[回上頁 | 顯示此文件為可列印格式]
此文件提供者： agrkb - [評分 : 0.00 (0 票選) | 評分！]
PRESENT STATUS OF
PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION IN THE APEC REGION
Background Paper
for APEC from Plant Genetic Resources Workshop Submitted by Chinese Taipei to
the
1998 APEC-ATC
Experts Group Meeting
Background
Information
1.
Objective
This paper aims to outline options that will lead to a
modernized and integrated plant genetic resources (PGR) management system in
the APEC region for the benefit of its Member Economies. A strategic plan designed by the ATC
Experts Group on PGR for enhancing the usefulness of the rich plant resources
that still exists today in hereby proposed for region-wide adoption and
implementation.
2. Importance of PGR to the
APEC Region
Agriculture
and food production remain the backbone of national economies in the APEC
region. The human population are
largely rural based. A major
portion of the gross production come from agriculture. Plant products comprise the vast
majority of the agricultural sector.
Asia-Pacific
is the cradle of agriculture, dating back to little over ten thousand
years. Plants and agricultural
practice have served as the hub of Asian civilizations since the early times of
human history, not only to Asians but also for peoples of other lands.
The
rich plant resources included rice, the wheats, barley, coarse grains, soybean,
many grain and oil legumes, fiber crops, most of the fruit trees and vegetables
grown today, high-quality forest trees, and many other plant species of
economic value. Unquestionably,
Asia-Pacific is the largest and richest center of plant diversity that has
fueled agricultural developments worldwide. The recent Green Revolution in rice and in wheat has their
genetic “roots” in Asian PGR. The
returns from saving and using PGR have been enormous and continually high.
3.
APEC’s Involvement in PGR
Since
the establishment of the Agricultural Technical Cooperation (ATC) Program by
APEC in 1995, the Experts Group on PGR has served as one of the most active
programs in ATC. It has met twice:
in Canberra in 1996 and in Taichung in 1997. Through such meetings, schedules for future endeavor have
been developed (Document 5/7, 1996 and 2/4 1997). As a parallel development, other genetic resources such as
livestock animals, aquatic organisms and forest trees are being included in a
total effort to better conserve and utilize the genetic resources in the
region.
Current
Situation
At the 1997
Workshop, participants from eleven Member Economies provided country reports on
national programs. In addition,
Dr. T. T. Chang of Chinese Taipei, a world authority on PGR, presented an
overview of the region by crops or crop categories, assessed the current
status, and offered an outlook.
Dr. L. M. Engle of AVRDC also presented an overview on vegetable
germplasm.
Information
presented at the Workshop is excerpted below.
A. Economy by
Economy reports
1) Australia (same as the
country report submitted to the FAO in 1996).
Australia is a country of vast physical dimensions, a wide range of
climatic regimes, and rich in biodiversity. Limited precipitation and frequent droughts are constraints
to stable crop production.
The government in 1992 adopted a National Strategy for the
Convention of Biological Diversity.
Likewise, Australia has other legal enactions that will lead to
sustainable developments in agriculture.
The country depends on imported plant and animal germplasm for its
agricultural development.
Australia
ranks fifth in the world in having 23,000 flowering species, of which 85
percent are endemic. Many of these
species have yet to be described and classified. Of a total of 2,500 tree species, about 200 have been
recognized to have commercial potentials.
Ex situ conservation
covers mostly non-endemic species for agriculture and food. The conservation sites are distributed
over a number of botanical gardens, seed/gene banks and field collections in
plant genetic resources centers.
Australia and New Zealand have entered a joint venture in managing base
collections at a number of conservation centers under varied storage
conditions. The collections in
Australia have conserved 94,000 accessions of 517 species under 147 crops. The Australian Tree Seed Center
conserves valuable timber species.
A National Forest Policy Statement was adopted to bring stability and a
sustainable base to the timber industry and enhancing biodiversity by a
complementary management of forest reserves and non-reserve areas. A Landcare Program incorporates
communities of different levels in sharing sustainable resources management. The participants involve government
agencies, landholder managers, business and community groups.
In
in situ conservation, systems and
practices that integrate environmental and development concerns were to
developed to ensure the conservation and the recovery of viable species in
their natural surroundings. The
process involves: (a) setting up a framework by policy makers, (b) identifying
of shared problems and allocation of responsibilities via a group approach, and
(c) planning at local, regional and national levels.
