The Asian maize biotechnology network (AMBIONET): A Model for strengthening national agricultural research systems

7/31/2019 The Asian maize biotechnology network (AMBIONET): A Model for strengthening national agricultural research systems

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The Asian Maize Biotechnology Network(AMBIONET):

A Model for Strengthening NationalAgricultural Research Systems

Carl E. PrayDepartment of Agricultural, Food & Resource Economics

Rutgers University

Cook Office Building55 Dudley Road

New Brunswick NJ 08901USA

AcknowledgmentsEditing: Mike Listman.

Layout/design: Eliot Snchez.

This study was generously supported by USAID, through linkage funding.


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CIMMYT (www.cimmyt.org) is an international, not-for-profit organization that conducts research andtraining related to maize and wheat throughout the developing world. Drawing on strong science andeffective partnerships, CIMMYT works to create, share, and use knowledge and technology to increasefood security, improve the productivity and profitability of farming systems, and sustain natural

resources. CIMMYT is one of 15 Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org). Financial support for CIMMYTs work comes from themembers of the CGIAR, national governments, foundations, development banks, and other public andprivate agencies.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) 2006. All rights reserved. Thedesignations employed in the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CIMMYT or its contributory organizations concerning the legalstatus of any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of itsfrontiers or boundaries. CIMMYT encourages fair use of this material. Proper citation is requested.

Correct citation : Pray, C. 2006. The Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET): A model forstrengthening national agricultural research systems. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Abstract : This report reviews the impacts of the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET),organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with funding from theAsian Development Bank to strengthen the capacity of public maize research institutions in China, India,Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to produce high-yielding, disease resistant, stress tolerantmaize cultivars. It was found that, during its lifetime (1998-2005), AMBIONET clearly benefitedresearchers and institutions in participating countries, as well as CIMMYT. In addition, there was goodprogress toward developing improved cultivars. Asian farmers are just beginning to gain from the work, but their future benefits will likely pay for AMBIONETs relatively modest expenditures many times over.

ISBN : 970-648-138-9AGROVOC descriptors : Zea mays; Plant breeding; Biotechnology; Breeding methods; Research methods;

Disease resistance; Yield increases; Research institutions; China; India;Indonesia; Philippines; Thailand; Viet Nam; Asia

AGRIS category codes : F30 Plant Genetics and BreedingF01 Crop Husbandry

Additional Keywords: AMBIONETDewey decimal classification : 633.15950

Printed in Mexico.

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Contents

1. Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................12. History and Structure of AMBIONET ...........................................................................3

History..................................................................................................................................3The structure of AMBIONET ............................................................................................4

3. Framework for Impact Assessment ..............................................................................10Conventional breeding ....................................................................................................10Breeding with molecular tools ........................................................................................ 11Pathways to farmers.........................................................................................................13Methods of impact analysis ............................................................................................14

4. Impact on Asian Maize Research Capacity ................................................................17Asian maize research before AMBIONET ....................................................................17Impact of AMBIONET on NARSs research priorities ................................................18Financial resources ...........................................................................................................19Human capital...................................................................................................................21Strength through the network ........................................................................................23Impact on research capacity outside AMBIONET partner institutions....................23

5. Impact on Research Output and Productivity ...........................................................26Progress toward improved cultivars .............................................................................26Increasing knowledge, improving research tools ........................................................28

Research productivity ......................................................................................................296. Impact on farmers ............................................................................................................31

Potential value of new varieties from AMBIONET .....................................................31Actual and potential impact of AMBIONET activities ...............................................32Will the technology reach the poor? ..............................................................................34Research priorities ............................................................................................................36

7. Conclusions: Impacts and the Future .......................................................................... 38

References ..............................................................................................................................41

Appendix table 1. ..................................................................................................................42

Appendix table 2. ..................................................................................................................43

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Tables and Figures

Table 1. Summary of AMBIONET research activities, 1998-2003. ............................................................... 6Table 2. ADB AMBIONET budget categories................................................................................................. 7Table 3. Research inputs from AMBIONET. ................................................................................................... 8Table 4. Steps in marker-assisted breeding for disease resistance in maize,

with examples from India and China. ............................................................................................ 12Table 5. Public and private-sector maize research institutes and scientists, 1997/98. ........................... 17Table 6. Direction of research funding and competitive grants in AMBIONET. ..................................... 19Table 7. Scientists and technicians in the AMBIONET teams before and

after joining AMBIONET. ................................................................................................................. 21Table 8. Participants in training programs by country. ............................................................................... 22Table 9. Thesis research and short-term training supported by AMBIONET teams. ............................. 24Table 10. Pathways from AMBIONET research to improved cultivars. ..................................................... 26Table 11. Numbers of journal articles published by AMBIONET partners. .............................................. 28Table 12. Number of maize varieties developed and marketed in Asia by

public and private sector, 1990-98. .................................................................................................. 32Table 13. Estimates of losses from downy mildew and sugarcane mosaic virus. ..................................... 32Table 14. Area planted to maize, by maize type, based on estimates of national

public-sector researchers (adjusted using FAO area data), selectedAsian countries and region, 1997. .................................................................................................... 35

Figure 1. Pathways for marketing germplasm............................................................................................... 13Figure 2. Hypothetical example of costs and benefits from molecular breeding. .................................... 14Figure 3. Research productivity: journal articles per scientist. .................................................................... 29Figure 4. Costs and potential benefits of disease resistance research conducted

as part of AMBIONET. ...................................................................................................................... 33


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1. Executive Summary

The primary method to answer these questionswas through interviews conducted over November2003-August 2004 with many NARSs andCIMMYT scientists involved in AMBIONET andwith public sector scientists and officials in privatefirms outside the network. We also developed aquestionnaire that was completed by theAMBIONET coordinator for each country. Finally,we reviewed the reports and some publishedpapers of the AMBIONET team and of othernetworks.

The main findings are:

1. Although AMBIONET was developed andexpanded in two projects funded by the AsianDevelopment Bank; the resources provided toAMBIONET by ADB and CIMMYT in the twoprojects were quite small: US$2.4 million fromADB and about US$1.3 million in kind fromCIMMYT.

2. Despite the limited resources invested, maizeresearch in Asia was strengthened, particularlyat the institutes participating in AMBIONET inChina, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.AMBIONET also strengthened the research of individual scientists in the Philippines andThailand, even though it was less successful at building research institutions.

3. Much of AMBIONETs research focused on theproblems of small farmers. Good progress was

made toward developing improved, diseaseresistant lines that can be used in breedingprograms. It is too early to tell whether the breeding priorities pursued were the best toobtain maximum social benefits.

