MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL WHEAT IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE (NWIC) MEETING
The minutes of the January 2003 NWIC meeting were approved
as published in the Annual Wheat Newsletter (49:6-9).
Written reports were submitted from John Raupp (Annual Wheat Newsletter publication and editing) and Brett Carver, (Annual Wheat Newsletter financial status).
Kay Simmons, USDA-ARS National Program Staff provided an update on the ARS budget and position updates.
a. Five-year ARS project plan updates,
b. Highlights of the year included a national wheat genomics sequencing workshop sponsored jointly by ARS and NSF, and
c. Budget, all ARS add-on projects were restored in the final FY04 budgets.
Mike Davis, National Barley Improvement Committee, presented an update on small-grain, federal (U.S. government) budget initiatives. Additional funding for the Cereal Disease Lab in St. Paul, MN, and an research position for invasive aphids at the ARS lab in Stillwater, OK, has been secured. Efforts continue to secure full funding for small grains genotyping centers and for the four regional wheat quality labs.
Buildings and facilities. $3.9 million was approved for planning and design of new facility at Pullman, WA. The National Agriculture Statistics budget received a funding increase for better estimates of agricultural production. The Hatch Act received some moderate funding increases. NRI funding was diminished somewhat.
Ann Marie Thro provided an update on CSREES initiatives and activities. The NRI Competitive Grants Program now funds about $ 164,000,000, with a total budget of approximately $1,000,000,000. The NRI now has pure research and 'integrated' projects, which includes extension, education, and research. CSREES recognizes the importance of continued strong plant breeding programs. CSREES provided funding for the wheat research planning workshop held at the National Wheat Workers Workshop, February 2004. Jorge Dubcovsky (UC-Davis) was the organizer for this meeting.
An update from NAWG was provided by Pat Buschette, who indicated that NAWG desires to become more involved in research efforts, wants to work toward development of common goals, and explore ways of integrating NAWG and NWIC efforts. NAWG has the policy of adapting legislative items as defined by NWIC.
Eastern soft wheat region. Joe Anderson and Jose Costa. Weather impacted yield and quality in the eastern region, impacting quality testing. New ARS positions have been added to the Hessian fly group at Purdue and to the group at Raleigh. Ben Edge has been named to a position at the University of South Carolina as wheat breeder.
Spring wheat region. Marty Carson. Staffing of the genotyping center at Fargo has begun. Yue Jin accepted a position with ARS in the Cereal Disease Lab at St. Paul. The Grain Science Department at NDSU has been eliminated, with staff and activities now largely assigned to the Department of Cereal and Food Science.
Western region. Kim Kidwell and others. Stripe rust was the topic generating the most interest, with epidemics throughout the west, especially in California. Oregon lost 40 % of its extension budget. The USDA-ARS Advanced Genetics Laboratory at Aberdeen will be finished by 2006. The USDA-ARS Western Regional Research Center established a joint project on risk assessment headed by Ann Blechl and David Hou. Work will concentrate on development to promoters for tissue specific expression.
Winter wheat region. Scott Haley. Stripe rust was
the dominant disease problem once again. A new biotype of Russian
wheat aphid was identified. A hard white wheat incentive program,
funded by U.S. Congress, now is in the third of three years.
Clearfield wheat is in year two of commercialization, with the
cultivar Above occupying > 100,000 acres and a total forcasted
acreage of approximately 300,000 acres for 2004. The annual wheat
breeders field day was held at Mead, NE, in 2004. Gene Krenzer
retired from Oregon State University. Jim Stack was named wheat
extension pathologist in KS. Goertzen Seeds merged with Western
Plant Breeders to form Westbred LLC. Cargill is a partner in
this joint venture.