The
utilization of PGR is market oriented and demand driven, with the government
playing a catalytic role. The use
of unimproved germplasm from outside sources has yielded significant
contributions to production increases, though no statistics on the uses is
available.
Australia
has played an active part in international PGR activities and contributed funds
to the international agricultural research centers and to cooperative projects
in the region. Training of workers
on the improvement of wheat and forages was provided.
2) Canada (Doc.
4/2 & 4/3)
The
Plant Genetic Resources of Canada (PGRC) is the national agency in charge of
protecting, preserving, and enhancing the genetic diversity of Canadian crop
plants and their wild relatives, by both ex
situ and in situ means. The national program is composed of the
PGRC, including a seed bank, a clonal genebank and the Multi-Nodal System. A collection of 110,000 samples is
housed at Ottawa while a new facility is being built at Saskatoon. The PGRC also has the world mandate for
conserving barley, oats, a duplicate set of pearl millet, and the old-seed Brassicas. The PGRC also has a computerized germplasm information
database management system and a research component. The Multi-Modal system enables plant breeders at different
locations to characterize, evaluate, rejuvenate, and document the diversity in
the collection in a central database.
In
recent years, activities in acquiring germplasm, retrieving Canadian germplasm
in other collections, improvement of cold storage facilities, international exchange,
and public information were expanded.
However, the program suffered from staff reduction.
3) Chinese-Taipei (Doc. 4/4)
The
NPGR system and physical facilities at TARI are detailed in Doc. 3/1 and 4/1.
Following
the completion of the well-equipped National Plant Genetic Resources Center (NPGRC) at Taichung in the fall of 1993, efforts were focused on developing the
computerized PGR information system with the most modern equipment and well
trained staff. The principal
activities were in three areas: (a) computerized management of seed processing
and storage operations, (b) setting up a database on passport data,
characterization data, evaluation data, and other related data for all
registered materials, including conferences on standardized approaches,
descriptors, and descriptor states, and (c) developing an Economy-wide network
of germplasm information that can also be connected to international
information systems.
In
the process, PCs and linkages were set up at 30 experiment stations, crop research
labs and agricultural colleges by providing the necessary hardware and
software. A user-friendly query
database and information system has been developed to constitute the National
Plant Genetic Information System (NPGRIS) housed at the NPGRC.
The
timing of the above developments coincided well with the entry of NPGRIS in the
World Wide Web (WWW). The NPGRIS
has received many queries from abroad.
Interested users can obtain information on crop lists and their
descriptors, taxonomic sets, passport data, lineage data, and also request
germplasm after browsing the annual catalogs. Since 1996 the NPGRC has been publishing a PGR Newsletter,
which also aims to disseminate information.
4) Hong Kong
The
flora of Hong Kong, its herbarium, and a Crop Experiment Station are briefly
described.
5) Japan (Doc. 4/11 and
12)
The
genebank of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is
located in the National Institute of Agrobiological Resources (NIAR) in
Tsukuba. A national network
operated by the MAFF genebank takes care of plants, animals, forest trees,
aquatic organisms and DNA materials.
For plants, the central bank, 15 other national institutions (sub banks)
and 45 prefectural research units with special assignments form the network, involving
a total of 153 labs and units.
A
series of short-, medium- and long-term seed banks at the central genebank
serve the preservation function.
About 150,000 accessions are in the base collection under long-term
storage; 87,000 in the active collection for distribution under medium-term
storage, and 39,400 accessions of vegetative materials held in field genebanks.
Germplasm
distruition to domestic and foreign users amounted to 80,000 accessions from
1985-95. With the cooperation of
research institutions, international training courses on PGR have been held by
JICA funding. A total of 133
trainees from 31 countries was enrolled and 96 of them are Asians.
In
the base collection, the largest section (54,184 accessions) came from wheat
and barley; rice followed with 24,729 accessions. Food legumes, and vegetables amounted to 13,000 each. The conserved plant species are
organized into 12 groups, each having a curator to handle collecting,
evaluation, rejuvenation, and documentation.
Research
activities focus on improving conservation techniques for recalcitrant
materials and on cryopreservation.
The
network has active international cooperation with IPGRI, other international
centers, and national centers of foreign nations through the JICA.
6) Republic of Korea
The
Genetic Resources Division (Gene Bank) in the Rural Development Administration
has three crop labs and an information management unit to look after the plant
collections. Other offices handle
field collection and foreign introduction, conservation and distribution, and
multiplication and characterization.
