ICARDA annual report 2004

ICARDA Annual Report 2004
86
Collaborative Projects
The barley enhancement program
focuses on the development of
germplasm with multiple disease
resistance and adaptation to the
environments in Latin America.
Since 2000, LARP has been
actively working with the US
Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative
with the common objective to fight
an extremely destructive disease,
Fusarium Head Blight (FHB).
Networking with more than 16
institutions in the US and worldwide
has made it possible to make
available promising germplasm to
national partners. The Oregon State
University, USA, and the Field
Crops Development Center, based
in Alberta, Canada, are the best
examples of long-term collaboration
in the development of superior
germplasm.
Working in alliance with the
private sector, the program has a
research agreement with Busch
Agricultural Resources Inc. (BARI),
the agricultural research branch of
Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewery
in the world. The objective of
the research includes the development
of barley that combines malting
quality characteristics and
resistance to several diseases,
including FHB. The germplasm
developed through this effort is
available to any collaborator in the
region and worldwide. The main
objective is to improve the barley
crop and meet the increasing
demand for malting barley.
Busch Agricultural Research Inc. (BARI) scientists collaborating in the barley enhancement
project to develop germplasm with good malting quality and resistance to
Fusarium Head Blight visit research experiments at Toluca, Mexico, with Dr Flavio
Capettini (second from right), ICARDA Barley Breeder in the Center’s Latin America
Regional Program, and Dr Maarten van Ginkel (right), CIMMYT Head of FHB
Research.
Since LARP is based in Mexico,
special attention has been given to
support local institutions in the
development of new barley types
with high adaptation to the region
and new production alternatives to
local farmers. The alternatives
include the development of forage
barley lines, as well as feed barley
lines with higher yield than the
local malting types.
The long-term collaboration in
legume research has been yielding
encouraging results. One of the
examples was the release of a new
faba bean variety, ‘San Isidro’ in
Mexico in 2004, developed from the
germplasm supplied by ICARDA.
‘San Isidro’ has tolerance to chocolate
spot and was released by the
Institute of Agricultural, Water,
and Forestry Research and Training
of the State of Mexico (ICAMEX).
Technical Assistance
A research program with the
Brazilian Agricultural Research
Corporation, EMBRAPA, started in
2001 to develop barley adapted to
the environments in Central Brazil.
A local barley breeder has visited
Mexico twice since, with the objective
of receiving training in barley
breeding and carrying out in situ
selection of germplasm delivered to
Brazil. The ICARDA/CIMMYT barley
breeder also provides support
through visits and selection of
materials at experiment stations
and farmers’ fields in Latin
America.