virus (SLCPHV), indicating that it is a closely related strain of SLCPHV. Interestingly, the Philippine and Taiwan isolates of SLCPHV are also very closely related to Squash leaf curl China virus (SLCCNV), with which they share 87.1 and 86.9% DNA-A sequence identity, respectively.

A phylogenetic tree was constructed using all 13 full-length DNA-A sequences of cucurbit-infecting begomoviruses available in the NCBI database. From this tree it was evident that 1) the squash-infecting begomovirus from Taiwan is very closely related to SLCPHV; 2) two distinct begomovirus species each are present each in China and in Vietnam; 3) cucurbit begomoviruses from the New World are generally highly different distinct species from those of Asia; and 4) the only cucurbit begomovirus molecularly characterized so far from Africa is from Egypt, which appears to be a strain of Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) first reported in the USA. This may need further confirmation.

The findings have implications for deploying suitable and efficient resistance genes. In collaboration with NARS, further multilocation screening for resistance should be conducted in locations where distinct cucurbit-infecting begomoviruses occur. This will avoid redundancy of screening in areas where the same begomoviruses are known to be present.

��www.avrdc.org

A 50-mesh small screenhouse has been set up at AVRDC headquarters, where screening of pumpkin for SLCPHV-TW resistance via viruliferous Bemisia tabaci biotype B is being initiated. To our knowledge this will be the first systematic screening of pumpkin germplasm for resistance to begomovirus using a molecularly defined distinct virus species.

Monitoring the population shift of Phytophthora infestans in Taiwan, 1997-2007

- Tien-chen Wang

Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most destructive tomato diseases in subtropical and tropical highlands and in many temperate regions worldwide. Under cool and wet conditions it can cause up to 100% crop loss and there are currently no commercially resistant varieties. A total of 689 isolates have been collected in Taiwan over the past decade. A dramatic genetic shift occurred in the population of P. infestans during Taiwan’s 1997-1998 cool growing season. Isolates collected from tomato before 1997 were aggressive to tomato but not to white potato; most isolates obtained after 1998 destroyed both hosts. The isolates’ sensitivity to metalaxyl was measured; before 1998 all were sensitive or intermediate in their reaction, but since 1998 they have been resistant. The new types are more aggressive, genetically unstable and have long-term survival associated with high disease incidence and resistance to metalaxyl. Reports of high crop damage levels are

increasing. The US-11 genotype that now predominates was introduced on imported seed or table potatoes during the 1997-8 season; it spread rapidly and since 1999 has almost completely displaced the old US-1 genotype in Taiwan. Current resistant sources selected against the old US-1 types still stand up against the new US-11 type, but the pathogen’s increasingly complicated race composition implies rapid change in its genomic diversity. Race T1.2.3.5 has replaced T1,2,3 and predominated in 2007. We need to maintain a watch over how P. infestans populations are changing and develop an integrated management strategy for late blight.

Questions & Answers

An APSA member noted that resistance is also breaking down in Indonesia. An APSA member also asked why there has there been a shift in races, and the reply was that this was not due to new tomatoes being released. Another queried if other fungicides had been used and the reply was that two others had been tried. Dr. Gniffke asked if seed importation is a high risk. Dr. Wang replied that in Taiwan the authorities initially claimed the shift in races was due to AVRDC bringing in different tomato varieties, but that this was not so.

Introgression and mapping genes for TYLCV resistance

- Robert de la Peña

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a major problem in

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

tomato. For more stable resistance, AVRDC’s molecular plant breeding program aims to find new sources of TYLCV resistance and use existing Ty resistance genes to develop breeding lines carrying new or multiple resistance genes. The known resistance genes are Ty1, Ty2 and Ty3 and markers exist for each. Effective and user-friendly markers are critical to marker-assisted breeding programs. PCR-based markers have been identified for selection of genotypes carrying Ty1, Ty2 and Ty3. In addition, these markers are being converted into SNP assay to further improve the efficiency and cost of marker-assisted selection.

New sources of resistance are being sought in wild relatives such as S. chilense, S. habrochaites, S. pennelli and S. pimpinellifolium. Genetic analysis, mapping, and marker development is currently ongoing using F2 populations derived from FLA456 (resistant) x CLN1621L (susceptible) and CLN2498E (Ty2) x S. pennellii.

We are also targeting the whitefly vectors of the disease and looking at the interactions between resistance conferred by the Ty genes and whitefly resistance. There are some lines of tomato with high resistance to whitefly. Better resistance will depend on finding new genes, stacking existing genes and identifying whitefly resistance genes. Whitefly resistance in combination with virus resistance may provide a more durable form of resistance to TYLCV.

Questions & Answers

There was an extensive discussion

involving members of APSA and AVRDC staff:

What is the strain being used?

Strains are being collected from the field.

S. pennelli is resistant, but to what strain?

It could be to the vector, not just to the virus. If you don’t have feeding by insects it can appear as though it is resistance to the virus. This is important to us when we consider stacking genes. It will show resistance, but it will not show susceptibility. If there is a non-preference, then it won’t show. It also may be the virus load. If only a small amount of virus is present then the plant could recover. We need to know what type of whitefly, and to be as specific for these as for thrips.

How did you measure the whitefly populations?

We observed the whole lifecycle on the plants in the field.

When it is resistant, what part of the life cycle is altered?

The number of eggs laid is lower, so it starts with a non-preference for egg laying.

In transmission the feeding is more important, as only one feeding event will transmit the virus.

We didn’t measure feeding but a lower growth of nymphs, which indicated less feeding. We did not conclude it as resistance and the results are just preliminary.

��www.avrdc.org

Which varieties worked best under field conditions?

The variety FLA 456 is the best in Taiwan but the problem is the orange fruit color, which is less acceptable in the marketplace.

The feeding habit of whitefly must be taken into consideration.

We need to understand the behavior of the insect. Females will choose a host that is suitable for their offspring, so the laying of eggs is a good measure of suitability for a vector. We put more emphasis on insect behavior, and egg-laying as an indirect measure of feeding by the next generation. We are correlating resistance, whatever its cause, with insect behavior.

Molecular identification of thrips species, vectors of tospoviruses in vegetable crops

- Kadirvel Palchamy

Thrips are direct pests as well as vectors of some important diseases of agricultural and horticultural crops. Tospoviruses are exclusively transmitted by a few species of thrips, which include Thrips tabaci, T. palmi, T. setosus, Scirtothrips dorsalis, Frankliniella occidentalis, F. schultzei, F. fusca, F. intosa and F. zucchini. The nymphs and adults transmit the virus, but if an adult doesn’t acquire it in the nymph stage, it can’t acquire it as an adult. The composition of thrips populations in different crop ecosystems, and the behavior of vector species and their ability to transmit, strongly affect the incidence

of tospoviruses in the region.