The
national collection consists of 41,184 wheats and barleys, 26,382 legumes,
22,113 cultivated and wild rices, 15,682 industrial crops, vegetables, fiber
crops, forages and other crops, totaling 130,608 items.
The
seed storage facilities of the genebank can house 220,000 accessions each in
long-term (-18℃) and short- and medium-term conditions.
The
genebank has carried out systematic characterization efforts for 74,502
accessions, germplasm distribution of several thousand packets per year to
domestic users and foreign parties.
In progress is the development of a computerized management system for
the genebank. For the future,
Korea will establish clonal storage facilities, join international ventures in
field collecting, establish linkages for information exchanges, and strengthen
evaluation and utilization of the conserved germplasm.
7) New Zealand (Doc. 4/8
distributed in absentia)
A
great majority of New Zealand’s economic crops came from imported plant
species, except the timber trees and some forage. A variety of research institutes are involved in the ex situ conservation phase, while many
national parks took up the in situ
phase. The Land Care Research
program looks after indigenous plants.
Funds came from the private sector. Private funding also aids the evaluation of imported
species. New Zealand is keen on
international collaboration.
8) Philippines (Doc. 4/20)
Being
a tropical country composed of 7,107 islands and isles, the Philippines is
unusually rich in biodiversity, esp. in endemic plant species. The archipelago has a long
north-to-south span, covering about 15 degrees in latitude.
Various
agencies began field collecting after World War II. Collections of rice, coconut, abaca, indigenous fruit trees
and vegetables, root crops, and other important crops of introduced origin were
built up. A National Committee on
Plant Genetic Resources was established to guide and coordinate the
conservation programs of various commodity-based centers. Forest genetic resources are assigned
to the College of Forestry, University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB).
The
Institute of Plant Breeding, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, houses the National
Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL), which has the major responsibility
of storing seed collections, while a number of agencies shared the activities
for field collection, research and rejuvenation: (a) PhilRice (at two
locations) for rice; (b) Davao National Crop Research Center under the Bureau
of Plant Industry (BPI) for fruit trees, fiber crops and vegetables; (c) Los Baños National Crop Research
Center of BPI for legumes and vegetables; (d) Guimaras Center of BPI for mango;
(e) Baguio National Crop Center for semi-temperate crops and vegetables; (f)
Philippines Root Crop Research & Training Center at the Visayas College of
Agriculture for sweet potatoes.
Field
collecting efforts were made to gather indigenous wild species of Oryza: the diploid officinalis and the tetraploid minuta;
and landraces of rice. The NPGRL and the Southeast Asia Regional Institute for
Community Education collected native germplasm of rice and other crops.
The
NPGRL stores 32,446 accessions of 396 species (except rice ) in its cold
storage rooms. The AVRDC has
enriched the NPGRL collections of native germplasm by selected donations.
The
NPGRL has also exerted efforts in the evaluation of several vegetables and
legumes and in the rejuvenation of corn, soybean and other crops. The UPLB now offers a M.S. degree in PGR.
The
conserved germplasm has been used to serve plant breeders, seed growers and
requesting farmers. The research
agencies also collaborate with NGOs on educational and on-farm conservation
measures. Researchers of the UPLB
have actively participated in regional collection projects under the RECSEA
embrella.
9) Papua New Guinea (Doc. 4/13, 14,
15)
Among
countries of the world, Papua New Guinea (PNG) belongs to the minority that
much of the natural vegetation (largely forested areas) remains
undisturbed. Rare or unique
species of flora and fauna found only in this region are sheltered in the
undisturbed areas. In terms of
plant diversity, PNG is the home of root and tuber crops, tropical fruits
including the bananas, leafy vegetables, sugarcane, nuts, medicinal plants,
timber trees, and many under-utilized plants. Only 8.5 percent of the population are engaged in
semi-subsistent food production, living in tribal communities, practice-shifting
cultivation, and live in harmony with the environment. Raising of pigs and birds adds to the
mixed and balanced diet.
In
addition to the numerous naturally existing forest trees that serve as in situ conservation, the government
also set up national parks and nature reserves that are cared for by native
residents or communities. Numerous
farmers practice on-farm conservation in their traditional mode of farming.
For
in situ conservation, the government
has set up field banks for many root and tuber crops, bananas, sago, aibika,
fruits and nuts, sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, coconut, spices, herbs, condiments,
and leafy vegetables. Seeds of
rice, maize, peanut, beans and vegetables are stored in short-term cold
rooms. The size of the plant
collections is generally small.