Supported by the Asian Development Bank, theAsian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET) included molecular biologists andmaize scientists and was organized in 1998 byCIMMYT and the national agricultural researchsystems (NARSs) of China, India, Indonesia,Philippines, and Thailand. Vietnam joined duringthe second phase of the project, which started in2002. The network ended in 2005.

The objective of AMBIONET was to strengthen thecapacity of key public maize research institutionsin Asia to produce maize cultivars that would behigher yielding, resistant to diseases, and tolerantto abiotic stresses. The research capacity buildingcomponent focused on the use of molecularmarkers and molecular breeding.

The major research question of this study was: in aclimate of shrinking funding for the CGIARcenters, were these AMBIONET projects a gooduse of CIMMYTs limited resources? To answerthis question we looked at three components:

1. Is the Asian maize breeding capacity strongerthan it would have been in the absence of AMBIONET?

2. Are the research programs that are part of AMBIONET likely to develop technology thatwill improve the income and well-being of resource-poor farmers in Asia?

3. Is CIMMYTs research program stronger becauseof AMBIONET?

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4. Farmers are just starting to benefit fromAMBIONET research. The size of future benefitsis difficult to predict, but the benefits willprobably cover the costs of AMBIONET

expenditures many times over.5. CIMMYT has also benefited from this program.

It has gained knowledge about Asian maizegermplasm and knowledge and molecularmarkers relating to drought and importantdiseases. AMBIONET has helped CIMMYTmove toward its goals of stronger maize researchprograms and improved technology for the poorin developing countries.

This report is organized as follows. Section 2 is ahistory of AMBIONET and the research inputs thatit provided. Section 3 develops a framework forimpact assessment based on the biotechnologies

and their possible impact. Section 4 examines theimpact of AMBIONET on Asian research capacity.Section 5 presents an analysis of the impact of AMBIONET on research outputs and productivity.Section 6 describes the way increased researchoutputs and productivity could benefit farmersand the possible level of potential benefits fromAMBIONET research. Section 7 reviews theevidence on the impact of AMBIONET and looksat some alternative futures for the network.

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HistoryThe AMBIONET project built on two previousAsian biotechnology networks. The first was theRockefeller Foundation Rice BiotechnologyProgram. This program started in 1984 as acomprehensive research, capacity building, andtechnology transfer program that included theentire spectrum from fundamental research toplant breeding and socio-economic evaluation of potential benefits. Between 1984 and 1999 theRockefeller Foundation allocated almost US$100million to this program. Part of the money wentto laboratories in high-income countries todevelop techniques and knowledge that could beused for the molecular biology, geneticengineering, and molecular breeding of rice. Theother large part of the money went to fundcapacity-building and research at institutes indeveloping countries, primarily in Asia. Inaddition networking activities like annualmeetings of participants and a rice biotechnology

newsletter were developed to improvecommunication among participating scientists.

This program was a major success in terms of capacity building. The 1999 evaluation of thisprogram stated (Mohan et al. 1999):

As far as the capacity building in rice biotechnology capacity in low income countries(LICs) is concerned, the impact of the Rice

Biotechnology Program has been profound,often with spin-off benefits to other crops.Many individuals have benefited from bothformal training and research grants while weestimate the combination has had potentially amajor impact in about 46% of the RiceBiotechnology Program supported LICs

institutions. However, we believe that majorchallenges still exist in many institutions inensuring that such individual and institutional biotechnology capacity results in usefulcontributions to final products, the primaryproblem being of forging effective interactivelinkages with rice breeders and developmentoriented agencies.

The program was less successful at developingproducts in the form of new technology forfarmers. The impact as of 1999 was an impressivelist of intermediate products including animmense amount of knowledge about ricegenetics, many new research tools, and improvedlines of rice. According to Mohan et al. (1999):as a result, work on the rice genome has become a model for other cereal crops. Manytransgenic rice varieties and hybrids withresistance to insects, disease, herbicides, andimproved nutritional qualities have beendeveloped by scientists, but no transgenic ricelines have been commercialized, primarily because of biosafety regulatory procedures, whichare driven in part by consumer concerns about thesafety of genetically modified products. Somedisease resistant, non-transgenic rice varietiesdeveloped using marker assisted selection (MAS)were being tested for commercial release when theRockefeller Program was evaluated in 1999.

The second program upon which AMBIONET built was the Asian Rice Biotechnology Network (ARBN). International Rice Research Institute(IRRI) scientists, with funding from the AsianDevelopment Bank and German foreign aid, setup the ARBN in 1993. It grew with a second phasewhich started in 1997 and a third phase which

2. History and Structure of AMBIONET

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lasted from January 1999 to 2002. The initialproject aimed to address the fact that many biotechresearch centers were started with well-trainedpeople, lots of equipment, and funding from Asian

governments and the Rockefeller Foundation, butfew of these centers did much research and orproduced new knowledge or technology. IRRIscientists and their NARSs colleagues felt thatsome type of on-going relationship with IRRI biotech scientists and other research centers wasneeded; that NARSs scientists should be able notonly to take training courses, but also to use thetechniques learned while working alongside anIRRI scientist. The latter would provide

subsequent trouble-shooting assistance for thenational program researchers, once they returnedtheir home institutions. The ARBN also providedenzymes or facilitated repairs for advancedequipment, when such products or services wereunavailable locally, and helped the nationalscientists to keep current with the literature andmaintain contact with colleagues.

The first ARBN project was funded by ADB andconcentrated on strengthening selected publicresearch labs, biotech scientists, and rice breedersin India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Laterprojects expanded the program to 10 institutes in 6countries. The research focused on biotic stresses;specifically, bacterial blight, tungro, blast, and gallmidge. ARBN had a full-time scientist/managerand scientists at IRRI who backstopped themanager. The first phase of the project wasprimarily capacity building. The second phasecomprised collaborative research and somecapacity building with newer partners. The thirdphase was mainly networking and maintenance of research. Approximately US$100,000 was investedin the labs of each of the early partners. The projectsponsored many training courses and financed

research projects at the collaborating institutes. Alab at IRRI received network partners for extendedperiods of research. The IRRI lab also furnishedaccess to expensive, sophisticated equipment that

partners needed only occasionally.

