Biotechnology for developing-country agriculture: problems and opportunities

Contents: Brief 1. Overview / Gabrielle J. Persley and John J. Doyle Brief 2. Biotechnology and food and nutrition needs / Richard Flavell Brief 3. Biotechnology and animal vaccines / W. Ivan Morrison Brief 4. The role of the private sector / Clive James and Anatole Krattiger Brief 5. Disentangling risk issues / Klaus M. Leisinger Brief 6. Safe use of biotechnology / Calestous Juma and Aarti Gupta Brief 7. Intellectual property protection / John H. Barton Brief 8. Research policy and management issues / Joel I. Cohen, Cesar Falconi, and John Komen Brief 9. Developing appropriate policies / Per Pinstrup-Andersen [IFPRI staff] Brief 10. Letter to a minister / Gabrielle J. Persley.Biotechnology Developing countries., Agricultural biotechnology Developing countries.,

Coconut Research Opportunities

Paper prepared for TAC by G. J. Persley of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on the importance of coconut as a smallholder crop, the needs and opportunities for research, priority areas for international coconut research, and institutional options. Persley proposes the establishment of an International Coconut Research Council.This shorter version of two papers on coconut by Persley dated June 1990 was the one considered by TAC 52. Coconut was also discussed at TAC46 and TAC 50

Brief: Bread and stones: Co-investing in mining and agriculture in Africa

There is a resurgence of interest in Africa’s one billion people as an emerging market, and the local landscape’s enormous natural endowment of suitable agro-ecological land, water, resources, labour, energy, and minerals..

Biotecnología para el sector agropecuario de los países en desarrollo: problemas y oportunidades

Carta a un MinistroAgricultural biotechnology Developing countries., Intellectual property., Risk.,

Natural host range, thrips and seed transmission of distinct Tobacco streak virus strains in Queensland, Australia

Diseases caused by Tobacco streak virus (TSV) have resulted in significant crop losses in sunflower and mung bean crops in Australia. Two genetically distinct strains from central Queensland, TSV-parthenium and TSV-crownbeard, have been previously described. They share only 81% total-genome nucleotide sequence identity and have distinct major alternative hosts, Parthenium hysterophorus (parthenium) and Verbesina encelioides (crownbeard). We developed and used strain-specific multiplex Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) for the three RNA segments of TSV-parthenium and TSV-crownbeard to accurately characterise the strains naturally infecting 41 hosts species. Hosts included species from 11 plant families, including 12 species endemic to Australia. Results from field surveys and inoculation tests indicate that parthenium is a poor host of TSV-crownbeard. By contrast, crownbeard was both a natural host of, and experimentally infected by TSV-parthenium but this infection combination resulted in non-viable seed. These differences appear to be an effective biological barrier that largely restricts these two TSV strains to their respective major alternative hosts. TSV-crownbeard was seed transmitted from naturally infected crownbeard at a rate of between 5% and 50% and was closely associated with the geographical distribution of crownbeard in central Queensland. TSV-parthenium and TSV-crownbeard were also seed transmitted in experimentally infected ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum) at rates of up to 40% and 27%, respectively. The related subgroup 1 ilarvirus, Ageratum latent virus, was also seed transmitted at a rate of 18% in ageratum which is its major alternative host. Thrips species Frankliniella schultzei and Microcephalothrips abdominalis were commonly found in flowers of TSV-affected crops and nearby weed hosts. Both species readily transmitted TSV-parthenium and TSV-crownbeard. The results are discussed in terms of how two genetically and biologically distinct TSV strains have similar life cycle strategies in the same environment

Distribution in Australia and seed transmission of tobacco streak virus in parthenium hysterophorus

Distribution in Australia and seed transmission of Tobacco streak virus in Parthenium hysterophorus. Plant Dis. 93:708-712. Tobacco streak virus (TSV) was found to commonly occur in Parthenium hysterophorus, as symptomless infections, in central Queensland, Australia across a large area infested with this weed. Several isolates of TSV collected across the geographic range of P. hysterophorus were found to share identical coat protein sequence with each other and with TSV from crop plants in the same area. Seed transmission of TSV in P. hysterophorus was found to occur at rates of 6.8 to 48%. There was almost no change in the rate of TSV seed transmission when P. hysterophorus seed was stored for up to 241/2 months. Implications of this relationship between TSV and P. hysterophorus for the development of virus disease epidemics in surrounding crops are discussed. © 2009 The American Phytopathological Society