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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

    Erratic weather, poor soil health, and resource shortages keep millions of maize and wheat farmers in developing countries from growing enough to feed their households and communities or to harvest a surplus to sell.

  • 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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Catalogue

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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  • New online learning platform offers capacity development for all

New online learning platform offers capacity development for all

Trainees work with KDSmart phenotyping technology, one of the subjects taught in the new SeeD distance learning modules. Photo: G. Salinas/CIMMYT.

Trainees work with KDSmart phenotyping technology, one of the subjects taught in the new SeeD distance learning modules. Photo: G. Salinas/CIMMYT.

An online learning platform created in partnership with the Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative will revolutionize the project’s capacity development efforts, allowing SeeD to reach more users than ever before.

Distance learning modules consisting of practical and theory modules about how to enhance the use of genetic diversity in wheat and maize, will allow anyone in the world to benefit from SeeD’s collection of knowledge and tools regardless of location or income. These new distance learning modules are free and will be available online to the public in the future.

SeeD works to unlock and utilize novel genetic diversity held in genebanks to accelerate the development of improved maize and wheat varieties.  The initiative has generated massive amounts of invaluable information on the genetic diversity of maize and wheat, as well as cutting edge software tools to aid in its use and visualization.

“This information and tools have been made publicly available so that breeders and researchers around the world can develop improved crop varieties,” said Gilberto Salinas, head of capacity development at the SeeD initiative. “However, if people don’t know how to effectively utilize these datasets and software, the information is useless,” he said.

SeeD offers workshops on genetic diversity analysis, pre-breeding, and software tools will be offered free of charge several times a year, but space is limited, meaning that only a few researchers can be trained on SeeD’s data and technology each year.

“These modules will ensure that anyone can access and learn to effectively utilize our products, thus enabling the next generation of breeders and agricultural researchers in the tools that they will need to improve food security around the world,” Salinas said.

SeeD and CIMMYT’s first distance-learning module, which is hosted on the Moodle online learning platform, was developed by Laura Bouvet, a Ph.D. candidate at Britain’s University of Cambridge, working with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB). Bouvet, who participated in a three-month internship with SeeD said she is very excited about the number of people the modules will reach.

“So much information has been generated through the Seeds of Discovery project in terms of data and tools, and it’s very important that people can access and utilize this information for the greater good,” she said.  “These modules will complement SeeD workshops and will allow for higher impact of everything that has been generated through SeeD.”

The first module focuses on theory, introducing genotypic data, its importance for genetic diversity, how it is used, as well as the technologies that are used to generate and analyze the data.

KDSmart, one of the subjects taught in the new SeeD distance learning modules.

KDSmart, one of the subjects taught in the new SeeD distance learning modules.

The second module focuses on practice, guiding users through the process of using KDSmart, an Android based application to record phenotypic data, information on the physical traits of maize and wheat varieties. This module is being developed with the participation of several researchers from SeeD and the Genetic Resources Program led by Salinas.

The modules also include two videos created by Bouvet in partnership with SeeD and CIMMYT, one to explain the Seeds of Discovery project, and another to introduce the platform to show how the modules can help prospective users solve problems they may face in their research.

The modules are directed at postgraduate students, crop breeders, university faculty members, and researchers. Currently, the modules and videos are available only in Spanish language, but English versions will be developed in the near future to reach even more people interested in genetic diversity.

“These distance learning modules are for everyone who wants to learn about genetic diversity, which is crucial to increase crop yields and is one of several important solutions to tackle climate change,” Bouvet said. “With distance learning modules, SeeD will be able to reach many more people, so that those without the time or financial means to physically come to CIMMYT can still benefit from their workshops and learn to utilize genetic diversity.”

SeeD is a multi-project initiative comprising: MasAgro Biodiversidad, a joint initiative of CIMMYT and the Mexican Ministry of agriculture and rural development (SADER) through the MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture) project; the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE CRP) and Wheat (WHEAT CRP); and a computation infrastructure and data analysis project supported by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Learn more about the Seeds of Discovery project here. 

Tags:

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.