AMBIONET was modeled fairly closely on ARBN.CIMMYT had a long history of training andsupporting maize breeders and other maizescientists from the centers regional office inBangkok. In the mid-1990s CIMMYT closed thatoffice, but tried to continue to support maize breeders in the region by proposing an Asianmaize network to be funded by ADB. The agency

declined to fund that network, so in 1997 CIMMYTput together the proposal for AMBIONET. LikeARBN the aim was to strengthen public maize breeding through applied biotechnology. To joinAMBIONET, countries had to have some biotechresearch capacity, as well as be clients of ADB. Theinstitutes in each country were selected to ensurethat the biotechnologists and plant breedersworked closely together on applied researchproblems. In each country a biologist and a plant breeder were selected as joint team leaders. On theadvice of Rockefeller and ADB and due, in part, tothe limited budget, the project did not include alarge central laboratory for AMBIONET. The Bank also decided not to fund genetic engineeringresearch, because of concerns in the agency aboutpotential health hazards. AMBIONET wasaccepted and the project started in early 1998.

The Structure of AMBIONETThe first AMBIONET project included China,India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.The Asian Development Bank project that fundedit was called Application of Biotechnology toMaize Improvement in Asia. The objectives andscope of the first project were (CIMMYT 2001):

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The AMBIONET was funded by a three-waypartnership among the Asian Development Bank,CIMMYT, and national partners. The first projectwas funded primarily by ADB, which contributed

US $1.4 million over four years, and by CIMMYT,which made an in-kind contribution of scientificadvice and training of about US $400,000. Thenational partners were budgeted to contributeabout US $200,000. In the second project ADBprovided US $1 million over three years.CIMMYT was to contribute in-kind services of about US $900,000. The national partners were budgeted to contribute US $720,000 in in-kindresources, and it was hoped that the private

sector would contribute US $180,000 over thethree years of the project.

Research capacity building was to be achievedthrough a combination of collaborative researchprojects, training, networking, and in some casesthe provision of equipment or assistance inidentifying suppliers. Varietal developmentresearch was done by national programs incollaboration with CIMMYT, which contributedtraining, information, DNA markers, germplasm,and other scientific and technical backstopping.AMBIONET provided the research focus andfacilitated collaboration. Molecular markers wereused in (1) fingerprinting, particularlycharacterizing maize germplasm in geneticdiversity studies; (2) mapping, which is theidentification and characterization of genomicregions involved in the expression of target traits;and, ultimately, (3) marker-assisted selection(MAS), also know as molecular breeding, whichis maize improvement using selection forgenomic regions associated with target traits.

The AMBIONET research agenda was developed by the national breeders and biologists workingwith CIMMYT biotechnology scientists (Table 1).

To build and support the capacity of nationalmaize improvement programs in five Asiancountries to apply biotechnology for varietyimprovement, with the goal of increasing maize

productivity through the development of highyielding cultivars that are resistant to diseaseand tolerant to abiotic stresses. The scope of theproject includes training, collaborative research,and information sharing through the AsianMaize Biotechnology Network.

The project focused on the application of molecular markers to develop improved maizevarieties that have high yield, resistance against

diseases, and tolerance to abiotic stresses.Primary research areas were the geneticcharacterization of maize lines, and mappingand marker-assisted selection for resistance todowny mildew, sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV),and maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV), inaddition to tolerance to drought and lownitrogen conditions.

David Hoisington, head of the AppliedBiotechnology Center at CIMMYT, was thescientific advisor and administrator of the project.Luz George, who had worked for the Asian RiceBiotechnology Network, was hired in late 1998 asAMBIONET coordinator in Asia, located at IRRI inthe Philippines, with chief responsibility forproject implementation. A maize breeder and amolecular biologist from public research instituteswere identified as team leaders in each projectcountry. In 2000 a sixth team located at theSichuan Agricultural University in southern Chinawas added.

The objectives and scope of the second project(2002-05) added enhanced nutritional qualitiesand banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) asresearch areas. At this time institutes in Vietnam joined AMBIONET.

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Table 1. Summary of AMBIONET research activities, 1998-2003 (x = started in phase I; xx = started in phase II).Participating institutes are listed below.

Maize Downy Banded leaf Drought Low nitrogen QualityCountry NARSs diversity Virus mildew and sheath blight tolerance tolerance protein maize

China-North CAAS x x x xxChina-South SAU x xx xIndia IARI x x xx xIndonesia ICERI/IABGGRI x x xx xx xxPhilippines USM xx x xx xxThailand DOA x x x x xxVietnam NMRI/AGI xx xx xx

CAAS:Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesSAU:Sichuan Agricultural UniversityIARI:Indian Agricultural Research InstituteICERI:Indonesian Cereal Research InstituteIABGRRI:Indonesian Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research InstituteUSM:University of Southern MindanaoDOA:Department of AgricultureNMRI:National Maize Research InstituteAGI:Agricultural Genetics InstituteSource: CIMMYT 2001

Projects focused on the improvement of locally-adapted lines for country-relevant traits.Components on diversity and downy mildew,which were relevant to all or most of the

countries, were pursued through a sub-network of research projects.

Priorities were set primarily according to supply-side considerations: how difficult the problemwas to solve and the capacity of NARSresearchers. AMBIONET scientists chose researchprojects that they believed had prospects for quick success, both to encourage NARS partnerscientists and to show other scientists and

funding agencies the value of biotechnology tools.For example, diversity studies in hybrid breedingpopulationsclassifying them into groups fromwhich breeders could choose lines to develophigher-yielding hybridsconstitute a relativelystraightforward use of genetic fingerprinting. Allpartner institutions had the scientists andequipment needed to accomplish them, and theinformation generated could be useful toconventional plant breeders.

Developing markers for disease resistance andusing them in MAS is more complicated andwould take longer to produce results. Participantsstarted working on diseases about which much

was known and for which resistance wascontrolled by a small number of genes. It wasexpected that they would make progress by theend of the first project and they did.

The last target was drought tolerance. This wasthought to be the most important problemthroughout Asia (and elsewhere), particularly forsmall-scale farmers who lack irrigation. Droughttolerance is genetically much more complicated

than resistance to most diseases. Many traitscontribute to drought tolerance at different stagesof plant growth, and most of these traits arecontrolled by many genes. As a result theAMBIONET team decided that larger, moreadvanced research programs, such as those of China and India, would start working on droughtimmediately. The others would wait until theyhad built up their biotech capacity through work on diversity and diseases.

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The major budget categories of the ADB money arefound in Table 2. A major component of the projectand one of the keys to its success was theappointment of the project coordinator, Luz

George. Her duties included: Act as the communication node among the

network participants. Monitor the progress of country teams and assist

in troubleshooting. Plan and organize annual meetings, workshops,

and training activities. Facilitate the procurement and distribution of

equipments/supplies. Supervise the AMBIONET service lab.

Conduct training and research of relevance tothe network and publish papers. Produce technical progress reports and grants

proposals. Publish the network newsletter. Design, development, and maintain the

networks web site.