Feeding behavior is an important indicator of virus spread and control. Most species of thrips are polyphagous; because they feed on a variety of plants, they can’t be identified by their association with a particular host.

It is critical to be able to identify thrips species. Morphological identification is very tedious and requires expert skill. We are developing markers to identify the thrips species important for transmitting tospoviruses. Molecular markers provide a more stable means of identification, they only require part of the insect, and can identify to subspecies level. But using molecular markers takes longer than morphological identification and analysis is more expensive. Sequence variation in cytochrome oxidase (COI) across species shows promise for developing markers for the identification of insect species. There have been proposals for a universal DNA barcode for insects based on this.

We sampled thrips in Taiwan in 2007 and found many genetic differences between T. tabaci and T. palmi. In 2008 we will be taking more samples across a range of crops in Taiwan and India. We now have a template for COI sequence based identification following analysis of different thrips species present in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and we are developing PCR markers for easy identification of thrips. The challenge is to associate intraspecific variability in the vector populations with differences in virus transmission efficiency.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Questions & Answers

It seems to be more important for us to understand the species distribution, and the approach of using this is better than going to SSR.

The COI will provide the solution at the population level but not at the species level. The COI can identify the species but we cannot look the variations within a population in a comparison of infected and non-infected fields. We need help in collecting samples in infected fields. To assess associations between affected fields and the species involved we need to get more samples.

Do the different thrips species need different environments?

We have only limited data so far, but there are some differences in preferred hosts, although it is also possible to find several species on the same plants. T. tabaci prefers onion while T. palmi prefers crops like cucurbits but also has a wide host range. Host preferences vary between countries. Correct identification by morphological keys have been so challenged by experts that it is now recommended that specimens from any experiment be kept for future reference because of ongoing confusion over species identification.

We are impressed by the results, but the intraspecific variation in thrips is high, so there is potential for the breaking of resistance. Are there intrapopulation variations?

Variations in thrips appear to be every bit as high as variation in the

landrace crops they attack.

We still don’t see the solution to developing resistance in tomato. How will you use this to improve resistance in tomatoes?

It is important to first know which species you are dealing with.

Discussion on gene discovery and biotechnology

- Dr. Peter Hanson, chair

We should consider the population level. I am worried by the implications of the complexity of the thrips populations.

We are sowing field trials in India and these could be used for thrips sampling. There can be millions in a field, so it’s useful to look more intensively in one field and to study the intraspecific variability.

It is more than intraspecific variability, but variations within populations of the same species.

Suppose we have some sweet peppers transported between continents that mix populations, then we have a potential time bomb.

Do we know how thrips transmit the tospovirus? How long do they feed? How important is it really to look at the species?

We should focus more on the process of transmission. This is how they did if for rice. We have to get back to fundamentals. How does it work in practice?

��www.avrdc.org

This system is based on one gene, but it would be useful to check another gene.

Maybe we are choosing the wrong gene. It is important to clarify the species distribution and the interaction between these vectors and the disease transmission.

Thrips are not like whitefly. They lack a mandible and scratch the plant surface and suck off the juice.

We don’t know much about transmission efficiency and how it varies between species. We need to know the species first and how the populations differ in their transmission of the virus. The ability to transmit a virus also changes over time in some cases.

Which component is missing?

We need to cover all bases, including transmission. Transmission studies were done about 50 years ago and showed that the larvae pick it up. We can now identify species much faster. The tool has become more exact, but is COI enough?

Seed, socio-economics, and capacity building

Enhancing the AVRDC and APSA partnership through the International Vegetable Variety Development Network (IVVDN)

- Edwin Javier

The intellectual property rights (IPR) environment of plant germplasm sharing and use is rapidly changing.

Interrelated forces behind the evolving IPR environment are international agreements on plant genetic resources, advances in molecular breeding, and the changing role of public, private and farming sectors in varietal improvement. Emerging legislation on germplasm conservation, use, and plant variety protection also have implications for germplasm movement across national boundaries.

AVRDC’s new International Vegetable Variety Development Network (IVVDN) will accelerate global sharing of germplasm, foster unbiased evaluation, and promote the exchange of information in a changing IP environment. The network aims to acquire, characterize and distribute elite vegetable germplasm. As a partnership with NARES, AVRDC and the private sector, IVVDN will have a global perspective and a regional focus; we plan to establish a global advisory committee to provide overall direction, policy and planning for the network. IVVDN seeks to enhance the role of the private sector in developing new varieties that will broaden varietal diversity in farmers’ fields and meet the quality seed needs of resource-poor farmers in developing countries. AVRDC could provide unbiased evaluations of APSA-developed hybrids in nurseries based on ecosystems, or test particular stressors. The missions of both organizations provide opportunities for complementary work.

Questions & Answers

Do you have any idea of the timeframe for this program?

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�0

We are still at the stage of looking at the structure of the program and this is an opportunity to get ideas from APSA. We would like to start as soon as possible.

How is this different from what we already have in peppers?

This could be a component of it, and we want to systemize the process for the whole organization. We need to make sure that the legislative controls are followed and to get information from trials done around the world. This is not a project, but a new part of AVRDC – a mechanism for germplasm testing, sharing and use.

Could we send hybrids to AVRDC for testing?

We could establish different types of nurseries and provide unbiased information. Some components could be APSA-driven.

Not all 450 members of APSA are interested in the same projects. This is long-term. How can we distinguish between members and nonmembers? How can we separate these so that outcomes will benefit only the 30 funding companies?

IVVDN could meet the needs of a number of different groups.

All seed companies have established channels for testing our materials. What advantages do you provide over our established networks? All these seeds are commercial so you can buy them. We only sell to people we want to sell to.

We want to hear the views of the private sector. If these will not work we will look at other mechanisms. It may involve expanding or complementing existing testing networks of the private sector.

vBSS research activities and the link with vegetable seed companies

- Rémi Nono-Womdim

In sub-Saharan Africa, vegetables play an important role in the nutritional and socio-economic status of the population, thereby improving overall food security. Vegetable farmers tend to earn higher incomes than most other farmers. However, despite their importance and high usage, vegetables have not been given the research attention they deserve. The Vegetable Breeding and Seed Systems for Poverty Reduction in Africa (vBSS) aims to breed new vegetable varieties for the region, with hubs in Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali and Tanzania that represent the four agroecological zones of Africa. Priority setting workshops have been conducted and we are focusing on a small number of exotic and African indigenous vegetables (AIVs). The main exotics will be tomatoes, onion, cabbage and pepper; the main AIVs will be African eggplant, amaranthus, spider plant, Ethiopian mustard, nightshade, and okra. Each hub country has a liaison officer, two vegetable breeders and one seed multiplication specialist and support staff. Many new lines of exotic crops were introduced in last year, but we are using our existing accessions of AIVs and those from NARS and IARCs.