Efforts have been made to use the
germplasm in breeding programs through the process of characterization and
evaluation. Yam and taro have been subjected to the process. Aibika, cashew
nuts, Japanese mint and kavakava are also being evaluated.
PNG
is establishing an information system, following the PROSEA Program model. PNG is also participating in regional
PGR networks such as the RECSEA and other IPGRI Networks.
10) P. R. China (Doc. 4/7
distributed in absentia)
China is one of the primary
centers of crop diversity.
Agricultural workers recognize the great value of germplasm in crop
improvement. Field collections
began in the 1950s, but much was lost due to the lack of cold seed storage
facilities. Re-canvassing and
recollections were made in the 1970-80 period.
During the 1980s two national
genebanks were built to house the 350,000 accessions: a medium-term storage for
holding germplasm intended for exchange and another long-term cold storage bank
for preserving seed stocks. In the
early 1990s, a duplicate storage genebank was established in Qinhai Province to
take advantage of the dry air there.
In
the long-term storage facility (-18℃, 50% RH), 303,378
accessions of various crops were stored.
In the medium-term facility (0℃to -10℃, no control of RH), 124,280 accessions of major crops are held. Wild relatives of rice, soybean and sorghum, crops having
special values, are also stored in the long-term genebank.
In
addition, about 20 medium-term storage facilities are established at various
Provincial Academies of Agricultural Science and Special Institutes (e.g.
rice), holding about 400,000 accessions.
There are 25 field genebanks for conserving fruit trees, mulberry, tea,
and other vegetatively propagated crops, numbering about 40,000. The country has set aside 6% of the
land as protected areas in 708 parks.
In vitro and cryopreservation
are also under study as complementary measures.
In
using the crop germplasm, materials for long-term storage must be characterized
and evaluated for 2 to 3 years with the participation of the plant
breeders. The promising accessions
were selected and distributed to breeders in different provinces for use in
crossing. Thus, 15 improved rice
varieties involving genes from wild species were developed. In wheat, 15 varieties were bred, deriving their disease resistance,
drought tolerance and grain dormancy from wild relatives.
In
recent years, China has made giant strides in uplifting the national
economy. Nowadays the people have
more food and a greater variety to suit their liking or new preferences. Crop germplasm enables the breeders to
meet the shifts in public demand.
11) Thailand (Doc. 4/16)
The
responsibilities for PGR conservation are shared respectively by the Department
of Agriculture, Royal Forest Department, and the Department of Medical Science
for crops, forest trees and medicinal plants respectively. A National Sub-Committee for
Coordination of Research and Development on Plant Genetic Resources has been
recently established along with various working groups.
In situ conservation
activities such as national parks, nature reserves and enactment of legislation
for forest tree protection belong to the Forest Department. A total of 194 reserve areas has been
set up. For the wild species of
rice, 40 experiment stations under a network of 20 research centers carry out
protective measures on station grounds and in farm fields.
Ex situ conservation is
carried out by the National Seed Storage Lab. for Genetic Resources and the
National Gene Bank. The Seed Lab.
was established in 1980 with aid from Japan. Its storage rooms of all three levels are located at the
Pathu Thani Rice Research Center with 20,000 accessions of rice and 2,000
accessions of other cereals being stored.
The National Genebank was built in 1985 with IBPGR funds. It has a capacity of storing 40,000
accessions of maize, legumes, pepper and various crops. About 4,000 accessions are now
stored. It is administered by the
Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technology Research.
Exchange
of germplasm and information for research purpose is now available. The government also encouraged farmers
to conserve traditional crop varieties.
Trained personnel for PGR conservation is needed to cope with the
expanding activities. Thailand
needs specialized talents in: (a) Information System Management, (b) DNA
techniques for variety identification, and (c) in vitro conservation technology.
It is recognized
that the above summaries are incomplete for some of the Member Economies and/or
in technical details and statistics.
Interested readers may consult the 1996 FAO Report of the State of the
World’s Plant Genetic Resources. ITCPGR 96/3. FAO, Rome, for fuller details.
B. Status of Major Crops or
Crop-groups (Doc. 4/9 and 4/18)
Information
on the conservation phase is more complete than that on actual use. However, the statistics on conserved
accessions may not be equated with viable seed stocks or availability for
distribution/exchange.
1) Rice -- In the
first half of the century, at least 100,000 cvs. might have existed. Many Asian nations began collecting
after World War II. China re-collected in the late 1970s and the total
collection was increased to 50,166 cvs. and 5,108 wild forms. Japan has 23,000,
and 21,600 in Korea. Indonesia has
8,300 on the books. Thailand holds
5,100. Other collections: 3,500 in
Chinese-Taipei; and Malaysia, 2,600.
