Keynote lecture - Pulses: opportunities for increasing demand in foodsKofi Agblor, Research and Development Manager of -GL-TTP member- Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (Saskatoon, Canada), introduced the GL-TTP session with a lively presentation of the global scene of grain legumes. Grain legumes have long been recognised as a viable and environmentally sustainable component of crop production, as well as a healthy and nutritious food. However, their consumption per capita has steadily declined over the past four decades. Grain legumes should be positioned as a vital component in the global food security basket. Multiple efforts are underway to promote grain legumes, such as Canada’s Pulse Innovation Project (PIP) to develop new uses and markets for the North American food sector, the American Beans For Health Alliance (BFHA) to further investigate the health benefits for bean consumption, and finally the European Grain Legumes Integrated Project (GLIP) and its technology transfer platform (GL-TTP) to enhance grain legume production and utilisation.
Guest lecture - Perspectives of a grain legume breeder in EuropeChristiane Duchêne, research manager from -GL-TTP member- Groupe Limagrain Holding (Chartainvilliers, France), kindly accepted to share her perspectives on breeding pea in Europe. She set the context of her work by highlighting that the production of pea is in decline in most European countries. She then explained the different constraints of biotic and abiotic stresses to overcome in order to increase and stabilise the yield of pea crops. She presented her breeding strategy towards key objectives in disease resistance, lodging resistance, yield and quality. In particular, she mentioned that Limagrain is about to integrate molecular tools in their programme, with molecular markers currently being validated on their material for MAS (marker-assisted selection). She would be happy to have more molecular markers available to characterise her material, optimise her crossing choices, and facilitate the genetic improvement of her material for traits controlled by major loci.
GL-TTP Director - Creation and status of GL-TTPGL-TTP Director Frédéric Muel reminded the objectives of the platform, and presented the list of current members of GL-TTP at the date of the meeting, with a composition of 10 active members and 6 associated members. He described the structure of GL-TTP, and the relationship with the European Association for Grain Legume Research (AEP) was highlighted. He summarised the transfer activities within GL-TTP in 3 main tasks -- assistance in decision-making by providing expertise and information, workshops and training, technology development and service management. The activity report for the last 12 months is described in the pdf document attached. Activities for 2006 will be defined in consultation with the GL-TTP members.
Download (2 Mo)
GL-TTP Scientific Manager - Exploitation of GLIP through GL-TTPGL-TTP Scientific Manager Catherine Golstein presented how GLIP results can be exploited through GL-TTP to stimulate grain legume research and industry. She emphasised what GL-TTP can do for legume crop improvement based on discoveries, tools and services generated by GLIP. She structured her talks around the different levels involved in plant breeding: (1) genetic resources, (2) traits of interest and breeding objectives, (3) introgression into agronomically valuable lines. First, at the level of genetic resources, she proposed ways to broaden the genetic base used in legume breeding through more efficient germplasm selection by genotyping, or through the generation of de novo genetic diversity. Secondly, she presented how GLIP/GL-TTP can unravel the biology of traits of interest. In particular, candidate genes have been identified using various expression profiling tools, and gene function validated using new functional genomics tools in pea and Medicago. Finally, GL-TTP can assist breeders to implement marker-assisted selection, by validating molecular markers produced in GLIP, and by providing robust, high-throughput, genotyping technology.
While genomics resources and tools generated by GLIP are already available for the legume community, most GLIP discoveries will require more research prior to transfer via GL-TTP for application in crop legumes. It must be clear that GL-TTP is not limited to GLIP results, and will tap into resources and technologies previously developed and published, that will require less development for application.
Download (12,4 Mo)AEP Executive Manager - AEP/GL-TTP: an international bridge between GLIP and other grain legume projectsDownload (1,9 Mo)