��www.avrdc.org

By year three of the project we expect to submit 148 new varieties for release in the hub countries. We are also looking at improving production systems, especially for exotic vegetables. Growing urbanization is increasing demand for vegetables in Africa. There are many export opportunities and these are already being realized for crops such as cherry tomato and rock melon. European seed companies currently dominate the market, but there are opportunities for Asian seed companies.

There are many common needs between Africa and Asia. AVRDC could test and promote improved vegetable varieties from Asian seed companies and foster the expansion of the existing seed trade. For instance, at present most cabbages sold in Africa are supplied by Asian seed companies. vBSS represents a unique platform to foster public-private partnerships for vegetable breeding and seed systems.

Questions & Answers

We would like to see what specific types of okra and other vegetables are needed in the African markets.

Okra is an AIV, and there is both a domestic market and an export market. The local market has a wide range of needs, but the export sector relies on varieties that are familiar to those already produced in Asia such as Clemson’s Spineless.

How would we share hot peppers?

We are introducing many lines and testing in different climatic zones. Send us the characteristics of your varieties, including traits and disease resistance. We can then

link you with local companies for future collaboration and sales management.

Highlights of AVRDC program activities in Central Asia and the proposed seed sector strengthening project in Uzbekistan

- Madhusudan Bhattarai

This presentation briefly summarized AVRDC’s recent program activities in Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) region, the vegetable sector issues in Uzbekistan, and key aspects of a proposed project on “Strengthening the Vegetable Seed Supply System to Enhance Rural Livelihoods in Uzbekistan”. The Center works for all eight countries in the CAC through a regional office in Tashkent, which opened in 2005. It has established CACVEGNET, a regional vegetable network, and is arranging to have a national vegetable coordinator or committee in each of the eight countries.

Although the vegetable area planted and the productivity of the vegetable sector declined in the CAC during 1990-1996, annual vegetable production in the region has been increasing since 1997; it now produces about 13 million tonnes per year. Productivity as well as imports and exports of vegetables vary greatly across the countries. For example, Uzbekistan currently exports vegetables worth $45 million per year to neighboring countries, and its exports go as far

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

as Siberia, in northern Russia. The main vegetable crops cultivated in Uzbekistan are tomato, watermelon, cabbage and bulb onions, which account for over 80% of the total vegetable crop area. Commercial crops are grown in sophisticated greenhouses or low-cost Chinese-style greenhouses, but most vegetables are grown in home gardens (Dahkam farm).

Before 1991, Uzbekistan was the largest hub for fruit and vegetable production in the region; several regional universities provided horticultural research, and other support services were available. Agribusiness collapsed after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, along with variety breeding, production and distribution of vegetable seed in Uzbekistan and the entire CAC region. At present, some of the critical problems faced by smallholder vegetable growers in Uzbekistan are: an absence of technologies suitable for small farms; inadequate credit and institutional support for farming; inadequate access to quality seed; and limited availability of irrigation water and fertilizers. Seed supply is a state-dominated activity; the public sector can meet only a third of the total vegetable seed demand in a year, and very few varieties have been released since 1991. Hence, access to quality seed is a major problem for vegetable farming in Uzbekistan.

In late 2007, in consultation with national partners and government agencies and the Asian Development Bank mission in Uzbekistan, the Center planned a seed sector strengthening project for Uzbekistan. This project aims to improve the overall seed system, strengthen the capacity of public and private

seed systems, suggest appropriate reforms, and strengthen networking among major agencies involved in research, development and marketing of vegetable seeds in Uzbekistan.

The project is divided into two phases. The first phase will involve baseline information collection on seed sector activities; the data will be used to conduct the main project activities in the second phase of the project, which is expected to last three to four years. The seed research team invited APSA to be a part of seed supply project in Uzbekistan and to send some of its members to the planned seed sector stakeholders’ workshop in Tashkent. APSA is encouraged to be a key part of the seed supply strengthening project in the CAC.

Questions & Answers

APSA would be happy to work with the Central Asia Seed Association (CASA), which was formed last year with the support of the Swedish government.

We will include this group and we will try to consult with all the partners and agencies working in CAC.

Regional collaboration to enhance vegetable research and development

- Peter A. C. Ooi

The international tomato trial proposed in 2006 by APSA and the Asian Regional Center (AVRDC-ARC) was not launched, but a closer

��www.avrdc.org

working relationship did develop between APSA and ARC.

ARC focuses on crops important in Southeast Asia, including indigenous species such as bitter gourd and yard-long bean. Bitter gourd (Momodica charantia), a crop favored by vegetable farmers in ASEAN with an annual estimated planted area of 60,000 ha, is a good species for research and development, both for food and for its medicinal properties. There is a need for better disease control and for the development of IPM systems to manage insect pests. A second crop to consider is the yard-long bean, Vigna unguiculata. In ASEAN, this vegetable has an annual estimated planted area of 240,000 ha, often in small areas. As with M. charantia, yard-long bean is plagued by pests and diseases. Insect pests include Phyllotreta sp, aphids and Maruca vitrata. We are looking for effective parasitoids of Maruca that could also benefit the legume industry in Africa and India. AVRDC is working on hybrid mungbean and could also consider hybrids for yard-long bean.

We have an existing network, AARNET (ASEAN-AVRDC Research Network) to enhance vegetable research and development in the region. To ensure safe vegetable production in the region as planted areas increase, we suggest creating a task force with members from APSA, AARNET and ARC to focus on public-private partnerships and foster the exchange of information.

Questions & Answers

AVRDC invested a lot in the regional tomato trials following APSA’s request, but why didn’t they take off with APSA support?

We all have our own independent evaluation methods. I don’t want information about a failure to be used from one area to another, and we want to have control over our trials. In the Netherlands the government set up a binding variety list for farmers to use based on the government trials, and the same is now being done in Indonesia. This can impose significant constraints on companies. Vegetables are very regional – even in one country there can be five or six different market slots and so regional trials are of limited value.

Then why was it requested in the first place? Don’t you want to see how our lines perform across the world?

We do like to see how these lines compare to our own. We need disease resistance and quality and it varies a lot. What will be done with the information? We are concerned about its use in binding seed lists. There is a lot of quality germplasm around, but not enough quantities of seed.

The request for international trials originally came from Indian members of APSA. Maybe Indian members can explain why it didn’t work.

We are a small company and not as networked as large companies. So it is good for small companies to network and we need high quality data.

But what data are we talking about? If you are mainly focused on a local market what is the advantage?

Maybe for diseases like tospoviruses.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Companies in India wanted to know if they had a market for their varieties in areas outside their current market areas:

If a variety is going from AVRDC to the private sector, then there is value of testing our material across the region; if the variety is coming the other way, there are more constraints. They could be submitted under coded names, and there would have to be a price attached to such trials. We have had development projects with hybrid varieties from the private sector and farmers that were interested, but companies are not necessarily interested in selling into those areas.