In addition to these tasks, she led network researchprograms on genetic diversity and downy mildewin collaboration with CIMMYT and NARSs, andpublished several high-quality journal articles.

The biggest category was initially for NARS. Thisdeclined during the second phase, partly becausemost NARS labs had the equipment they needed by then. Funding to each individual program wasquite limited (Table 3). In interviews, NARS teamleaders emphasized the importance of AMBIONETs flexibility, which offered differenttypes of assistance to different institutes. Forexample, in India, B.M. Prasanna, of the IndianAgricultural Research Institute, emphasized theimportance of being able to buy equipment for hislab. In contrast, for Shihuang Zhang, head of the

Table 2. ADB AMBIONET budget categories.Phase I: 1998-2001 Phase II:

Categories (revised budget) 2002-2005

Project coordinator 210,000 210,000Travel 140,000 80,000Research work, equipment

and materials 420,000 190,000Training NARSs scientists 230,000 140,000Disseminating results and

technical support 215,000 175,000Administrative support 185,000 110,000Contingencies 0 95,000Total 1,400,000 1,000,000

Source: CIMMYT 2001.

During the second project, quality protein maize(QPM)1 was added as a target trait, becauseCIMMYT had good markers for protein qualityand good lines of maize with this characteristic.

The AMBIONET scientists thought it would berelative easy to add QPM to good, local maizelines. In addition, as success was achieved inproducing markers and resistant lines for downymildew and viruses, the network moved on toBLSB, which was a more important disease thandowny mildew or viruses.

Not every country worked on every project, because in some countries a particular disease was

not a problem or researchers had not developedthe capacity required.

Research priorities could have been improved byconsidering the economic significance of theproblem, the time and difficulty of delivering thescience-based solutions to the poor, and theavailability of alternative technologies foraddressing the problems. However, given theshort period of ADB funding and the need toprovide some initial results which could be usedto justify a second phase of the project, thepriorities chosen may have been the best.

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1 QPM looks, tastes, and grows like normal maize, but its grain contains nearly twice the levels of lysineand tryptophan, essential amino acids for protein synthesis in humans and many farm animals.


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Chinese group, one of the most important uses of the money was to hire post-doctoral fellows withexperience using molecular marker techniques. InIndonesia, access to some of the key chemicals was

a major constraint, and AMBIONET funds andassistance addressed those needs and enabledresearchers there to progress.

The research programs were also supported by theAMBIONET service lab, located at IRRI. The labpurchased and delivered equipment and suppliesin the region, and conducted research to fill gapsand benefit the whole network. In a 25 August2004 email, George gave several examples of the

role the lab played:

.in our network-wide research to identifyQTLs for DM resistance, we consolidated andanalyzed the individual country data, conductedadditional work to locate linked markers in thestrongest QTL [which happened to be expressedin all locations] which the countries can then usein marker assisted selection. Another example of work in the service lab is the development of standard alleles and kits which we distributed tothe network countries. By using the standardalleles and standardized protocols, the differentcountries could combine their genetic diversitydata. The importance of this is that, by mergingdatasets, there is no duplication of effort (if teams want to see the relationship of their inbred

lines with those of another country or CIMMYT,there is no need to fingerprint the lines of othersanymore, one can simply combine the specificcountry data with others).

Training programs were another large componentof the budget. The first of these training programswas designed by CIMMYT and aimed to put theparticipating breeders on equal footing with themolecular biologists with whom they would serveas joint team leaders for country programs. Itprovided an overview of molecular markers andrelated techniques, and particularly their role inplant breeding. The course also described how to

assemble a molecular marker laboratory for maize breeding and detailed associated costs.

Other training programs responded to specificNARS needs and enabled them to carry out theirpart of the project research agenda. A list of allcourses is found in Appendix Table 1. This listincludes workshops and country trainingprograms on maize and downy mildewfingerprinting, QTL mapping, functionalgenomics, and genetic diversity. The last regionalworkshop was on grant writing. The skills thatscientists gained were utilized in their researchprograms. As a result of this and other network contributions, participants used similar techniquesand research protocols, facilitating region-widecollaboration and sharing of results.

Table 3. Research inputs from AMBIONET.China- China-North South India Indonesia Philippines Thailand Vietnam

Research funding for national programs 80 20 80 80 80 80 0Phase I (US$000)Research funding for national programs 27 27 27 27 27 27 27Phase II (US$000)AMBIONET training programs 17 47 14 21 23 19 3(number attending)AMBIONET annual meetings 20 9 9 25 25 24 7(number attending)On-site visits by CIMMYT staff 6 7 12 to 14 11 11 13 4

Source: Survey by author and CIMMYT 2004.

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Annual meetings comprised an integral part of thecapacity building process. There participantsassessed and reinforced new skills when theyreported their results, with questions and

suggestions from other teams and the CIMMYTstaff. CIMMYT staff and the project coordinatorspent time for each country team for more detailedfeedback. Presentations by CIMMYT scientistscovered new techniques and advances inknowledge on genetic diversity, biotic stressessuch as downy mildew and viruses, abioticstresses such as drought and low nitrogen, andgrain quality. Future plans and collaborativeresearch were discussed.

Visits by the project coordinator and CIMMYTstaff provided additional support. In the initialstages of each institutes participation, George andHoisington visited and helped identify the bestequipment, chemicals, and training programsneeded. Visits from other experts were arranged tosolve specific problems. For example, the CIMMYTmaize pathologist might be sent to help the localcollaborators identify a pathogen or set up therelated experiments.

Finally, scientists from one country spent timeworking in the labs of other AMBIONETpartners. Several Indonesian scientists receivedtraining at the University of the Philippines, Los

Banos (UPLB), in the first phase of project. InPhase II, Indonesian scientists spent a monthworking and learning in Prasannas lab in India.

This project did not provide money for degreetraining, but supported the thesis research of AMBIONET participants, such as MarciaPabendon and M. Azrai (Indonesia, MSc theses)and Dedi Ruswandi (UPLB, the Philippines,PhD thesis).

International teams collaborating in researchprojects on downy mildew resistance andgenetic diversity took advantage of the network and the diversity of research locations availablethrough it to do work that could not have beendone in any single country, as well as benefitingfrom the scrutiny and advice of other scientistson their work.

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3. Framework for Impact Assessment

research? Is it easier to get scientific informationand short-term training, now that they aremembers?

To understand the potential impacts, a brief description of conventional and molecular breeding is necessary.

