Plant breeding symposium success

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 21

Plant breeding symposium success

mhe Plant Breeding Symposium held at Lincoln College by the D.S.I.R. last week was a celebration of the “coming of age” of plant breeding research in New Zealand.

Two hundred plant breeders, geneticists, and scientists from supporting disciplines from 15 countries gathered to exchange information on the development of improved plant varieties. The presentations by New Zealanders highlighted the maturing of teaching institutions and learning in this country, said Sir Otto Frankel when he reflected on the success of the three-day event.

Sir Otto is a renowned scientist who made a major contribution to New Zealand plant breeding before becoming chief of the Plant Industry Division of C.5.1.R.0. in Australia.

New Zealand could look forward confidently with the knowledge that a good foundation for research had been built, he said. The symposiufn recognised much more than the 50th anniversary of the first New Zealand-bred wheat cultivar and the first D.S.I.R. research station at Lincoln, said the organising secretarry, Mr Howard Bezar.

“Seventy five important overseas scientists saw the achievements of New Zealand plant breeding while they were here for the symposium and acknowledged them as being innovative and competitive internationally”, he said. “As a result, links in research have been opened up which should give considerable impetus to agricultural and horticultural crop exports in

the long term,” added Mr Bezar.

The symposium opened with a session on genetic conservation — a topic of growing concern for plant breeders.

New sources of genes for improved yield, quality, resistance to diseases and pests are constantly sought but the logistics of genetic conservation are controversial, involving the transfer of material from the poorer nations to the more developed nations.

Sir Otto recommended that future gene collecting be selective and specialist so that smaller, more usable gene banks or “core collections” can be set up. A controversial paper by Dr Nic Hogenboom from the Institute for Horticultural Plant Breeding in the Netherlands provoked some debate. The topic of division of resources between public

and private plant breeding touched a chord with many breeders at the symposium. The problem of cuts in government funding for public research was discussed and any threat to the production of a profitable product by public institutions was thought a serious matter.

Papers on development in wheat breeding were presented by British, Polish, Australian, Canadian, and Norwegian plant breeders.

Dr John Bingham of the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge noted that the efforts of wheat breeders during the last 20 years could lead to surpluses. U.K. plant breeders are now concentrating less on yield and more on developing wheat crops with reduced management and chemical requirements and on improved commercial uses.

Breeding for disease resistance is a perennial problem for plant breeders. In New Zealand, a fungal disease, Dothistroma, or needle blight of Pinus radiata, has been studied.

Drs Sue and Mike Carson of Forest Research Institute, Rotorua, described their programme for screening for resistant

trees. The long generation time, size of trials, and isolation needed for trees make forest breeding difficult. However, durable resistance to needle blight is a long- term goal. Another paper presented by a Japanese apple breeder, Dr Yoshio Yoshida, highlighted the intensive labour inputs in apple crops in his country. Individual apples are rotated on the tree or put into paper bags while on the tree to improve the colour and evenness of skin ripening. Plant breeders in Japan are trying to develop apples with natural Improved colour and quality to avoid the traditional costly management practices.

The symposium ended with a look at the future.

Molecular biologists can now alter the genes in a plant and grow plants from single cells on special media. But they are careful to stress that high technology will not replace traditional plant breeding. The real test of genetic engineering comes in field trials.

In the next 10 years tissue culture techniques and the opportunity to introduce novel genes into crops would become a

part of many plant breeding programmes in New Zealand, said Dr Richard Gardner, a molecular biologist at the University of Auckland.