India claims to have 47,000 accessions but the viability factor is
unknown. The conglomerate
collection at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which totals
83,000 cvs. and over 2,000 wild forms, may remain as the only viable set for
some tropical nations that lack reliable cold storage.
2) Wheat -- Every
wheat-growing nation has kept a collection, though much duplication exists
between collections, esp. improved cv. of the past. The richest collection is well maintained by the USDA: c.
55,000 accessions. China holds 36,400 accessions while Japan has 52,670 items
or wheat and barley. Japanese
scientists have collected wild relatives or wheat in central and southwest
Asia. Primitive and wild wheats
are maintained by the ICARDA in Syria.
The Vavilov Institute in Russia had assembled a huge collection but its
security is uncertain.
3) Maize (corn) --
Though maize is a relatively recent arrival, it is rapidly gaining ground in
Asia. In its home region, Central
America, Mexico has 33,240 accessions.
The international center, CIMMYT, also in Mexico, holds 11,150
accessions. The U.S. and India
have 22,700 accessions each. In SE
Asia, several Economies have cooperatively assembled a sizable collection and
stored it at the UPLB but little information is known about its fate. Thailand and the NIAR in Japan have
agreed to help on the storage of this regional collection.
4) Soybean and other
grain legumes -- As the home nation, China holds 21,460 accessions of
soybean. The USA has a collection
similar in size. The AVRDC has a
regional collection of 13,603. The
NPGRC of Chinese-Taipei has 9,360.
The above collections contain both oil and table use types. The genetic diversity in the
collections is inherently low and much duplicated. Field collecting for wild species in Oceania is being
undertaken by the staff of the University of Illinois.
The
major species in the genus Phaseolus
is P. vulgaris, which is cared for by the CIAT in Colombia. CIAT holds 23,730 accessions of this
species plus 1,456 P. lunatus and
1,324 accessions of other Phaseolus
species. Mexico also holds more
than 20,000 accessions of beans.
Adzuki
bean and mungbean are important in Southeast and East Asia. China has 2,671
adzuki beans and 3,244 mungbeans.
Japan has 12,581 accessions under “food legumes” that must include the
two beans. Korea also holds 23,875 accessions under the same category. TARI of Chinese-Taipei has 3,451
accessions of mungbean.
Cowpea
and peanut are also staples to the region. The Philippines holds over 10,000 cowpea accessions, while
the AVRDC has six thousand. The
largest collection is with the IITA in Nigeria. As to peanuts, the U.S. has the largest collection of
21,870. China holds about five
thousand entries. India and the
ICRISAT there are also large holders.
Regional collections of mungbean and winged bean are kept at the
UPLB-IPB, Philippines.
5) Root crops -- The
common potato is a mainstay in South America. It is regarded more of a vegetable in Asia, but spreading in
acreage. CIP, the potato center in
Peru, has the largest collection of 3,955 cultivated clones and 1,500 wild
forms. In the early 1990s, the CIP
was mandated to care for the sweet potatoes and has taken over the collection
of AVRDC which numbers about 1,500, in addition to five thousand of CIP’s own.
CIP keeps a duplicate set of the potatoes in in vitro culture.
Japan has a sizable collection of five thousand sweet potatoes.
Cassava
is widely grown as food or for industrial use. CIAT has 5,035 accessions with 4,788 also maintained in vitro. Brazil holds 3,360 accessions.
Yam
commands more land area in Africa than in Asia. The IITA in Nigeria holds 2,250 yams with 1,000 kept in in vitro cultures. In Asia, yam collections of several
hundreds each are kept by Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Solomon Islands. A regional collection of taro is being
set up in Papua New Guinea.
6) Vegetables (Dec.
4/18 and 4/9) -- Vegetables are wide in geographical distribution and broad in
the diversity of plant species.
Precise information about vegetable germplasm is lacking for most
Economies. In recent years,
vegetables have gained great popularity among urban consumers, attained
remarkable advances in crop improvement and have undergone rapid changes in
consumer preference. As a result,
numerous landraces have disappeared, while conservation efforts were few and of
short-term basis; and information on genetic resources are incomplete. Hence, the genetic diversity within a
crop has reached perilous levels.
Under intensive cultivation in concentrated areas, pest and disease problems
are heightened. The genetic
vulnerability threat necessitated increased application of pesticides and/or
shift of production fields to new sites.