A material transfer agreement (MTA) for submitting and receiving lines for the USDA-ARS Coordinated Wheat Regional Nurseries was presented by R. Graybosch. The MTA was developed by the USDA-ARS Office of Technology Transfer. Allan Fritz proposed that item #4 of the MTA be modified to include 'shall not increase seed without permission of the owner'. Carl Griffey seconded the motion, and the motion was approved. Jim Peterson moved that the NWIC endorse the MTA developed by USDA-ARS for exchange of small grains germ plasm and encourages its use by land grant institutions in the U.S. Ed Souza seconded, and the motion passed.
North American Wheat Workers Conference.
Plans were revealed for the 2nd North American Wheat Workers Conference to be held in Canada in 2007. The NWIC encourages Canadian wheat scientists to move forward with plans for the meeting and pledges our assistance in planning activities.
Bringing genomics to the wheat fields.
Luther Talbert described the history and status of the project. The current goal is to obtain a USDA-CSREES special grant to continue funding with a targeted date of FY2005. The current intent is to obtain funding for the practical application of markers as a component of plant breeding programs and to move away from marker discovery. Questions arose as to how this program will cöoperate or complement with ARS genotyping centers and whether the project should be expanded to include additional states. Ed Souza moved that the NWIC endorse the development of a CSREES special grant for marker-assisted selection in wheat breeding programs and will appoint a steering committee to assist in the redraft of the proposal with the goal of making it more competitive and inclusive. Jose Costa seconded and the motion carried. The steering committee will be Ed Souza, Allan Fritz, Jim Peterson, Jose Costa, and Luther Talbert.
Stripe Rust Initiative.
Kim Kidwell, proxy for Kim Campbell, explained that stripe rust was now the major disease in the PNW and has been impacting wheat production in several regions. The Stripe Rust Initiative will include the following focus areas: plant breeding, new gene identification, gene characterization, epidemiology, biotechnology, marker-assisted selection, and disease management. Investigators are recommending funding of approximately $1.5 x 10^6^, with one-half to ARS and one-half distributed via a competitive grants programs to state programs. The model would be the Scab Initiative. Pullman would be focal point of ARS efforts, especially since Pullman has long been the center of ARS stripe rust-screening activities. Gene Milus suggested a steering committee be named to help establish priorities. A steering committee was appointed and will included Kim Campbell, Chen, Carl Griffey, Marty Carson, Gene Milus, and Lee Jackson.
Karnal bunt Initiative.
Bob Bowden represented the steering committee of the Karnal bunt Initiative. Little progress was noted regarding deregulation. APHIS has a target date of 2007 for worldwide deregulation. The steering committee envisions continued work on epidemiology, spore survival in soil, screening germ plasm for resistance, alternative crops for areas where Karnal bunt has become established, quality assurance such as IP systems for delivering grain from resistant lines, and dealing with tolerance levels.
Bob Bowden thanks all involved parties for their efforts in establishing the genotyping centers. At the Scab Forum, a discussion was held to entertain proposals for the operation of the genotyping centers. The goal would be to retain regional foci, have targeted markers/traits, and establish liaison committees. Public versus private breeding was discussed, with the conclusion being that the labs will be open to private firms as long as they adhere to the same rules as public parties. The genotyping center staff will schedule visits to genotyping labs, and basic research would be cöordinated among the labs so as to avoid duplication. The establishment of a doubled-haploid lab somewhere to assist in the effort was suggested. An update on genotyping efforts in Canada was provided.
The International Genome Research On Wheat (IGROW) effort was discussed and the joint NSF-ARS meeting was described. A position paper describing the effort will be published in Genetics, which will include an outline for a 12-nation program to sequence the genome in three phases. The wheat genome is very large and estimates exist of a price tag in excess of $500,000,000 dollars, but debate exists as to what the real cost will be. Questions still exist as to whether the entire genome or merely the gene-rich regions should be sequenced. An IGROW update is on pp. 13-15.
Joe Anderson stated that Affymetix is developing a wheat gene chip and they will be funding the project in-house. The chip will have about 60,000 probes. They presently are doing a preliminary test assembly. By mid-2004, the assembly and construction should be completed and for sale.