Trial results need to take account of other factors beyond just yield to be useful to us, such as storability and postharvest handling.

DAY 2 Thursday 10 April 2008

GRSU’s contribution and potential contribution to the private sector

- Liwayway Engle

AVRDC’s genebank currently holds over 56,000 accessions. The seeds sent out of the genebank are used directly as varieties, in the development of new and improved varieties, or in basic research. We aim to include as much diversity as possible in our collection. It contains accessions with a wealth of known genes for particular characteristics.

Although most genebank materials are maintained to respond to unforeseen challenges, some are targeted acquisitions assembled to answer specific immediate needs. The collection includes specific genes, chromosomal segments and genotype combinations. Accessions are characterized for morphological details, some information on disease resistance, and nutritional content. Information about all our accessions is available from AVGRIS on the web, which can be searched for specific germplasm.

During the last decade only 14% of all germplasm distributions have been to the private sector; however, there has been a small increase in use by the private sector in the last three years. Of the 1350 samples sent to APSA’s vegetable interest group over the last 10 years, most have been of pepper, tomato, eggplant and okra, which together account for over three-quarters of the total. Governments use our materials to screen for resistance to diseases or insects and for stress tolerance. The private sector has less complex requirements, and tends to use our germplasm only for trial evaluation, observation and crossbreeding, or to screen for disease resistance.

Requests for genebank materials by the private sector have increased over the past 10 years, with the greatest demand arising in the last two years. It is not clear whether the increased demand is due to the growing realization of the possible restrictions on the international exchange of germplasm under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, or simply an increased awareness of the usefulness of genebank materials.

��www.avrdc.org

GRSU staff can offer training in germplasm conservation, maintenance, documentation, and use. Previous trainees have come for periods of two weeks to a year to learn the principles and methods of genetic resources management.

Questions & Answers

About 80% of commercial vegetable varieties in India are produced by the private sector, and there is a need for the private sector to have more access to diverse germplasm.

We answer all requests.

We don’t need all the collection but only a core collection for each major crop.

It’s all in the database – the core collections are listed there. A collection is distinct from the advanced lines distributed from the Pepper unit or other units. Advanced lines are different from the raw materials from GRSU.

Is there specific documentation required if member private companies have collections that they would like to add to the public domain collection?

We have a draft germplasm acquisition agreement, which Dr. Engle will send upon request.

The increase in seed requests over the last three years may indicate a tangible benefit from the APSA partnership with AVRDC. The benefit of this may be significant, and AVRDC needs to have something in return.

There are certain crops that are covered by the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) of the

ITPGRFA. AVRDC is not a signatory to international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGR) and neither is Taiwan, but we try to work in harmony with international treaties and agreements. When the CBD was adopted we stopped distributing materials collected after 1991 until our own MTA was developed, after which distribution was resumed. When we enter into an agreement with a national program for collecting, the agreement states that the germplasm transferred to AVRDC will be distributed based on the Center’s MTA. The ITPGRFA has a list of crops covered by the multilateral system of agreement which is governed by the SMTA. However, many of the crops that we work on are not included, such as tomato, pepper and onions. Only a few of our crops are included such as crucifers and Vigna. There is encouragement from the international community for everyone to use the SMTA, both for the crops listed and those not listed in the multilateral system. We are in the process of deciding whether to use the SMTA or to continue using the MTA we have developed. For now we continue to use the Center’s MTA.

AVRDC is collecting a lot of germplasm and getting a lot from universities. Are GMOs included in this?

Many countries are asking for a certificate that there are no GMOs in seed being sent to them. Only non-GMOs are stored in our main collection. We keep GMOs separately.

There may be outcrossing and contamination and you cannot be

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

sure that materials received are not contaminated.

We can only base the collection on the information that we receive. For regeneration we keep our crops far away from the GMO fields.

You may take care here but you can’t be sure of others.

Most material we collect are farmers’ varieties; we don’t collect modern material. The proportion of materials in our collection that are commercial is very low. We don’t do any testing so we cannot be absolutely certain, but the chance of contamination is very low.

The importance of the vegetable sector in tropical Asia

- Mei-huey Wu

The vegetable sector in tropical Asia is a key industry for export market development, income generation and livelihood improvement within the region. This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of the industry, the crops, the value and outputs, and prevailing production systems practiced in the region. With funding from East-West Seeds, we collected data from Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Together they have 75% of the population, more than two-thirds of the land area and 87% of vegetable volume in tropical Asia.

While vegetable production plays an important role in some of these countries, we argue that vegetable

industry growth and development has not fully capitalized on the demand potential for the region’s vegetables, nor fully met existing and emerging opportunities for export production and processing to supply customers within and outside tropical Asia. In 2005, 124 million tonnes of vegetables were produced, most from South Asia. The major crops by area in South Asia are chili, onions and tomatoes; in Southeast Asia, the main crops are chili, onions/shallots and green beans. Total production accounts for only 14% of global production. The per capita vegetable supply has increased, with the largest increases in Vietnam and India. The share of land area allocated to vegetables is lower than the global average and especially low in Thailand and Indonesia. Regional exports account for only 3.3% of global export value. The production value is 22 times that of exports – 97.4% of vegetables are used locally. The value of production has doubled in the last 15 years, but supply issues show there is large gap amounting to 49 million tonnes.

There is a large gap between average yields and global averages. Average yields are lowest in the Philippines and highest in Thailand. There are large differences in productivity between countries, and crop areas could be expanded in some countries. Urbanization and rising incomes are increasing the demand for convenience foods and more diverse diets. There is a need to improve crop management practices, capitalize on the rising demand for processed and healthy food, and improve the institutional environment. With stronger public-private sector partnerships, we can more fully realize the potential of the vegetable sector and deliver more benefits to industry and consumers.

��www.avrdc.org

Questions & Answers

You have focused on exports, but what about the quantity of imports into Asia?

This is in the report.

There has been an assumption that it will not be possible to increase the area planted with vegetables in these regions. If the major increase needs to be in rice production, then we need to increase vegetable yields.

Government policies can stimulate the demand for quality seeds through seed certification.

Are there any countries in Southeast Asia with the potential to use GMOs to overcome pest problems?

There is potential.

Training APSA members in vegetable disease screening

- Jaw-fen Wang

The need for AVRDC to provide training in disease screening techniques was identified as a major topic of interest by APSA several years ago. Last year we conducted a survey of APSA members to assess the appropriate format, costs and advertising required.

The first training course on screening for resistance to vegetable diseases was held from 4-15 June 2007. We focused on applicants who needed on-the-job training. Ten participants

attended the course, including nine from private seed companies. The two-week course involved 20 hours of lectures covering the latest research findings on pathogen variation and resistance to major vegetable diseases, and 55 hours of practical sessions. We received very good feedback from the participants.

