RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

in agriculture m a y be m a d e .
"I believe that it will be possible, here and
there, to graft on to native practice t h e results
of w e s t e r n experience, but t h e main advance
w i l l c o m e f r o m an enquiry into native agriculture
a n d f r o m t h e extension of t h e better indigenous
m e t h o d s t o parts w h e r e t h e y are not k n o w n o r
e m p l o y e d . "
Colleagues, that w a s w r i t t e n 90 years ago.
I w a n t to illustrate t h e principle by s o m e
e x a m p l e s f r o m northern Nigeria. I am a w a r e that
not everyone here will agree w i t h w h a t I am going
to say, but I am going to say it nevertheless. Since
I believe it. I m u s t be c o n t e n t to differ f r o m t h o s e
w h o do not feel t h e s a m e w a y as I do.
In northern Nigeria, the w o r k of Curtis (1968)
indicates that photoperiod or lack of response to
photoperiod is an absolute d e t e r m i n a n t of t h e
t y p e of s o r g h u m that can be m o s t successfully
g r o w n in a particular region. M o r e o v e r , response
to photoperiod, or lack of it, d e t e r m i n e s not only
w h a t can or cannot be d o n e w i t h s o r g h u m , it
d e t e r m i n e s t h e place of various kinds of bulrush
millet in t h e f a r m i n g s y s t e m s and t h e nature of
t h e intercropping practices w h i c h involve c o w -
peas (see Bunting 1975). The reason for this
s e e m s quite straightforward. It is that in northern
Nigeria the onset of the rains is unpredictable,
w h e r e a s t h e t e r m i n a t i o n of t h e rains is m u c h
m o r e predictable. It is possible therefore to use
p h o t o p e r i o d sensitivity, or lack of it, to t i m e a
w h o l e series of agronomic e v e n t s in s u c h a w a y
that t h e o u t c o m e carries m i n i m u m risk and
m a x i m u m likelihood of benefit to t h e cultivator.
There is no w a y of achieving this by using other
t y p e s of adaptation.
I am not attracted by t h e easy set of w o r d s that
so m a n y of us u s e — " s h o r t - s t a t u r e d , earlym
a t u r i n g , photoperiod-insensitive, widely-adapted
t y p e s . " This is derived, in part, f r o m t h e practice
o f t e m p e r a t e agriculture, w h e r e indeed w e d o
n e e d s u c h t y p e s , each adapted t o its o w n
conditions, in order to secure ourselves against
t h e risks o f s u m m e r drought. But w h e n w e start
applying t h e s e c o n c e p t s to tropical conditions,
particularly w h e n w e have i m p o s e d t h e m o n our
research p r o g r a m as a c o n s e q u e n c e of t h e
conversion p r o g r a m i n s o r g h u m , w e m a y m e e t
substantial difficulties. If f l o w e r i n g and maturity
c o m e t o o early, w e m a y substantially increase
d a m a g e b y insects a n d fungi, s o that w e have t o
increase resistance to head rots. If we g e t it
w r o n g t h e other w a y , w e run into dry w e a t h e r .
and therefore have to step up our research on
adaptation to drought. No d o u b t b o t h t h e s e sorts
of research are useful, but t h e risks w o u l d be
m i n i m i z e d if the t i m e adaptation w e r e right. It is
like shooting yourself in the foot and t h e n calling
for a pair of crutches and a bath chair. It is far
better not to shoot yourself in t h e foot in t h e first
place.
All this arises f r o m a point that I m a d e earlier in
this m e e t i n g . All too f e w o f t h e scientists w h o
c o m e for t h e first t i m e to w o r k in the tropics are
a w a r e of the fundamental differences b e t w e e n
tropical and t e m p e r a t e e n v i r o n m e n t s in w a t e r
regime and nitrogen cycling let alone t h e differe
n c e s in social and e c o n o m i c settings. This has
led, in my v i e w , to substantial w a s t a g e of resources
in tropical agricultural research.
N o w I w a n t to turn to plant breeding. I am not a
breeder and w h a t I say m a y therefore be w r o n g as
w e l l as subversive. We have evidently to i m p r o v e
our crop in respect of a w i d e range of multiple
o b j e c t i v e s — n o t merely potential " h i g h " yield,
important as that is. We have heard about
nutritional attributes, resistance to storage pests,
local adaptation to environmental circumstances,
diseases, pests, quality for t h e c o n s u m e r a n d
m a n y other things. Breeders are b o u n d , in my
v i e w , to keep all of these objectives constantly in
v i e w . It may be difficult to select or b r e e d . for
t h e m all at once; but we shall r e m e m b e r t h a t if
we do not positively breed for a character we are
likely to breed against it. Nor m u s t we f r a g m e n t
t h e process unduly, for example, by asking
different breeders to breed separately for different
objectives.
W e m a y take encouragement f r o m t h e w a y i n
w h i c h , since t h e early days of IR5 and IR8. our
colleagues at IRRI in the Philippines have n o w g o t
up to IR54. In that range they can offer various
t y p e s of plant structure appropriate for large yields
in different environments, w i t h various culinary
qualities and an increasing range of multiple inbuilt
resistances to p e s t s and diseases.
Let me add an even cruder e x a m p l e . That giant
of plant breeding and genetics, S. C. Harland
(1949) t r a n s f o r m e d Tanguis, t h e main c o t t o n of
Peru, b y w h a t h e n a m e d t h e m a s s pedigree
s y s t e m of selection. By setting standards for six
characters w h i c h could be m e a s u r e d on single
plants, rejecting plants or small bulks in w h i c h
t h e s e characters w e r e b e l o w t h e n o r m o r t h e
arithmetic m e a n , and by advancing t h e standards
in successive years, he soon p r o d u c e d popula-
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