Regional partnership with CIMMYT facilitates drought tolerant maize development in Thailand
A maize hybrid being tested on drought screening plots at the Thai Department of Agriculture’s Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center, where screening is carried out in the dry season to allow fine control of water availability. CIMMYT has a long relationship with Thailand, supplying materials to for inclusion in the national breeding program, and between March 2005 and October 2008 Thailand participated in the Asian Maize Network (AMNET), which was funded by the Asian Development Bank and led by CIMMYT, and brought together scientists from five Southeast Asian countries to develop and deliver drought tolerant maize varieties for poor farmers in drought-prone regions.
As part of AMNET, the Thai breeders crossed lines from the national program with new drought tolerant materials provided each year by CIMMYT. “We screen for drought tolerance in the dry season and downy mildew resistance in the rainy season, and take the best materials forward each year,” explained Pichet Grudloyma, senior maize breeder, in 2008. “We now have many promising hybrids coming through.” Funding from the project also had a big impact on the team’s capacity to screen those hybrids. “We had a small one to two hectare facility before; now we have four hectares with a perfect controlled-irrigation system. Because we’ve been in AMNET, we have good varieties and good fieldwork and screening capacity.” Thailand also took on a role in seed distribution, receiving and sharing seed from the AMNET member countries, and testing the varieties on the drought screening plots at the Research Center.
For Grudloyma, this collaborative approach was a big change. “We’ve learned a lot and gained a lot from our friends in different countries. We each have different experiences, and when we share problems we can adapt knowledge from others to our own situations.” The Thai researchers can come up with many examples of things they have learned from their AMNET partners. “We learned how to evaluate farmer preferences better from the Philippines team,” said Amara Traisiri, an entomologist working on responding to these preferences. “We now use their method in all our field trials with farmers and we’re getting a more accurate picture of what farmers want.” This information caused the group to include ease of hand harvest as another trait to consider in their breeding program, after realizing how important it is to farmers.
The project built capacity and relationships that will endure, according to Grudloyma. “Our station is now very good at working with drought,” he said, “and we’ll continue cooperation and providing germplasm. We already have plans for collaboration with China and Vietnam.” CIMMYT’s role in providing germplasm and access to new knowledge and technologies was vital, as was its leadership. “It’s very hard to get hold of germplasm from anywhere except CIMMYT,” said Grudloyma. “It’s also difficult to come together: we needed an international organization to coordinate and facilitate regional interaction. With CIMMYT everything is easier.”
Photo credit: Eloise Phipps/CIMMYT.
For more about Thailand and AMNET, see CIMMYT's March 2008 e-news story "New maize and new friendships to beat Thai drought," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/newsletter/37-2008/159-new-maize-and-new-f....
Regional partnership with CIMMYT facilitates drought tolerant maize development in Thailand
A maize hybrid being tested on drought screening plots at the Thai Department of Agriculture’s Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center, where screening is carried out in the dry season to allow fine control of water availability. CIMMYT has a long relationship with Thailand, supplying materials to for inclusion in the national breeding program, and between March 2005 and October 2008 Thailand participated in the Asian Maize Network (AMNET), which was funded by the Asian Development Bank and led by CIMMYT, and brought together scientists from five Southeast Asian countries to develop and deliver drought tolerant maize varieties for poor farmers in drought-prone regions.
As part of AMNET, the Thai breeders crossed lines from the national program with new drought tolerant materials provided each year by CIMMYT. “We screen for drought tolerance in the dry season and downy mildew resistance in the rainy season, and take the best materials forward each year,” explained Pichet Grudloyma, senior maize breeder, in 2008. “We now have many promising hybrids coming through.” Funding from the project also had a big impact on the team’s capacity to screen those hybrids. “We had a small one to two hectare facility before; now we have four hectares with a perfect controlled-irrigation system. Because we’ve been in AMNET, we have good varieties and good fieldwork and screening capacity.” Thailand also took on a role in seed distribution, receiving and sharing seed from the AMNET member countries, and testing the varieties on the drought screening plots at the Research Center.
For Grudloyma, this collaborative approach was a big change. “We’ve learned a lot and gained a lot from our friends in different countries. We each have different experiences, and when we share problems we can adapt knowledge from others to our own situations.” The Thai researchers can come up with many examples of things they have learned from their AMNET partners. “We learned how to evaluate farmer preferences better from the Philippines team,” said Amara Traisiri, an entomologist working on responding to these preferences. “We now use their method in all our field trials with farmers and we’re getting a more accurate picture of what farmers want.” This information caused the group to include ease of hand harvest as another trait to consider in their breeding program, after realizing how important it is to farmers.
The project built capacity and relationships that will endure, according to Grudloyma. “Our station is now very good at working with drought,” he said, “and we’ll continue cooperation and providing germplasm. We already have plans for collaboration with China and Vietnam.” CIMMYT’s role in providing germplasm and access to new knowledge and technologies was vital, as was its leadership. “It’s very hard to get hold of germplasm from anywhere except CIMMYT,” said Grudloyma. “It’s also difficult to come together: we needed an international organization to coordinate and facilitate regional interaction. With CIMMYT everything is easier.”
Photo credit: Eloise Phipps/CIMMYT.
For more about Thailand and AMNET, see CIMMYT's March 2008 e-news story "New maize and new friendships to beat Thai drought," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/newsletter/37-2008/159-new-maize-and-new-f....