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  • Wheat phenotyping workshop

    The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) extends a cordial invitation to participate in the training workshop "Wheat phenotyping for the identification of germplasm with high yield potential and tolerance to drought and heat". This will be held in CIMMYT HQ, Texcoco, State of Mexico, on September 28th, 2018 (from 9:00 – 14:00 hrs) as part of the II Plant Breeding Symposium México 2018 (https://trasmejoragen.wixsite.com/inicio) The objective of this workshop is to train participants in the phenotypic characterization of wheat germplasm. Research themes include: climate change; priority characteristics for wheat for Mexico; phenotyping of genetically diverse materials and in the ...

  • II Plant Breeding Symposium Mexico 2018

    MasAgro Biodiversity announces the II Plant Breeding Symposium Mexico 2018 which will be held on September 6 and 7, 2018 at the CIMMYT HQ, Texcoco. Mexico. This event belongs to the series of DuPont Plant Sciences Symposia. For more information please visit the website:https://trasmejoragen.wixsite.com/inicio

  • New video: Crop biodiversity for healthy, nutritious livelihoods

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  • 3rd KDSmart app workshop

    The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) extends a cordial invitation to participate in the training workshop on the use of the KDSmart app. This will be held in Texcoco, State of Mexico, on December 20, 2017 (from 9:00 - 17:00 hrs).

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PRODUCTS CATALOGUE

PRODUCTS CATALOGUE

MasAgro Biodiversity, a component of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program, focuses on the utilization and conservation of valuable genetic resources with genetic diversity protected in germplasm banks. This program has the purpose of accelerating the development of Varieties of maize and wheat that can meet the nutrition and nutritional demands of a growing population, facing the challenges of climate change.

By characterizing the genetic configuration of CIMMYT germplasm bank collections, the evaluation of priority characteristics – such as drought tolerance, high temperatures and some diseases – and the development of bioinformatics tools that streamline its analysis, MasAgro Biodiversity has Generated a “platform for the utilization of genetic resources” of maize and wheat.

This platform puts several products at the disposal of the scientific community. MasAgro Biodiversity also offers some services in order to promote equity in access and benefits of the use of maize and wheat diversity.

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  • Graduate students at CIMMYT Organize Genetic Diversity Symposium

Graduate students at CIMMYT Organize Genetic Diversity Symposium

simposioCalling all post-graduate students interested in genetic diversity! Graduate students working with The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will be holding an international symposium, “Genetic Diversity: The key to modern crop improvement and food security,” at CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico on 25 and 26 August. The symposium is open to post-graduate students interested in plant breeding and genetic diversity, and will be held in both Spanish and English with simultaneous translation available.

This event is part of the DuPont Plant Sciences Symposia series, established in 2008, and is one of nearly 20 DuPont Pioneer symposia that will be held this year across the world. Organized for, and by postgraduate students, these symposia allow student organizers to gain valuable skills and experience in event organization. The students are organizing this event with the support of by Gilberto Salinas, head of capacity Development at the Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative, and Tabare Abadie, lead of Research Effectiveness at DuPont Pioneer.

Students attending the symposium will benefit from unique opportunities to interact with and learn from key researchers in their field through panels, keynote speeches and breakout sessions. The main speakers include international experts in the fields of genetic diversity and crop science, who will present on topics pertaining to how to utilize genetic diversity in modern crop breeding to confront the challenges faced by agriculture today, such as climate change and other threats to food security. The symposium will also include a poster presentation highlighting the research activities of select participating students. Interested students must register by July 1st here.

“The symposium is an excellent opportunity for students to interact and learn from investigators in their fields, as well as with students from across Mexico and neighboring countries conducting similar research,” said Juan de Dios Hernández Quintero, a Ph.D. student studying genetics at the Colegio de Posgraduados (COLPOS)conducting thesis research at CIMMYT and a student organizer of the symposium. “It’s also a great opportunity to learn about the interaction between the public and private sector.”

CIMMYT is home to one of the world’s largest collections of genetic diversity in maize and wheat, the CIMMYT germplasm bank, as well as cutting edge projects such as the Seeds of Discovery initiative that works to unlock and utilize novel genetic diversity from genebanks to accelerate the development of improved maize and wheat varieties. “CIMMYT is very pleased to host this symposium where students will learn and discuss about the critical importance, challenges and issues surrounding the use of genetic resources to feed the world. Students will enjoy unique opportunities to interact with several international experts in the conservation, characterization and use of crop genetic resources,” said Kevin Pixley, director of the Genetic Resources Program at CIMMYT and the SeeD initiative. Several of the student organizers of the symposium are conducting research for their theses under SeeD scientists as part of SeeD’s capacity development activities.

This is the first time that a DuPont Pioneer plant sciences symposium will be held in Mexico, and also the first time that the event will be held in a research center. “While these symposia are usually held in universities, CIMMYT brings together so many post-graduate research students from across Mexico interested in genetic diversity that we thought it would be the perfect location,” said Noemi Ortega, a graduate student in agricultural biotechnology at the Universidad Autonoma de Chapingo conducting research with CIMMYT and one of the student organizers of the event.

The speakers include Kevin Pixley, Director of the Genetic Resources Program at CIMMYT and the SeeD initiative; Jim Holland, Professor of Crop Science and Research Geneticist at North Carolina State University (NCSU); Renee Lafitte, research fellow at DuPont Pioneer; Leandro Perugini, research scientist at DuPont Pioneer; Major M. Goodman, member of the national academy of sciences and director of the maize breeding and genetics program at NCSU; and Juan Manuel Hernández Casillas, researcher in genetic resources at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP).

Interested students can register online at the symposium’s website at dgsimposio.wix.com  or email dgsimposio@gmail.com.

For more information, please visit seedsofdiscovery.org.

Keynote Speeches

Dr. Kevin Pixley – Crop genetic diversity: Options for humanity

Dr. Juan Manuel Hernández –The potential and utilization of genetic resources

Dr. Renee Lafitte – Phenotypic characterization

Dr. Jim Holland – Genetic analysis and prediction of complex traits in maize

Dr. Major Goodman – Introgression and introgradation

Dr. Leandro Perugini – Applications in industry

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RESEARCH PORTFOLIO

RESEARCH PORTFOLIO

Genetic resources

Genetic resources

Capacity

Capacity

Data

Data

Pre-breeding Germplasm

Pre-breeding Germplasm

Knowledge

Knowledge

Software

Software

PHILOSOPHY OF OUR APPROACH

PHILOSOPHY OF OUR APPROACH

So many accessions, so few data!

Many genebanks resemble libraries that lack sufficiently informative catalogs. The advent of next-generation DNA-sequencing platforms has made it possible to characterize the genetic diversity conserved in entire genebanks.

Information management

Generating new data by itself is insufficient if it cannot be effectively disseminated, queried, summarized, visualized, and analyzed. Data generation, therefore, has to go hand-in-hand with providing intuitive software and analysis tools to deal with the rapidly expanding datasets describing maize and wheat genetic resources.

Pre-breeding

A ‘reformatting’ of the diversity in genebanks into a more breeder-ready format could lower the barriers to mobilize novel genetic variation into breeding programs, which in good part are due to the dependency of gene effects on genetic backgrounds.

Traits with complex genetic architecture

Some of the most important challenges to agriculture need to be addressed by manipulating genetically complex characters controlled by small-effect alleles (yield potential, heat and drought tolerance, etc.).

Collecting germplasm.

The availability of sufficient numbers of genebank accessions does not appear to be a factor limiting the use of novel genetic variation in breeding programs, and a new initiative will secure the global network of genebanks of humanity’s major food crops for future generations.