Conventional breedingPlant breeders define and characterize their targetenvironment. Next they identify the characteristicsthat farmers need in crop varieties to improvetheir incomes and well-being. These crop traitsmay include higher yield, improved resistance topests or diseases, or improved nutritionalcharacteristics. They may also have differingrequirements for cultivar or variety types; say, forexample, hybrids vs. open pollinated varieties(OPVs).2 They then collect sources of geneticvariation for these characteristics, conductrecurrent selection or other breeding methods to

improve the populations collected, cross them if necessary, and select the genotypesinbred linesor subsets of the populationthat possess thedesired characteristics. The selected genotypes areused to produce hybrid varieties or OPVs. Thesevarieties are tested for several years to eliminategenotypes with undesirable traits, and seed of theselected genotypes is produced and marketed tofarmers. OPVs are constructed by any of variousapproaches, including selection of a sub-set of

plants or families from a source population, or

The major goal of AMBIONET was to increase thecapacity of maize research in Asia to produceimproved maize varieties for the poor. The majorfocus of AMBIONETs capacity building wasmolecular breeding. To assess the impact of AMBIONET, this study first had to determinewhether collaborating maize breeders in thesecountries improved their capacity to developuseful cultivars over what that capacity wouldhave been without AMBIONET. Is their capacityand skill greater than it was in the past? If so, thenhas it improved the maize varieties and theireconomic value?

Assessing the impact of a project on researchcapacity is a difficult task. The research capacity of a scientist or institution depends on the intellect,skill, and training of scientists, the state of knowledge in their field, the ability to obtain thetools that are needed for their research, and theavailability of information, germplasm, etc.Indicators of research capacity include tangibleproducts such as multiple plant varieties,molecular markers, research tools, publications,research awards, and patents. Equally importantindicators are scientists assessments of their owngrowth in research capacity and their assessmentof their colleagues growth due to this program.Has it influenced their research priorities? Whatcan they do now that they could not do before they joined AMBIONET? Has AMBIONET made it

easier or less expensive for them to do their

2 Hybrids are produced by crossing carefully selected, highly-inbred lines. With proper management, they can showoutstanding performance in the first generation, but this performance drops off in subsequent filial generations. Farmersmust purchase fresh seed each season from the company that controls the inbred parents, to get the full advantages of ahybrid. Improved OPVs generally perform at a lower level, but farmers who save the seed for sowing in subsequentseasons will not notice such a steep drop-off in performance as with saved seed of hybrids. OPVs may thus be preferable forfarmers who lack the disposable income to invest regularly in hybrids or the inputs that hybrids require to yield their best.

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combining several pure-lines which have usefulcharacteristics. Experimental OPVs also must betested, multiplied and marketed. The entireprocess to produce hybrids or OPVs commonly

takes 8 to 10 years.

Breeding with molecular toolsOne of the major goals of crop biotechnology has been to make plant breeding more efficient.Molecular markers were used in AMBIONET toincrease the efficiency of breeding in two ways.First, genetic fingerprinting was used to assess thegenetic purity of inbred lines, which theoreticallyshould be completely inbred and hence true-

breeding. This helped inform breeders whether thelines they were using had become contaminated,and if so, to correct this problem. This helps maketheir program more efficient and really helps other breeders or seed companies who use their lines.Second, fingerprinting provides information aboutthe genetic distance between different groups of lines. In general, crossing lines separated by agreater genetic distance will result in morevigorous, higher-yielding hybrids. Experiencedmaize breeders know which genetic stockscombine well, and they perform carefully-plannedtrials to predict which lines will combine toachieve excellent hybrid vigor, but for newer breeding programs and inexperienced breeders,information about genetic distances among linescan be especially valuable when initiating a breeding program and making preliminary choicesamong dozens or even hundreds of potentialparent lines for hybrid formation. Finally,experienced breeders find this type of informationhelpful for deciding how to efficiently incorporatelines from CIMMYT or other countries into their breeding programs.

The second way AMBIONET attempted to increase breeding efficiency was through marker-assistedselection (Table 4), involving several steps from the

identification of markers to the production infarmers fields of new varieties with a desired trait.Examples include resistance to viruses in Chinaand to downy mildew in Indiatwo AMBIONET

molecular-assisted breeding projects that advancedthe most in developing improved varieties.

The first step in marker-assisted selection is toidentify a resistant line that can be crossed with asusceptible one to produce a population of plantsdiffering widely for resistance, from verysusceptible to highly resistant. By studying theDNA of these different lines and using publiclyavailable software, scientists seek to identify DNA

segments that are uniquely present in resistantplants. The next step is to identify molecularmarkers precisely located on the flanks of the DNAsegments associated with resistance. The markersmust then be evaluated for other maizepopulations to confirm or validate that they areassociated with the trait in a wide range of maizegenotypes. This may take some time and if noresistant maize line can be found, it will not bepossible to breed for resistance. In India, it took ayear or two of screening varieties and inbred linesto select a good, downy mildew resistant line foruse in this project. In China, inbreds resistant toSCMV had already been identified by the timeAMBIONET started.

Once markers are identified and validated, theycan be used to accelerate the process of selectingnew and resistant lines among progeny of resistant-by-susceptible breeding crosses. Markerscan also be used to screen existing breeding linesor other material for additional sources of resistance. Using molecular markers to select thelines with the desired trait can lead to thedevelopment of breeding lines that are then readyto be used in hybrid breeding programs.

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Next, new OPVs or hybrids are developed. Boththe Chinese and Indian AMBIONET teams choseto develop improved breeding lines and hybrids todemonstrate the value of molecular tools for

breeding. The final stage in most countries istesting in government variety registrationprograms to make sure the hybrids performanceis equal or superior to that of currently-usedvarieties, which takes several years. While testingis going on, companies start producing commercialseed, which they market to farmers when theyreceive government approval.

Conventional breeding for disease resistance

requires step 1identification of lines withresistance (Table 4). Conventional breeding doesnot require step 2, but often does require steps 3through 6backcrossing, developing hybrids,government testing, and marketing. For certaintraits, molecular markers may cut the time and thecost of steps 3 and 4 (Dreher et al. 2003). If the costsavings are greater than the cost of step 2, then

Table 4. Steps in marker-assisted breeding for disease resistance in maize, with examples from India and China.Years

Activity required SCMV, Northern China Downy mildew, India

1. Identification of sources of 0 - 2 CAAS team had resistant and susceptible NAI116 and four CIMMYT lines identified byresistance to the disease. lines when program started in 1998, AMBIONET-India team during 1999-2000.

identified Huangzao 4 as SCMV resistant line.

2. Identify QTLs* and molecular 2 CAAS team in 2000 shows that Huangzao 4 AMBIONET-India team identifies QTLs in collaborationmarkers associated with has 2 major QTLs for SCMV resistance. with the CIMMYT and AMBIONET teams in Indonesia,the target trait. CAAS team identifies markers closely linked the Philippines, and Thailand during 2001-2002;

to resistance genes/QTLs in 2001. validates the major QTLs on different mappingpopulations during 2002-2003.