Collections
of vegetables, national or state, are widely scattered over institutions. They were assembled largely through
exchanges between specialists, and only a few belong to a specialized institute
such as China’s. Among Member
Economies, tomatoes and the peppers rank high in total size: over 25,800 for tomato
and 23,400 for peppers. On a
national basis, the USA has the largest collection of tomatoes, followed by the
Philippines. The USA also has the
largest assemblage of peppers, followed by Thailand and Mexico. Curcubits also amount to 15,363,
largely in the U.S. collection.
Amaranth, eggplant and green onions (Allium)
number over 1,500 each.
Among
leafy vegetables, those in the Brassica
group rank high : 109,000 accessions for the whole world. India has the largest segment of
17,400, followed by Germany and the U.S. China has more than 5,000, most of
which are listed under rape. Korea
also has a large Brassica collection,
numbering over 3,200. India is the
largest holder of garlic and onions--over 2,000 accessions.
In
the APEC region, the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)
located in Taiwan (Chinese-Taipei) uses the systems approach to conservation
and use. Its priority crops are
soybean, tomato, pepper, mungbean, eggplant, Chinese cabbage, Allium, yard long bean and cowpea, each
numbering over one thousand. The
tomato and soybean collections are stored as a duplicate collection at the
NPGRC of Chinese-Taipei. The AVRDC
has also made extensive field collections in SE Asia. Various researchers in AVRDC have evaluated the collections
and incorporated disease resistance genes from exotic sources.
Seeds
of conserved germplasm at AVRDC have been freely supplied to vegetable workers
upon request. Regional training
courses on field collecting and evaluation were held. About 4,100 samples have been assembled by collaborative efforts.
Public
interest in saving and using the traditional cvs. has been aroused by the
popular trend to grow fancy types or the once valued cvs. A number of NGOs are involved in
promoting the saving of seeds in backyard gardening. Such projects represent another effective means of
conservation via on the-farm approach.
7) Fruit trees (Doc.
4/9)
Information
on fruit trees is incomplete.
Member Economies in SE Asia have modest-sized collections is each
nation. The regional RCSEA members
have assembled a large collection of bananas (c.600) and planted the materials
in southern Philippines, but their security is uncertain.
China
has a Citrus Research Institute to care for this important group of
fruits. Other temperate-zone
fruits are scattered over several institutes/stations, totaling about 8,900
accessions. Japan has about six
thousand accessions.
8) Industrial and
plantation crops
Major
industrial crops are cotton, sugarcane, coconut, oil palm, tea, coffee and
rubber. A number of Economies have
established specialized institutes to deal with rubber, sugarcane, oil palm and
tea, but these agencies have their focus on crop improvement and production,
and little resource is given to germplasm work.
The
largest collection of cotton is in India: 16,700 accessions. China and Pakistan each have
6,500. For rubber, Malaysia holds
the largest collection of 20,900 accessions and also the second largest
collection of oil palm (1,470 acc.).
Coconut collections are widely scattered. Modest sized collections are found in India (130) and the
Philippines (90 acc.).
9) Medicinal plants
A
number of Member Economies are rich in medicinal plants. Many small collections have been
assembled by government agencies, but the sites are widely scattered in remote
areas. It warrants improved
communication and exchange among the workers in the interest of security. Tissue culture can help in mass
propagation. The scientific basis
of their claimed values needs to be undertaken first, however.
ASSESSMENT
OF CONSERVATION EFFORTS
It
is apparent from the above survey that every Member Economy has established or
initiated national programs in conserving indigenous and some introduced plant
genetic resources. This rather
recent development is certainly heartening for the germplasm-rich nations. However, many critical questions need
to be raised in order to assess the overall situation and develop guidelines
for future endeavors.
The questions
are:
a) How complete is
the geographical and biological coverage of the existing collections? What else
are needed for medium range use?
b) How much is the
duplication within a collection, and between collections?
c) How reliable are
the existing preservation techniques and related facilities? For stored seeds, are seed viability
periodically checked?
d) Is the conserved
germplasm available for evaluation and research?
e) What activities
are planned for international exchange?
For collaborative field collecting of threatened germplasm? For duplicate storage at another sites?
f) How adequate is
the existing information management system in terms of database control,
computerized management of genebank operations, dissemination and exchange of
information?