Olin Anderson explained that Graingenes actually is a set of services, including a database system, a database for Triticeae repeats, and a general communication system for meeting announcements, among other things. Probe distribution efforts are being terminated due to funding constraints. ESTs for the NSF mapping project can be obtained as a set of plates with 8-10,000 genes. Joe Anderson presented results of the liaison committee conclusions and recommendations to ARS. Some fairly critical funding needs are necessary for the continued maintenance of Graingenes. Problems with the query interface on the web page were discussed and whether the system could be updated without additional funds and staffing. Migrating to a more user-friendly interface will probably take about 2 years. If Graingenes is to continue and improve, additional funding is necessary.
The Pullman, WA, ARS facility is progressing. The facility will be paired with a state facility and will include all ARS research projects at Pullman, including the new genotyping center. At Fargo, ND, a 57,000 ft2 renovation of the biosciences research lab is needed, along with a 30,000 ft2 research lab (new building) for 8-9 scientists, and a new greenhouse. The ARS facility at Raleigh, NC, has need of a seed-storage facility.
A possible preharvest sprouting position at Fargo was discussed. Interest in such a position exists both for barley and for wheat.
Marty Carson stated that the building addition will be completed by spring or summer 2005. Yue Jin joined the lab in May 2003. A new proposal for enhanced funding was presented. At present, testing has been reduced to regional samples, with field testing only for the RGON. In the short term, a technician will be hired on a temporary basis to work under Yue Jin in testing germ plasm. In the long term, they would like to have a category-III support scientist to conduct the germ plasm efforts and work more closely with plant-breeding programs. The Cereal Disease Lab should be able to both monitor pathogen loads in nature and determine genes that are present and that are being deployed in new cultivars. Necessary funding for these plans is $150,000.
Charles Gaines provided an update on use of new monies at the regional quality labs. If additional funding is provided, Manhattan will update bake labs and perhaps add new bake team to double the number of samples. Likewise, Pullman has increased samples, but still needs to purchase a new mill and nitrogen analyzer. Fargo added postdoctoral research positions, purchased a seed-cleaning system for more rapid analysis of Wheat Quality Council Systems, but still needs to modernize the spring wheat pilot mill. Wooster increased the number of test line evaluations, added a permanent, full-time support technician, updated equipment including mills, replaced 1930-40s bake equipment, incorporated solvent-retention systems, but still needs to add postdoctorals and remodel laboratories. Labs from the 1960s are worn out with a 5-year remodeling program needed for seven labs. Wooster also will institute a bench-top, cracker-testing system. Fargo was left out of the funding increases for FY04. Funding for these labs has been the top priority for the past few years, but is not quite at the target levels yet.
A proposal from ARS Pullman was presented, bundled with the genotyping center at Pullman. Dave Van Sanford suggested deferral of the proposal until a later time, and it was recommend they cöordinate with Dave Marshall and his group at Raleigh.
After voting by NWIC members, the following priority items, in order of decreasing importance, were recommende
Scott Haley discussed the current policy of Crop Science editorial board. A new proposal would allow registration of lines with restricted distribution if the registration would carry the provision that the material could be obtained from the developer via an MTA, or that 5 years after the expiration of Plant Variety Protection, the material would be available via the USDA-ARS Small Grains Collection. Ed Souza proposed that the NWIC recommends Crop Science review the policy or registration of materials with patented or protected genes and consider publishing registration notes of PVP varieties that can be distributed under material transfer agreements. Jim Peterson seconded, and the motion passed.
The legislative visit will occur 15-16 March, 2004.
The next NWIC meeting will be held in San Diego, in conjunction with the Plant and Animal Genome meeting, most likely on or about 7 January, 2005. The weather promises to be a tad more hospitable than December in St. Paul, MN.
R. Graybosch, Secretary, NWIC.