3. Marker-assisted backcrossing 2 3 Using Huangzao 4 and a line with good Major QTLs for downy mildew resistance transferredfor transfer of disease resistance combining abili ty, researchers developed to CM139 from the donor parent NAI116 duringinto elite lines for use in CAR 107, resistant to SCMV, by MAS in 2003. 2003-2004; identified improved lines of

commercial breeding. CM139 in 2004.4. Breeders use resistant line(s) 2 3 CAAS developing model hybrids ready for Collaboration with SAUs and other ICAR institutes toto develop new hybrids or commercialization in 2006; 16 other government develop disease resistant hybrids possible hybridsimproved versions of their institutes have been given resistant lines to use in 2006-2007.best hybrids. in their breeding programs.

5. Government varietal trials and 2 -3 Trials could be complete in 2008. Multi-location All-India Coordinated Maize Trials forseed companies produce seed. approval of the disease resistant hybrids (2007-2009).

6. Seed companies market Possibly by 2008. 2010.the seed with the trait.

* QTL = quantitative trait loci; these are genome regions that contain genes associated with traits of interest.

MAS is clearly superior. If markers are alreadyavailable, then step 2 is eliminated and any costsavings in steps 3 and 4 will be cost savings for theproject.

For improving many economically important traitsof maize, there is no advantage to using moleculartools. Hoisington et al. (1998) suggest twoconditions under which MAS will be more cost-effective than conventional breeding:

1. If the heritability of the trait being selected foris high but costly field conditions are required toensure its expressionA good example is

resistance to certain viruses, which obviouslywill not express in locations where the virus doesnot occur.

2. If environmental effects are high, the trait beingselected for will tend to have low heritability,making classical selection inefficient. In suchcases marker-assisted selection could improveselection efficiency, even though the percentage

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of phenotypic variance controlled by the QTL(quantitative trait loci) would be low. A goodexample is drought tolerance, which appears to be controlled by several genes and whose

expression is frequently confounded byenvironmental variables that are difficult tocontrol.

Molecular-assisted breeding also can help breeders to stack or pyramid multiple genesfor resistance to a disease or pest, therebyreducing the likelihood that the resistance in thatvariety will soon be overcome by the evolvingpest or pathogen.

Pathways to farmersThere are a number of pathways by which thegains in research efficiency from AMBIONETmight be translated into gains for farmers. Theseare shown in Figure 1. First, in step 1 in Table 4

Figure 1 illustrates different paths by whichimproved germplasm can eventually reach farmersand plots some of these pathways in India andChina. The different levels of the AMBIONET

collaborating institutes and the different structuresof the seed industries in these countries alsoillustrate how the paths to commercialization aredifferent in different countries. The AMBIONETteams in North China (CAAS) and in Indiadeveloped commercial hybrids only todemonstrate a new concept. They primarilydevelop techniques and lines for use by plant breeders in public universities, governmentresearch institutes, and local private companies.

They move these products out to breeders throughcollaborative research, training programs, andgermplasm dissemination programs. In contrastthe Indonesia, Thai, and Vietnamese AMBIONETteams already formed part of government maize

Figure 1. Pathways for marketing germplasm. Solid lines show theflow of techniques and technologies and dashes show the flow ofinformation.

Public sector Private sector

ABC CAS, CAAS Local DuPont/CIMMYT China, biotech Pioneer

AMBIONET companies

CIMMYT IARI Indiamaize IPB China

program Local seed Pioneerfirms Hi-Bred

IARI & SAUs (subsidiareisIndia in Asia)

PAAS &universities

China

Govt seedCompanies inIndia, China

FARMERS

Biotechresearch

Germplasmenhancement

Inbred linedevelopmentand hybrid orOPV breeding

Seed productionand marketing

13

AMBIONET breeders may identifylines that can be used directly as inbredparents for producing good hybrids.The lines could go to public plant breeding institutes that develop thehybrids, whose seed is multiplied andsold to farmers. The lines could also godirectly to private companies with breeding programs, which woulddevelop the hybrids, produce the seed,and sell it to farmers. A line with usefulcharacteristics may also be crossedwith valuable commercial lines and theprogeny used as inbreds by public orprivate seed producers. AMBIONETpartners may also develop their ownhybrids and provide the inbred parentsto public or private seed companies forsale to farmers.


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breeding programs; that is, those countries did nothave different public institutes for germplasmenhancement and breeding. They put thetechniques directly to work in breeding programs;

collaboration with other institutes or large trainingprograms were not necessary.

The role of seed companies also varies greatly between countries. Most countries have threetypes of companies: government ownedcompanies, multinationals, and local seedcompanies. Government seed companies typicallytake hybrids or OPVs that have been developed bythe public sector, multiply the seed, and sell it.

Some local seed companies have small biotechprograms and conventional breeding programsthat use inbred lines developed by the publicsector. Small companies often use finished hybridsfrom the public sector. Large multinationals likeMonsanto and Pioneer may occasionally get someuseful germplasm from CIMMYT or nationalprograms, but often their own stress-tolerance breeding research is more advanced.

Methods of impact analysisOne possible impact from molecular breeding is toreduce the cost of research. Precise figures on thecosts of conventional breeding versus those for

molecular breeding are very difficult, timeconsuming, and expensive to produce. Obtainingthem was outside the scope of this small project.Other types of impact are the economic benefits

from developing varieties more rapidly than in theabsence of AMBIONET, or developing varietieswith more durable resistance to pests and disease.To measure these impacts, we have to compare thevalue of AMBIONET varieties with the value of similar varieties that would have been developedin the absence of AMBIONET.

Figure 2 shows a hypothetical example of the costsand benefits of AMBIONET. The white bars are the

costs of research, which are shown as negativevalues. In this example we assume that the costssavings in some parts of the research process areoffset by cost increases in others. The striped barsrepresent the value of increased net income thatfarmers gain by adopting pest or disease resistantvarieties developed using conventional plant breeding. The size of these bars would be theeconomic surplus from adoption of the newvarieties calculated using the methods described by Alston, Norton, and Pardey ( 1995). The benefitsrise as more farmers adopt the technology, butthen they fall after 2013 in this example, becausepests start to evolve around the genetic resistance

Figure 2. Hypothetical example of costs and benefits from molecular breeding.