UTILIZATION OF
PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR PRODUCTIVE PURPOSES
Plant genetic
resources have fueled the initiation and sustained growth of the past
civilizations and subsequent improvement in the quality of life for ten
thousand years. PGR contributions
to human welfare will continue to grow in light of the unabated human
population increase and movements.
The useful
results and benefits of using PGR are so enormous and too numerous to count as
they have affected every crop species.
Only the most notable instances of the 20th century will be briefly
cited.
Food Production
During the late
1960s, massive food shortages in South and Southeast Asia were relieved by the
“Green Revolution” in rice and wheat.
Similar but lesser advances in the yield of maize, the sorghums and
millets were also based on effective use of PGR. Sustained improvement of the cereals have staved off the
specter of mass starvation (up to 1997) inspite of rapid population
growth. Food legumes have also
scored yield increases, though to a lesser extent.
1) Rice and Wheat
The
revolutionary yield increases in both cereals can be attributed to simple but
powerful semidwarfing genes which came from Chinese-Taipei for rice and Japan
for wheat. P.R. China later found the other semidwarfing gene and cytoplasmic
male-sterility in its rice germplasm and used them to enormous advantage. Together with inputs from germplasm for
pest resistance, the yield gains were sustained.
The
unparalleled yield increases in rice and wheat from 1965 to 1994 is shown in
Figure 1. The annual yield increases
due to the high-yielding varieties, irrigation water, fertilizers and pest
control amounted to billions of dollars annually. It is the best example of high rewards from research
investment.
2) Other cereals and
grain legumes
In oat
improvement, genes from a wild relative (Avena
strigosa) have furnished the genetic materials for unexpectedly large
advances in grain yield, in protein and oil contents, and in yield potential.
This wild species was initially used for its crown rust resistance, but
repeated cycles of crossing with the cultivated species (A. sativa) have led to more vigor our growing and productive
cultivars.
Triticale is a man-made species derived from wheat x rye crosses.
It is better
adapted to acid soils, higher in protein content and more productive in certain
unfavored areas than wheat.
The improvement of sorghums and millets for semi-arid areas has been
accelerated by using exotic sources of germplasm. The yield gains are impressive in India.
3)
Potato and tomato
Both
potato and tomato have been benefited by disease-resistance genes from exotic
or wild germplasm. These crops
also experienced the most intensive field collection of wild species several
decades back.
Fig.
1. Trend in Asian rice and wheat production, area and yield, 1965-1994
Industrial
Crops
Improvement
in yield level, yield stability, crop quality and wider ecological adaptation
in several industrial crops resulted from the use of exotic germplasm in the
breeding process. These are
coffee, sugarcane, cotton, rubber, tea, coconut and oil palm.
4) Vegetables
The
remarkable and rapid advances in vegetable improvement over a wide array of
crops owes their success to extensive
germplasm exchange and use of both improved and unimproved
germplasm. Foreign introductions
have furnished a major part of the new breeding materials. The market continues to encourage the
use of F1 hybrids which are faster growing, more disease resistant,
more productive, or earlier maturing.
The successful instances are too numerous to be enumerated here.
5) Fruit trees
Similar
to the vegetables, recent advances in fruit tree improvement resulted from
using foreign introductions in crossing or grafting, and selecting for
promising progeny. This process
has led to significant improvements in fruit quality, yield, and a wider range
of maturities or ecological adaptation.
Limitations in PGR Use
Inspite of the
many outstanding cases of exploiting useful genes and cytoplasm in the PGR, the
proportion of actual use to the potentially profitable opportunities is
low. Wild relatives, a rich
sources of useful genes, have been used only in rice, wheat, oat, tomato,
potato, and a small number of fruit trees.
Causes for the
under use may be ascribed to: (1) difficulty in gene transfer through
hybridization, (2) undesirable characters in the exotic germplasm that lowers
economic value, and (3) a much longer period of breeding is needed. However,
with recent advances in genetic engineering and tissue culture, some of the
handicaps may be overcome.
On the other hand, the
over-heated investments in biotech research have deprived crop scientists and
related disciplines such as pathologists, entomologists and physiologists of
the financial and human inputs essential to research, evaluation and
prebreeding. It is difficult to
predict the outcome of the lopsided competition posed by the protracted
realization of the promises from biotech.
But, the harm to conventional processes of research and development of
cvs. is already showing up.
COMMON NEEDS IN CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION
From currently
available information, the more acute needs in PGR conservation and utilization
that may apply to most Member Economies are summarized below.