However, if future courses are to be run, AVRDC will need more support. AVRDC made all visa and logistical arrangements for the participants, which required significant staff time. The courses should be advertised three months ahead of time. Other courses on breeding and molecular markers have been suggested. Taiwan may not be the most convenient location. We need to discuss if training could be done in regional centers, although this would not lower the cost.

Questions & Answers

APSA was happy that the workshop was done. It is common to get slow responses from members for anything. The cause of the delay is that messages go to research people who are often in the field, but the decision still has to be made by the boss. APSA has a list of marketing people and managers. It is best to send requests to the scientists and to copy managers to get a faster response.

We didn’t have the information about this course. You need a three-month lead time to advertise a course.

We need to rely on APSA to send this information out. We discussed training in this meeting last year, but still had a low turnout. If a course was run in a regional center the content would be less.

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

A fee of $2,500 for a two-week training course may be high for some, as they are used to attending cheaper APSA workshops.

The cost of this course is very reasonable compared to university courses. If it was to be run in a regional center you would need to add in the cost of flights for lecturers. What is the priority for companies?

A training course for four weeks in a regional center is too long.

We would like to extend the training program and we would like to extend the course. AVRDC has trained more than 7,600 people over the last seven years, so even if APSA members have limited interest in training, there are many others who are interested. Our regional courses are run regularly and the cost for four weeks is only $2,000. The 27th annual course is being run this year and this is an opportunity for APSA members.

Is there interest in other courses?

Responses showed interest in breeding (8) and molecular markers (11) and support for a course on disease screening in 2010 (5).

Not all APSA members are present, so don’t take these as final figures.

Discussion on seed, socio-economics and capacity building

- Wendy Wu, chair

AVRDC: What is the view of APSA members regarding the use of SMTA,

and mutual benefits from germplasm sharing?

APSA: The SMTA is the new one developed by FAO. APSA members have to sign these and 0.5% of the cost is paid to the governing body to cover these. With AVRDC we use the old MTAs and there is no cost. With the new one we have to pay. In our current agreement with AVRDC we limit discussion to the improvement of four crops and APSA members can get this germplasm, but the current agreement does not require companies to share their materials.

AVRDC: India and Central Asia are APSA priorities, so what is APSA’s plan for CAC?

APSA: In the past we worked with ICARDA and FAO and planned to have an international trade conference in June in the region, but this has been postponed. We had planned a seed industry meeting in Uzbekistan, but FAO proposed another meeting. APSA may go ahead with its own plan and may work with the new CAC seed association.

Final overall discussion

- Sampan Campiranon, chair

Dr. Campiranon: We would like to thank all AVRDC staff for their valuable presentations and efforts. Our current relationship has broadened to cover pepper, tomato, leafy vegetables and cucurbits rather than the specific tasks like use of the Ty-2 gene that we began working together on. The improved materials being developed will go to core-funding members for two years before all others receive the materials. We

��www.avrdc.org

want to know how many requests actually have been received by GRSU from the core APSA members.

Dr. Gniffke: The Pepper Unit has made lists of materials available to APSA members. Only half a dozen lines of heat-tolerant sweet peppers have been made exclusively available to APSA before wider distribution. We don’t have data on how many requests for this material have been received from APSA members.

Dr. Hanson: We need to clarify the meaning of core funding. Such funding goes to the Center’s budget with no strings attached and no promises of early lines being selectively given to donors. In the agreement made with APSA there is a list of topics of interest and we consider those internally when deciding how the money is covered, but we don’t promise to cover all of those.

APSA: Do we have a list of those topics?

Dr. Hanson: These were developed and circulated three years ago.

Dr. Kaiser: Has APSA made any progress in acknowledging AVRDC in its members’ seed catalogs?

APSA: Among the core members, seven are mentioning AVRDC in their catalogs.

Dr. Bhattarai: Vegetable data is hard to collect. Is there any mechanism to collect better data than that available from FAO? Many companies maintain their own databases.

Dr. Campiranon: Last year APSA hired a person to collect this data and build

a database. An issue of particular interest to us is phytosanitary information and this is being updated in our databases and on the web. About 70% of APSA members are vegetable companies. We will have more people on board in the future to collect this information.

Dr. Campiranon: The money given to AVRDC is given with broad options, but the Center knows our interests. A future contract with the Center will need to be more specific.

APSA: It is hard for the private sector to collect information on crop statistics and we also have to rely on the public sector. Many statistics are poor and by experience we can judge accuracy and which ones cannot be taken seriously.

APSA: This meeting is similar to others I have attended in the Netherlands. All seed companies are competitors, so the lack of information sharing you see here is normal. But there are common tasks here, and we may need to keep working to get the common activities right, like the international vegetable variety testing program that we can all support. For research issues we need a consensus first and only mention the subjects that we want to cooperate on. We all appreciate increasing our sales but we also appreciate that means reduced genetic diversity. There are common problems that we need to deal with.

Dr. Kaiser: This partnership is a model for your work with other centers. Core funding means no strings attached and no reporting required. Other funding is for special projects and may cost more and actually reduce your access to information. Core funding has worked well and if there are special requests then we can work on

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�0

breeders. The projects were actually less important than the discussion that went on. The real relevance is a forum and to get people to understand each other.

Dr. Wang: We take your opinions very seriously as you have a clear ideas of farmers’ needs. We often quote the seed companies in rationalizing our priority setting. This forum is a good source of interaction for helping us to set our priorities. You are getting more advanced information as a result of core funding.

Dr. Campiranon: I would like to thank all AVRDC staff for their hard work and we look forward to a strong relationship in the future.

��www.avrdc.org

NOTES

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

IMPRESSIONS

��www.avrdc.org

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

PARTICIPANTS - APSA

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Sampan Campiranon Director

sampanc@apsaseed.org

The Asia & Pacific Seed Association (APSA)APSA Secretariat, Rooms 726 & 731 (7th Floor), Institute of Food Research Bldg., 50, Kasetsart University, Ladyao, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, THAILAND

Tel: 662-9405464 (099201085); 662-2535502 (H)Fax: 662-9405467

Email: apsa@apsaseed.org Website: www.apsaseed.org

Crisanto AlibuyogAsst Res. Manager

Tel: 632-4376606~08

crisalibuyog@alliedbotanical.com

Allied Botanical Corp. (Member No.: 085)Allied Agro Compound, No 15, 21st Avenue, Brgy. Tagumpay, Cubao, Quezon City 1109, PHILIPPINES

Tel: +63(2)911-0836, 911-2822; Fax: +63(2)911-0159

Email: wco@alliedbotanical.comRepresentative: Mr. Willy Co, President/General Manager

Bejo Sheetal Seeds Pvt. Ltd. (Member No.: 056)P.O. Box. 77, Bejo Sheetal Corner, Mantha Road, Jalna 431 203, INDIA