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

US$100,000

R&D Cost

Farm benefits CB

Farm benefits MB

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and yields from this cultivar start to decline. Thesolid bars are the benefits that farmers gain if thesame characteristic was developed three yearsearlier using molecular approaches. They are

higher than the striped bars until 2012, when bothare equal. The solid bars could be higher later if the AMBIONET collaborators stacked a number of different sources of resistance into one cultivar,thus ensuring a longer period of resistance. The benefits from AMBIONET calculated in the presentstudy are the differences between the solid andstriped barsthe extra money farmers would earnfrom cultivars produced through AMBIONET, incomparison with what they would have earned if

they waited for the conventional varieties.

If some of the new maize cultivars developed based on AMBIONET outputs are now being used by farmers, it is possible to use the standardmethods of measuring social costs and benefits(Alston, Norton, and Pardey 1995) to calculate thevalue of these cultivars to society. To do this, dataon the yield increases or reductions in crop lossesdue to adoption of stress resistant hybrids areneeded. In addition, data on the area sown to newhybrids are needed, as well as data on the farm-level price of maize. If new cultivars are not yet inthe field but a reasonable estimate could be madeabout potential yield increases or reductions inlosses as well as the area of adaption, the future benefits from biotechnology could also becalculated.

AMBIONET could also have had several otherimportant impacts, such as pulling more publicand private money into maize research.Governments and companies respond totechnological opportunities and the new toolsmight have induced added funding for research onthe problems of resource-poor maize farmers,which tend to be neglected. Second, lessons from

AMBIONET may now be finding their way intothe training of graduate students who will be thefuture breeders in their countries. Third, scientistsplay important roles in the development and

implementation of policies and regulationssurrounding biotechnology, biosafety, andintellectual property rights. If scientists from thenetwork subsequently contributed to formulatingor applying those policies, they could bringvaluable perspectives on other countriesactivities and what might be done in collaborationwith other research institutes, including those of the CGIAR. These impacts are not readilyquantifiable but can be described.

To assess the impact of the project, we reviewedinformation in published and unpublisheddocuments about AMBIONET. For an overview of what the project provided and its impact on Asianresearch capacity, we interviewed Hoisington andGeorge. Because the network is relatively recentand because of the inherent difficulty of measuring research capacity, in-depth casestudies were conducted with participatingresearchers in China, India, and Indonesia, priorto the termination of the project. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we interviewedscientists about AMBIONET impacts on theirresearch agendas, what they received from theproject (inputs), how the project affected theirresearch methods, and whether it increased theirefficiency. The scientists were also asked if theproject was developing new technology forfarmers and when the technology would beavailable. Finally, the scientists were asked aboutthe sustainability of their researchhad theproject helped them obtain more resources fromother sources? Colleagues of participatingscientists and research administrators were alsointerviewed to obtain their assessment of theimpact of AMBIONET on the collaboratingscientists.

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Measures of research inputs and outputs weregathered from a questionnaire completed by allcountry collaborators; this was supplemented byinformation from project reports, online databases,

and interviews. Research inputs included researchexpenditures and numbers of scientists before andafter AMBIONET, inputs from AMBIONET, andinputs from other sources. Research outputsincluded publications, new molecular markers,new techniques for using those markers, newOPVs and hybrids developed using MAS, andreductions in breeding time due to MAS. The datawere analyzed for indications that AMBIONETincreased maize breeding funding, influenced

research priorities, or increased research

productivity. To identify the impact of this project,research inputs and outputs in maize breeding before and after the beginning of the project werecompared.

Initially, we had hoped also to compare the inputsand outputs of project scientists with non-AMBIONET peers in the same institutes, whichwould have required interviews with the non-network scientists. However, resources werelacking to do this systematically. We were able tospeak to some participants from the Asian RiceBiotech Network in the Philippines, India, andIndonesia, and some wheat biotech scientists in

China. In addition we interviewed private sectormaize scientists in most countries.

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Based on the interviews and survey data, it is clearthat AMBIONET has increased the maize researchcapacity of these countries. This impact is notalways possible to quantify, because in many casesthe increase is not yet visible in numbers of scientists, budgets, or new varieties. This sectioncombines the numbers that do exist and quotesand comments from the interviews to make thecase that AMBIONET has really done animpressive job making research exciting andproductive for maize scientists in Asia.

Asian maize research before AMBIONETMaize plant breeding research in Asia started before World War II in India, China, and severalother countries. Applied research and technologytransfer by government institutions and privatefirms expanded in the 1950s throughout Asia,when many countries attempted to copy thehybrid maize revolution in US agriculture.Government maize research financed both by

national governments and donors continued toexpand in the 1960s and 1970s but private researchwas very limited. CIMMYT began to play animportant role supporting Asian maize researchprograms (except China) in the 1970s. China was by far the most successful in introducing andadapting hybrid technology, in part because mostof their maize was grown in temperate regionssimilar to the U.S. In Southeast Asia US hybridscould not survive the diseases and pests

particularly downy mildew. Most national maizeprograms in Asia other than China and Burmaplaced more emphasis on open pollinatedvarieties (OPVs) than hybrids.

In the 1980s and 1990s, public sector maizeresearch continued to grow, but the growth wasslow in most Asian countries. In China, maize breeding research grew rapidly during the 1990sat the provincial and sub-provincial levels. Incountries such as Thailand, the Philippines, andIndia, private sector research grew very rapidly,as both multinationals and private seedcompanies increased their investments in Asianmaize research.

The structure of maize research in Asia whenAMBIONET started (1998) is shown in Table 5. InIndia and Thailand more scientists worked in theprivate sector than in the public sector. InIndonesia and the Philippines, the private sectorwas closing in on the public sector in numbers of scientists and probably outstripped the publicsector in annual research investments. Publicresearch dominated only in the transitionaleconomies of Vietnam and China.

4. Impact on Asian Maize Research Capacity

Table 5. Public and private-sector maize research institutesand scientists, 1997/98.

Public sector Private sectorNumber Number of Number Number of

of scientists of scientistsagencies (FTEs) agencies (FTE)*

China-South 65 270 1 naIndia 27 56 28 74Indonesia 1 13 1 11Philippines 12 50 7 34Thailand 4 35 6 40Vietnam 2 68 5 1Asia 116 505 49 166Asia(excluding China) 51 235 48 166

Source: CIMMYT Asia Maize Impact Survey 1998-99.*FTE = full-time equivalent.

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Biotechnology research on maize in Asia startedaround 1990. Chinese government scientists atCAAS have been working to develop Bt maizesince then. Central China Agricultural University

started using molecular markers in the mid-1990s.Basic research on transposans in maize wasconducted at the Central University of Hyderabad,India, since about 1990. Some Indian agriculturaluniversities, general universities, and the IARIconducted research on transgenic maize in the1990s. The Chinese and Indian governmentsinvested heavily in basic research laboratories forplant, animal, and human biotechnology; a smallamount of that went to maize research. The

governments of Thailand, the Philippines,Indonesia, and Vietnam started investingsubstantial amounts of money in plant biotechresearch but not much went specifically on maize.