1)
Lack of a nation-wide and comprehensive survey on existing resources, the
doubtful state of their security, and the urgent needs in operational capacity
and human power are areas for assessment and remedies. It is highly desirable for each Economy
to have a national plant genetic resources center that will coordinate and
integrate activities of various agencies having the PGR components.
2) Lack of an
effective and efficient information management system impairs periodic
assessment of activities and effective control of genebank operations.
3) Lower-than-desired
level of international collaboration on germplasm forfeits the potential
advantages of sharing information, the PGR, and technical expertise.
4)
in situ and on-farm conservation can
supplement ex situ conservation efforts. NGOs, farm communities
and schools will add to the forces in conservation.
5)
The under use of conserved germplasm can be alleviated by renewed efforts in
conventional and mission-oriented research, evaluation and breeding (Figure
2). Biotech should be used as a
tool—not a solution to all problems.
6)
Both biodiversity and genetic diversity among major cvs. of commercial crops
should be restored to provide protection against long-range perils that upset
stable ecosystems
7) Training of technical
personnel is needed in all fields related to
conservation and
use.
(Draft)
RECOMMENDATION:
AFFORDABLE SHORT-TERM COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS BY
ATC EXPERTS GROUP
A selected list of proposed actions in the
conservation and use of plant and animal genetic resources is offered as
guidelines for deliberation by the ATC Experts Group for future action. It is certainly beyond the capability
of Member Economies to attain all of the goals enumerated above. We need to think about affordability.
In more realistic terms, this Group recommends the
following plan of collaborative action:
a) Completion of the
survey on PGR by filling the questionnaire distributed in 1996-97 so that the
survey of existing resources and conditions may be obtained for detailed study.
b) Holding in 2000 a
regional workshop on information management system of plant genetic resources,
to be hosted by Chinese-Taipei and with the collaboration of interested Member
Economies.
c) Holding of
regional workshops on in vitro and
cryopreservation of genetic resources by selected Member Economies as the next
project.
d) Presenting a
resolution as recommendations from this Group, through the SOM, to the APEC
leaders, in urging their support of the increasing needs in the conservation
and use of plant and animal genetic resources -- as given below.
A RESOLUTION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE APEC SOMS
1) Plant genetic
resources in the germplasm-rich APEC region is a unique biological heritage
that has given rise to its ancient civilizations and later historical
developments. It has also fueled
agriculture-related developments in other regions of the world.
2) Unabated
population increase, destruction of the ecosystems and inappropriate use of the
natural resources have greatly depleted the natural resources, upset the
ecological balances among elements in the ecosystem, and agricultural
productivity is threatened by losses in biodiversity and genetic diversity in
commercial crops.
3) Nearly every
Member Economy has made vigorous attempts in the recent past to conserve and
use the plant genetic resources, both indigenous and introduced, for productive
purposes. But the financial inputs,
physical facilities and manpower are inadequate to meet the shortages in the
past and the increasing demand in the future.
4) Past experience,
as exemplified by the “Green Revolution” in rice and wheat, has shown the
unprecedented dividends obtainable from investments in agricultural research,
of which their genetic resources provide the pool of genetic materials. More rewarding results from germplasm
use can be realized when mission-oriented research and breeding efforts are
aided by the forthcoming advances in biotech.
The APEC region is reaching a critical stage when the conservation efforts will
determine the progress in agro-industrial enterprises. The livelihood of billions of Asians
will depend on the outcome of the tug-of-war between conserving and depleting
the biological resources.
5) Therefore, this
Group appeals to the highest authorities in APEC for increased support to plant
and allied genetic resources conservation and management activities and to give
the highest priority to the research components in evaluation, preservation,
and prebreeding germplasm (enhancement). Support and aid should also be given
to the international agricultural research centers in the CGIAR system that
have served a crucial role in plant and animal genetic resources work up to
now. Much of the efforts can be
benefited by inter-Economy collaboration and the sharing of expertise and
experience. Our initial
collaborative activities will be directed to information system build-up and
subsequent germplasm exchanges, and the technology of in vitro and cryo-preservation.
6) This Group also
recognized the imperative need to conserve the aquatic organisms both in the
marine and fresh-water ecosystems that are seriously threatened by
over-exploitation and environmental destruction. Likewise, the native breeds of livestock are rapidly
disappearing. Expert Groups of
these domains also need to be set up for devising action plans on a collaborative
basis.
[回上頁 | 顯示此文件為可列印格式]
此文件提供者： agrkb - [評分 : 0.00 (0 票選) | 評分！]
