The International Maize Genetic Resources Advisory Committee IMGRAC

The International Maize Genetic Resources Advisory Committee (IMGRAC) Meeting at CIMMYT: Implementing a global strategy for the maize community d. costich@cgiar. org Denise E. 1 Costich , Michael 2 Abberton , Paula 3 Bramel , Cinta 4 Romay , Terry 1 Molnar , and Bill 5 Tracy 1 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 2 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), 3 The Global Crop Diversity Trust, 4 Cornell University, 5 University of Wisconsin-Madison Global Strategy for the Ex situ Conservation and Utilization of Maize Germplasm Almost ten years ago, in May 2006, a Maize Germplasm Network Meeting was held at CIMMYT Headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico, sponsored by the Crop Trust, the World Bank and CIMMYT. Thirty participants, from Mexican and international institutions, were invited by the meeting co-organizers, Dr. Suketoshi Taba, the Head of the CIMMYT Maize Collection at the time, and Dr. Major Goodman (North Carolina State University, USA), “…to develop and make recommendations on what, where, and how the world maize genetic resources should be conserved in the long term. ” The end-product was a document entitled, “Global Strategy for the Ex situ Conservation and Utilization of Maize Germplasm, ” completed in 2007. In the following decade, there have been many advances in the world of crop genetic resources, but the global network vision for maize was never implemented. In February 2016, an international group reconvened at CIMMYT to address these questions: “A small, forceful international committee needs to examine the needs of the entire maize genetics community and be willing to fight, to make it more effective and responsive. “ Goodman & Taba (2007) Priority Issues Identified by Meeting Participants All of the issues identified in the 2007 Strategy document, plus all of the new issues identified by the participants in the meeting, were put forward for ranking. Each participant was asked to identify three top priorities. Eleven of the 31 original issues received at least one vote from a participant. They are listed here. The number of votes for each issue is given in parentheses. 1. Political and financial constraints to access and conservation (14) 2. Pre-breeding for direct use of farmers and breeders to address the challenges of climate change (13) 3. Enhanced Global Collaboration on Maize Germplasm Conservation (11) 4. Conservation of Wild Relatives of Maize: Teosinte and Tripsacum (9) Where are we in terms of secure conservation? Have we succeeded in addressing the needs identified in the Strategy? Are the conservers meeting the needs of the current and future users? What are the highest priority challenges for conservation and use in the next ten years? Ø How do we address them (actions required, who should be involved, how might they be resourced)? Ø Is there any specific advice for international collections? Ø Ø 5. Enhanced Global Accessions-Level Information Management (9) 6. Capacity development in maize genetic resources (7) 7. Enhanced germplasm characterization and evaluation need to be integrated to improve agricultural productivity (7) Two meetings, a decade apart 8. Increased security and availability of conserved accessions globally (6) 9. Old World Collections: New Focus on Africa and Asia needed (4) Two meetings 2006 Maize Germplasm Network Meeting Front Row: Juan de Dios, Victor Chavez, Suketoshi Taba, Erika Salazar, Brigitte Laliberté, Sarah Hearne, Ioan Has. 2 nd Row: David Poland, Victor Segovia, Carlos Yanes, Flavio Aragon, Zachary Muthamia, Denise Costich, Brian Love, Flavia Teixeira, Manuel Gonzalez Ledesma. 3 rd Row: Cesar Oscanoa, Sergio Ramirez Vega, Jesus Sanchez, Juan Manuel Hernandez, Anne Zanetto, Major Goodman, Sasern Jampatong. 4 th Row: Orlando Noldin, Froylan Rincon, Mario Fuentes, Marcelo Edmundo Ferrer, Ricardo Sevilla. Missing from Photo: David Ellis, Hugo Perales, Jorge Franco, Candice Gardner, Baffour Badu-Apraku, Alejandro Navas. 2016 International Maize Genetic Resources Advisory Committee Front Row: Michael Abberton, Art Salazar, Pedro Revilla, Ricardo Sevilla, Juan Manuel Hernandez, Cinta Romay, Candice Gardner, Matija Obreza, Bibiana Espinosa, Daniel Santiago. Second Row: Martha Willcox, Cristian Zavala, Mario Fuentes, Moises Cruz, Carolina Camacho, Suketoshi Taba, Denise Costich, Flavia Teixeira, Bill Tracy, Gordon Huestis, Martín Rodriguez, Stephen Smith, Paulina Gonzalez. Third Row: Hugo Perales, Ruairidh Sawers, Terry Molnar, Walter Trevisan (next to statue of Norman Borlaug), Tom Payne, Major Goodman, Paula Bramel, Garrison Wilkes, Ravi Walluru, Marcial Rivas. Missing from photo: Juan Carlos Alarcon, Sarah Hearne, Julia Sibya. Scenes from the meeting: Examining landraces on the patio; Dr. Taba re-visits the bank (and old friend (Z. perennis)); Garrison Wilkes (r. ) gets ready to give his talk. “The time for holding additional maize germplasm meetings and for writing extensive papers on the woeful status of the maize germplasm system has long past. ” Goodman & Taba (2007) 10. Filling gaps in collections from Americas (2) 11. Assess the status of collections held by The Vavilov Institute (1) Do you have other ideas about what should be our priorities? We welcome feedback! Do you want to know more about what we are doing? If you are reading this, you are part of the community that we are serving. Please contact us. 58 th Annual Maize Genetics Conference ● Jacksonville, FL, USA ● 17 -20 March 2016