Tel: +91(2482)232588/236588; Fax: +91(2482)230398

Email: bejosheetal@hotmail.com Website: www.bejosheetalseeds.com

Representative: Mr. Kamal Zunzunwala, DirectorMr. Sameer Suresh Agrawal (info@bejosheetalseeds.com)

Century Seeds Pvt. Ltd. (Member No.: 070)BA 22-24 Mangolpuri Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi 110 034, INDIA

Tel: +91(11)2701-7061, 2701-9890Fax: +91(11)2701-7568

Email: hybrids@bol.net.in Website: www.centuryseeds.com

Representative: Mr. Rajendra Singh Arora, Managing Director

��www.avrdc.org

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Tom BurnsTel: 66-89-8905729Fax: 66-34-531016

thomas.bu@chiataigroup.com

Supat Mekiyanon170 Moo 9 Kanchanaburi-Saiyok Road, Tambol Wang Dong, Amphur Muang, Kanchanaburi 71190, Thailand

supat.me@chiataigroup.com

Chia Tai Co., Ltd. (Member No.: 033)299-301 Songsawad Road, Samphantawong, Bangkok 10100, THAILAND

Tel: +66(2)233-8191 to 9; Fax: +66(2)639-1805

Email: chiatai@ksc.th.comWebsite: http://www.chiataigroup.com

Representative: Mr. Manas Chiaravanond, Executive Vice President

Sumitra Asavasens, Korntong Pongsuwan: 70 Moo 6, Tumbol Omnoi, Ampur Kratumban, Samutsakom 74130, Thailand Tel: 66-2-8103032~7; Fax: 66-2-8103038

Dr. Anthony B. TseManaging Director

clover@netvigator.com

Wing-Yee Liu (Winnie)

Winnie@cloverseed.com.hk

Clover Seed Co., Ltd. (Member No.: 006)Little H.K. Village, Lots 91-104, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong, CHINA

Tel: +852 2873-6306; Fax: +852 2873-6429

Email: clover@netvigator.comWebsite: www.cloverseed.com.hk

Representative: Dr. Anthony B. Tse, Managing Director

Conrado H. BalateroR&D ManagerEast-West Seed Company, Km 54 Cagayan Valley Rd., Sampaloc, San Rafael, 3008 Bulacan, Philippines

conrado.balatero@eastwestseed.com

Marinus RodenburgPT East West Seed Indonesia, PO Box 1 Campaka, Purwakarta, 41181, Jabar, Indonesia

Tel: 62-264-201871Fax: 62-264-201875

rien@ewsi.co.id

East-West Seed International Ltd.P.O. Box 3 Bang Bua Thong, 11110 Nonthaburi, THAILAND50/1, Moo 2, Sainoi-Bang Bua Thong Road, T. Sainoi, A. Sainoi, Nonthaburi 11150

Tel: 66-2-8317700; Fax: 66-2-9237794

Website: www.eastwestseed.com

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Joep Van BalenEnza Zaden R&DBV, Haling 1e, 1602 DB Enkhuizen, The Netherlands

Tel: 31-228350100Fax: 31-228315854

j.van.balen@enzazaden.nl

Enza Zaden China Limited (Member No. 535)Little Hong Kong Village Lots 91-104 Shouson Hill,Hong Kong, CHINA

Tel: +852-2873-6306Fax: 852-2873-6429

Email: clover@netvigator.comWebsite: www.enzazaden.nl

Representative: Mr. Jan Panman, Export Manager (Area Sales Manager Asia Africa Oceania); Tel: 31-228-315844; Fax: 31-228-315960; mobile: 31-6-51582890(j.panman@enzazaden.nl)

Krishna PrasadResearch Lead-Vegetables (South)

krishna.prasad@goldenadvanta.com

Shiv Chand PandeyGolden Seeds (Division of Advanta India Ltd.)

sc.pandey@goldenadvanta.com

Golden Seeds Private Limited (Member No.: 270)B-22, Block-B, Brigade-MM Buildings, K.R. Road Cross, Yediyur, Bangalore 560 082, INDIA

Tel: +91(80)2676-6764 Fax: +91(80)2676-4742

Email: goldenbl@vsnl.net

Representative: Mr. Omprakash Choudhary, Managing Director

N.N. Raghvendra Rao (goldenbl@vsnl.net)

Arthur Santosh Attavar

Tel: 91-80-28604499Mobile: 9844014442Fax: 91-80-28602912

santoshattavar@gmail.com

B.B. MadalageriTel: 91-80-22723218Mobile: 9845491907Fax: 91-80-28602912

gopalnagar@indamseeds.com

Indo-American Hybrid Seeds (India) Pte. Ltd. (Member No.: 127)P.O.Box 7099, 17th Cross, 2nd A Main, K.R. Rd., Banashankari 2nd stage, Bangalore 560 070, INDIA

Tel: +91(80)2676-0111, 2676-2120Fax: +91(80)2676-1479

Email: dr_attavar@vsnl.comWebsite: www.indamseeds.com

Representative: Dr. Manmohan Attavar, Chairman & Managing Director

��www.avrdc.org

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Arvind Deshpande

Tel: 91-40-27764970

aadeshpande@jkseeds.net

J.K. Agri Genetics Ltd. (Member No. 426)1-10-177, 4th Floor, Varun Towers, Begumpet, Hyderabad 500016, Andhra Pradesh 500016 INDIA

Tel: +91-40-55316858Fax: +91-40-27764943

E-mail: info@jkseeds.netWebsite: www.jkseeds.net

Representative: Mr. S.V.R. Rao, Vice President, Research & ProductionP.S. Dravid (psdravid@jkseeds.com)

Wendy Wu

wendyy0301@knownyou.com

Chang, Chia-Hui (Linda)

apia@knownyou.com

Known-You Seed Co., Ltd. (Member No.: 087)26 Chung-Cheng 2nd Road, Kaohsiung City, TAIWAN

Tel: +886(7)224-1106Fax: +886(7)222-7299

Website:www.knownyou.com

Representative: Mr. Lunh-Mu Chen, President

Kankanallu S. RaviSr. Principal InvestigatorMolecular VirologyMahyco Research Center

Tel: 91-2482-262371 – 74Fax: 91-2482-262002

ravi.kankanallu@mahyco.com

Mahyco Seeds Ltd. (Member No.: 013)Resham Bhavan, 4th Floor, 78 Veer Nariman Road, Mumbai-20 400 020 INDIA

Tel: +91(22)2204-9497/3020Fax: +91(22)2204-7871

Email: info@mahyco.com Website: www.mahyco.com

Representative: Mr. Raju B. Barwale, Managing Director Dr. A.A. Deshpande (aadeshpande04@hotmail.com)Dr. Brent Zehr (brent.zehr@mahyco.com)

