marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

438Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishinternational cooperation. One demonstrationof the extent to which scientists fromdeveloping countries are contributing toresearch on, and application of, MAS is thatmany participants were from developingcountries but studying and/or workingabroad. Contributions came from nationalinstitutions hosting foreign researchers andalso from centres of the CGIAR that promotecollaborative research and training.Olori (65) described the many ways thatdeveloping country individuals and institutionsare contributing to the developmentof MAS by participating in internationalagricultural research. Gianola (24), however,questioned the apparent altruism ofdeveloped countries in sponsoring collaborativeMAS efforts, fearing that it mighthide motives for developing biomedicalapplications from the results.Partnerships between the CGIAR andnational researchers led to some successes inMAS mentioned in the conference. Sridhar(35) reported on the collaboration betweenan Indian rice research institute and theInternational Rice Research Institute, andWallwork (59) on cooperation betweenan Australian institution, the InternationalCenter for Agricultural Research in theDry Areas and the International Maize andWheat Improvement Center.There was a strong call from many participantsfor the CGIAR and internationalorganizations such as FAO to play an activerole in the area of MAS development andapplication. For example, Murphy (1) suggestedthat the CGIAR and FAO shouldfacilitate international collaboration in thisarea, while Priyadarshan (11) suggestedthat the CGIAR might manage a centralizedfacility for routinely doing MAS.Acikoz (66) envisaged a role for FAO inaddressing issues of classical plant breedingat regional and national levels, which hesaw as being more of a priority than MAS,while Muralidharan (74) thought FAO to besuited to playing the role of coordinator forMAS research among laboratories workingon the same crop. Rakotonjanahary (78)proposed a similar role for FAO and theCGIAR as facilitators in the exchange ofinformation and genetic material obtainedfrom MAS. Sarla (80) suggested that FAOcould play a catalytic role in marker-aidedallele mining and facilitate capacity buildingfor applying MAS, especially for crops ofregional importance.Public–private sector linkagesVarious additional constraints to usingMAS in plant and animal improvementprogrammes in developing countries werediscussed in the conference. Notter (25)stated that the history of public fundingin developing countries was not good andFairbanks (60) commented that agriculturalresearch in developing countries was notwell coordinated. Australia has investedheavily in MAS in its breeding programmesbut, as pointed out by Collard (45) regardingplant breeding, the major target cropshave been cereals produced for export.Moreover, there has been considerablesupport from private industry for researchand development of MAS. For example,the Grains Research and DevelopmentCorporation (GRDC) of Australia wasset up to serve farmers and is maintainedthrough a levy collected from them. Incontrast, in the developing world, mostimportant crops are usually produced forsubsistence and there is often little private–public cooperation (Murphy, 1). Developingcountry farmers are unlikely to be ableto support the activities of a dedicatedresearch and development organizationequivalent to the GRDC (Collard, 45).Similarly, Notter (25) pointed out that there