CIMMYT Report on maize improvement 1974
CIMMYT's maize program--which in 1974 included 154 separate progeny trials in 22 countries, and 84 experimental variety trials in 35 countries--was begun as a cooperative venture of the Government of Mexico and the Rockefeller Foundation. Although program emphasis and geographical scope have evolved progressively, the origins of many of today's trials reach back over 30 years to the work of the program founders. In the early years, hybrids were developed to meet the production needs of Mexico. Later, program scientists began putting together some genetically diverse maize populations, or composites, to set the stage for a concentrated effort on population improvement. By 1970, there were many such populations in the CIMMYT program: still very heterogeneous, but excellent breeding populations. At that time, CIMMYT began to direct these populations (and others) toward the major genotype requirements of the maize-growing countries of the world. We have often referred to the program operations as a sort of funnel--with the germplasm bank serving as a source of genes to feed into the top. These materials would sift down through funnel populations of more distinct identity, evolving as experimental varieties that emerged as specific crosses directed at a farm-level use in a particular maize producing area. In 1973, CIMMYT decided that 28 populations have been defined well enough to move into an international progeny testing program, and that the resultant experimental varieties could be used directly in crosses, or for production in many countries. Our 1973 maize progress report detailed the various functions and systems that have carried the flow of materials from the germplasm bank and introductions, through the "funnel" of development and testing, to the testing of elite experimental varieties. (A brief summary of this process is provided in the Appendix CIMMYT's funnel concept is now capable of delivering progeny, experimental varieties, and elite experimental varieties to the many cooperating programs. Thus, in 1974, reporting emphasis can be given to the results of the first year of systematic international testing. The international cooperation that is so crucial to CIMMYT's operations is highlighted first, with subsequent sections devoted to the supporting activities that provide the basic structure for organize improvement work.
| Format: | Annual Report biblioteca |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
CIMMYT
1974
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| Subjects: | AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, ZEA MAYS, GERMPLASM, GENE POOLS, PLANT NURSERIES, DISEASE RESISTANCE, PEST RESISTANCE, TRAINING COURSES, TROPICAL ZONES, SUBTROPICAL ZONES, TEMPERATE ZONES, HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES, ALTITUDE, SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA, DIATRAEA, FUSARIUM, HELMINTHOSPORIUM, PU, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10883/3582 |
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