K.S. Ravi, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company, Ltd. (India), Mahyco Research Center, Jalna-Aurangabad Road, Dawalwadi, Jalna-431203, Maharashtra

Tel: 91-2482-236830Fax: 91-2482-234621

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Junichiro EnyaR&D Division

enya@mikadokyowa.com

Moriguchi Katsumi

k-moriguchi@mikadokyowa.com Mikado Kyowa Seed Co., Ltd., 2789-1, Simo-Otaki, Otaki-machi, Isumi-gun, Chiba 298-0202, Japan

Tel: 81-470-822413Fax: 81-470-822414

Mikado International Inc. (Member No.: 044)1203 Hoshikuki, Chuo, Chiba 260, JAPAN

Tel: +81(43)265-4847Fax: +81(43)266-6444

Email: mikadoin@ops.dti.ne.jpWebsite: www.mikadojapan.com

Representative: Mr. Saburo Matsuo, PresidentMr. Madoka Koshibe (madkoshi@aol.com)

Otaki Research Station, Mikado Seed Growers Co., ltd.2789-1 Shimo-Otaki, Otaki-machi, Isumi-gun, Chiba Pref., Japan

Tel: 81-470-822413Fax: 81-470-822414

Namdhari Seeds (Member No.: 106)119, Arasappa Comp, 9th Main Rd., Ideal Home Township, Rajarajeshwari, Bangalore 560 039, INDIA

Tel: +91-98-4547-1271/2Fax: +91-80-2860-2168

Email: udaysingh@namdhariseeds.com Website: www.namdhariseeds.com

Representative: Mr. Uday Singh, Managing Partner

Nodai Seeds India (P) Ltd. Member No. 524)38th Milestone, N.H-8, Behrampur Road, Gurgaon, Haryana, INDIA

Tel: +91-124-221-5606Fax: +91-124-237-3021

Email: nodai_seeds@Yahoo.com

Representative: Mr. Ishwar Singh, Managing Director

��www.avrdc.org

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Gopal Krishna HegdeNunhems India Pvt. Ltd.

Tel: 91-80-28563894Fax: 91-80-28461972

g.hedge@nunhems.com

Nunhems B V (Members No.: 363)P.O. Box 4005, Haelen 6080 AA, THE NETHERLANDS

Tel: +31(475)599-222Fax: +31(475)599-223

Email: L.Welles@nunhems.comWebsite: www.nunhems.com

Dr. Orlando de Ponti (o.deponti@nunhems.com)Dr. Arvind Kapur (nunhems.gurgaon@nunhems.com)

Sharan AngadiNunhems India Private Limited, No. 16, Sri Ramanjaneya Complex1st Main, Canara Bank Road, New Yelahanka Town, Bangalore 560064, India

Tel: 91-80-28561807Fax: 91-80-28461972

Nuziveedu Seeds (P) Limited (Member No.: 145)504, Vikrant Towers, 4, Rajendra Palace, Delhi 110008 INDIA

Tel: +91-40-2789-8282Fax: +91-40-5532-21500

Email: nuziveeduseeds@hotmail.com

Representative: Mr. Prabhakar Rao Mandava,Managing DirectorDr. Sateesh Kumar Puligun (puligun@yahoo.com)

Kazunori MuraoKimitsu Research Station, 358, Uchikoshi, Sodegaura-shi, Chiba-ken, Japan 299-0217

Tel: 81-(0)438752681Fax: 81(0)438757276

k.murao@sakata-seed.co.jp

Sakata Seed Corporation (Member No.: 072)2-7-1 Nakamachidai, Tsuzuki-Ku, Yokohama 224 0041, JAPAN

Tel: +81(45)945-8822Fax: +81(45)945-8823

Email: intldiv@sakata-seed.co.jpWebsite: www.sakataseed.co.jp

Representative: Mr. Hideo Takahashi, PresidentMr. Hideto Kaneko (hide@sakata-seed.co.jp)

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop�0

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Seminis Vegetable Seeds (India) Limited (Member No. 501)Gut No. 24 , Chitegaon, Paithan Road, Aurangabad 431105 Maharastra, INDIA

Tel: +91-2431-251423Fax: +91-2431-251468

E-mail: pathakcs@seminisindia.com

Representative: Mr. Mangesh Kadgaonkar, Director-West Asia Chandra Pathak (chandra.phatak@seminis.com)

Chauhan KhumansangSyngenta India Limited, C-17, MIDC, Chikalthana, Aurangabad, India #431210

Tel: 91-2431-231273Fax: 91-2431-231394; Email:

khumansang.chauhan@syngenta.com

Narenda SinghSyngenta Seeds Ltd. 3rd Fl/ Juthamard Building 89/170 M00.3, Vibhavadi Rangsit Rd, Laksi, Bangkok 10210, Thailand

Tel: 66-25510300Fax: 66-29736068

narendra.singh@syngenta.com

Kazuyuki TanakaHari 1054-3 C-104Shiga Japan 520-3231

Tel: 81-748-721271Fax: 81-748-721285

kazuyuki.tanaka@takii.co.jp

Syngenta Seeds Ltd. (Member No.: 090)18F First Bank Head Office Building, Gongpyung-dong, Jongro-gu Seoul KOREA

Tel: +82(2)398-5650Fax: +82(2)722-0680

Email: kieun.kim@syngenta.com Website: www.syngenta.com

Ms. Ahn Kyungku (kyungku.ahn@syngenta.com)Dr. Tikoo Suren (suren.tikoo@syngenta.com)

Takii & Company, Ltd. (Member No.: 093)180 Umekoji, Inokuma, Shimogyo-Ku, Kyoto 600-8686, JAPAN

Tel: +81(75)365-0123Fax: +81(75)365-0110

Email: inter@takii.co.jpWebsite: www.takii.co.jp

Representative: Mr. Denichi Takii, PresidentMr. Kazuo Hatsuda (hatsuda@takii.co.jp)

��www.avrdc.org

Workshop Participants APSA Secretariat & Contributing Companies

Tokita Seed Co., Ltd. (Member No.: 088)1069 Nakagawa, Minuma-ku, Saitama-shi,, Saitama-Ken City 337 8532, JAPAN

Tel: +81(48)686-7235Fax: +81(48)688-1167

Email: ttokita@tokitaseed.co.jp Website: www.tokitaseed.co.jp

Representative: Mr. Tsutomu Tokita, President Mr. Ike Tokita (ike@tokita.co.jp)Dr. Jai Singh (jai@tokitaindia.com)

Unicorn Seed Limited (Member No.: 269)1-7-139/3, S.D. Road, Hyderabad 500 003, INDIA

Tel: +91(40)2781-1554/2784-7769Fax: +91(40)2784-2399

Email: uniagro@satyam.net.inWebsite: www.choiceseed.com

Representative: Mr. Amul Sanghani, Managing Director

B.S. Dhapate Patil

bspatil_vibhaseeds@yahoo.co.in

Vibha Agrotech Ltd. (Member No.: 357)501 Subhan Sirisampada, Somajiguda Hyderabad, A.P. INDIA

Tel: +91(40)330-1473Fax: +91(40)332-4483

Email: vsagar@hd2.dot.net.in

Representative: Mr. Vidya Sagar Parchuri, Chairman and Managing Director

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

Dr. Madhusudan BhattaraiAgricultural Economist madhu.bhattarai@worldveg.org

Mr. Lien-chung ChangAssociate Specialistlien-chung.chang@worldveg.org

Dr. Yin-fu ChangDeputy Director GeneralAdministration & Servicesyin-fu.chang@worldveg.org

Mr. Jen-tzu ChenAssociate Specialistjen-tzu.chen@worldveg.org

Ms. Shin-jiun Cherng (Vicky)Assistant Specialistvicky.cherng@worldveg.org

Dr. Kyeong-ho ChungBiotechnologistKorean Seconded Scientist kyeong-ho.chung@worldveg.org

Dr. Robert de la PeñaMolecular Plant Breederrobert.delapena@worldveg.org

Dr. Warwick EasdownHead, Communicationswarwick.easdown@worldveg.org

Dr. Liwayway EngleGeneticistliwayway.engle@worldveg.org

Dr. Paul GniffkePlant Breederpaul.gniffke@worldveg.org

Dr. Sylvia K. GreenPlant Pathologistsylvia.green@worldveg.org

Dr. Kathryn HamiltonSpecial Projects Coordinatorkathryn.hamilton@worldveg.org

PARTICIPANTS - AVRDC

Dr. Peter HansonPlant Breederpeter.hanson@worldveg.org

Ms. Shu-mei HuangResearch Assistantshu-mei.huang@worldveg.org

Dr. Jackie HughesDeputy Director General – Researchjackie.hughes@worldveg.org

Dr. Edwin JavierInternational Variety Development Coordinatoredwin.javier@worldveg.org

Dr. Markus KaiserGrant Development Coordinatormarkus.kaiser@worldveg.org

Ms. Dolores LedesmaSpecialist, Statistics and Database Developmentdidit.ledesma@worldveg.org

Mr. Chih-hung LinPrincipal Research Assistantchih-hung.lin@worldveg.org

Mr. Chung-zheng LinPrincipal Research Assistantchung-cheng.lin@worldveg.org

Ms. Shih-wen Lin (Susan) Principal Research Assistantsusan.lin@worldveg.org

Mrs. Kartini (Iin) LutherAssistant to the DDG-Rkartini.luther@worldveg.org

Dr. Rémi Nono-WomdimLiaison Officer for TanzaniavBSS Projectremi.nono-womdim@worldveg.org

Dr. Peter OoiDirector/AVRDC-ARCpeter.ooi@worldveg.org

��www.avrdc.org

Dr. Kadirvel Palchamy Post-doctoral FellowMolecular Breeding/Entomologykadirvel.palchamy@worldveg.org

Ms. Sheue-chin Shieh (Jin)Principal Research Assistantjin.shieh@worldveg.org

Dr. R. SrinivasanEntomologistsrini.ramasamy@worldveg.org

Dr. Zhanyong SunCucurbit Breederzhanyong.sun@worldveg.org

Mr. Chee-wee TanPrincipal Research Assistantchee-wee.tan@worldveg.org

Ms. Hsing-hua Tsai (Ida)Research Assistantida.tsai@worldveg.org

Mr. Wen-shi TsaiPrincipal Research Assistantwen-shi.tsai@worldveg.org

Dr. Jaw-fen WangPlant Pathologistjaw-fen.wang@worldveg.org

Dr. Tien-chen WangSpecialist, Mycologytien-chen.wang@worldveg.org

Ms. Yen-wei Wang (Vivian)Research Assistantvivian.wang@worldveg.org

Ms. Mei-huey WuPrincipal Research Assistantmei-huey.wu@worldveg.org

Dr. Ray-yu YangAssociate Specialist, Nutritionray-yu.yang@worldveg.org

Proceedings of the 2008 APSA-AVRDC Workshop��

ACRONYMS

AARNET ASEAN-AVRDCRegionalNetworkonVegetableResearchandDevelopmentAFLP AmplifiedFragmentLengthPolymorphismAIVs AfricanindigenousvegetablesAPSA TheAsia&PacificSeedAssociationASEAN AssociationofSoutheastAsianNationsASTA AmericanSeedTradeAssociationAVGRIS AVRDCVegetableGeneticResourcesInformationSystemAVRDC AsianVegetableResearchandDevelopmentCenterAVRDC-ARC AsianVegetableResearchandDevelopmentCenter--AsianRegionalCenterCAC CentralAsiaandtheCaucasusCaCV Capsicum chlorosis virusCBD ConventiononBiologicalDiversityCIMMYT CentroInternacionaldeMejoramientodeMaízyTrigoCOI CytochromeoxidaseCRSP CollaborativeResearchSupportProgramELISA Enzyme-linkedimmunosorbentassayDH DoubledhaploidFAO FoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnitedNationsGMOs geneticallymodifiedorganismsGNIS GroupementNationalInterprofessionneldesSemencesetplantsGRSU GeneticResourcesandSeedUnitICARDA InternationalCenterforAgriculturalResearchintheDryAreasIIHR IndianInstituteofHorticultureResearchIPM IntegratedPestManagementIPR IntellectualpropertyrightsIRRI InternationalRiceResearchInstituteISTA InternationalSeedTestingAssociationITPGR InternationalTreatyonPlantGeneticResourcesITPGRFA TheInternationalTreatyonPlantGeneticResourcesforFoodandAgricultureIVVDN InternationalVegetableVarietyDevelopmentNetworkMTA MaterialTransferAgreementsNARES NationalAgriculturalResearchandExtensionServicesNARS NationalAgriculturalResearchServicesNCBI NationalCenterforBiotechnologyInformationPBNV Peanut bud necrosis virusPCR PolymerasechainreactionPRSV-W Papaya ringspot virusPVP PlantvarietyprotectionQTL QualitativetraitlocusSAI SeedAssociationofIndiaSLCCNV Squash leaf curl China virusSLCPHV Squash leaf curl Philippines virusSLCV Squash leaf curl virusSMTA StandardMaterialTransferAgreementTSWV Tomato spotted wilt virusTYLCV Tomato yellow leaf curl virusUASB UniversityofAgriculturalSciences-BangalorevBSS VegetableBreedingandSeedSystemsforPovertyReductioninAfricaWMV Watermelon mosaic virusWSMV Watermelon silver mottle virusZYMV Zucchini yellow mosaic virus