In the late 1990s a number of companies started toinvestigate the potential of transgenic maize inAsia. So far this investment has started to payoff only in the Philippines, where Bt maize is startingto spread to farmers. Bt maize has been ingovernment field trials in China since 1999, inIndia for the past several years, and in a number of countries in Southeast Asia. In addition herbicidetolerant maize is in government field trials in thePhilippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Impact of AMBIONET on NARSs researchprioritiesOne clear impact of AMBIONET has been toincrease the number of scientists working on maizegermplasm enhancement and breeding. One of the

early criticisms of biotechnology was that it pulledresources away from conventional plant breeding,rather than helping plant breeding become moreeffective. There was concern that biotech researchwas too basic and would not provide technologythat farmers needed. AMBIONET seems to have

increased the resources devoted to enhancingmaize genetic variability in China and India andmaize breeding programs in all of the countries. InChina the number of plant breeding programs was

increasing in the public and the commercial sector.According to Zhang, the CAAS Institute of PlantBreeding in Beijing did not have a strong programto increase the genetic diversity of maizegermplasm before AMBIONET, and that isprecisely what AMBIONET was able tostrengthen. In Indonesia all crop programs havehad difficulty attracting young people to plant breeding, but there were many maize scientists inother disciplines. The Indonesian maize program

used AMBIONET money to finance research thatattracted bright, young scientists from plantpathology, agronomy, and other disciplines toplant breeding that used molecular tools. In thePhilippines, the breeder at the University of Southern Mindanao had been doing rice breeding before he joined the AMBIONET team.

The network also led biotech scientists to changetheir focus from basic to applied research. Forexample, Prasanna changed from academicresearch on maize landraces in Northeast India toresearch on the actual disease and droughtproblems of subsistence and commercial maizeproducers. Biotech scientists who usedAMBIONET money to pursue research in isolationfrom plant breeders in the first phase were notasked to join the second phase of AMBIONET.

Perhaps even more important has been the impactof inducing biologists to work on maize. With theexceptions of Li and Prasanna, the biologists onAMBIONET teams were previously not workingon maize. CAAS recruited Tian from the wheat biotech program, Wanchen Li at SAU in SouthernChina had worked on silkworm genetics, andSutrisno in Bogor worked on rice.

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team at CAAS used the initial money, equipment,training, and advice from AMBIONET to start thefingerprinting, mapping, and markers lab.AMBIONET money was used to hire Xinhai Li,

PhD in maize genetics and breeding fromNortheastern Agricultural University in Harbinwho had worked as a postdoctoral fellow usingmolecular markers at Central AgriculturalUniversity in Wuhan, and Quinzhen Tian, whohad worked on molecular markers in wheat atCAAS. Under Zhangs leadership, these scientistsand others converted the Institute of PlantBreedings maize program into Chinas majormaize molecular breeding and enhancement

program. This initial combination of breeding andmolecular biology capacity, the early output of thislab, and its links to international scientists atCIMMYT gave it a competitive advantage at atime when the research funding in China waschanging from institutional funding tocompetitive grants.

The China AMBIONET team obtained a series of increasingly large competitive grants from thegovernment. They received a small grant from theChinese Natural Science Foundation and theMinistry of Science and Technology (MOST) forUS $24,000 in 2000, for maize germplasmimprovement. The grant was for 4 years and 16institutes. They were then able to obtain US $1.2million to continue their germplasm improvementproject. Some of the research financed by thisgrant used molecular markers. In 2003 MOSTfinanced a much larger project to commercializecrops developed using molecular breeding. Thetotal funding was US $4.9 million, of which thisgroup received US $363,000 to work on maize. Therest is spread between different importantcommodities in China. The last grantthe firstlarge project specifically for molecular breedingand commercializationseems to reflect a change

in government policy on biotech research;previously, public investments went largely forgenetic engineering. The shift may be due to thesuccess of molecular breeding in maize, wheat,

and rice; to effective lobbying by Zhang and hiscolleagues; and to increasing consumer concernsabout genetic engineering.

In India, AMBIONET had similar impacts onPrasannas lab and research budget, among otherthings enabling him to be the only person from theGenetics Department of IARI to have a lab atIARIs Biotechnology Center. He became co-principle investigator for AMBIONET-India with

N.N. Singh, also head of IARIs maize breedingprogram and a longtime CIMMYT partner. WhenPrasanna started working with AMBIONET, hehad a lab and limited, antiquated equipment, butno reliable electricity or modern equipment.Through Singh he obtained money from theDirectorate of Maize Research to redo the electricalsystem. He used US $40,000 from the firstAMBIONET project and US $10,000 from thesecond to buy or update equipment. He alsorecruited IARI grad students to work in his lab.

The capacity of Prasannas lab to conductsophisticated research and to do training and shortcourses has enabled the group to win two newprojects approved by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in October 2004:1. A molecular breeding project involving a

network of 12 ICAR institutes and a budget of US $866,000 for 12 crops. Of this US $55,000 isfor maize research and training at Prasannasinstitute.

2. Prasannas work with AMBIONET has givenhim functional genomics skills, allowing him toobtain an ICAR-approved grant of US $400,000for maize functional genomics research and thepurchase of the new equipment needed.

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Human capitalThe scientific capacity of research institutesincreases through the addition of new scientists or by increasing the capacity of current scientists, via

training and/or learning-by-doing. Only theChinese and Philippines labs of AMBIONETreported increases in the number of scientists(Table 7). In Indonesia and Vietnam, the numberof scientists remained the same. The Indian lablost one permanent staff to retirement, while theThai program lost people to administrativepositions. What does not show up in thesenumbers of permanent staff is that in both Indiaand China the actual number of people involved

in research is augmented by graduate students.Both CAAS and IARI give postgraduate degreesin the agricultural sciences. Prasanna at IARI hadIndian, Vietnamese, and Iranian students workingwith him from the beginning of the AMBIONETprogram. Since the start of AMBIONET he hashad five MSc students and five PhD students,three of whom are still working on PhD theses.AMBIONET paid for their research expenses.

In North China the lab has gone from no graduatestudents to 18 students who are in CAAS PhDprograms or from other agricultural universitiesaround China. When AMBIONET-China countrycoordinator Shihuang Zhang visited Prasannaslab he said: I saw all these young people in hislab and I thought I should take this back to China.Our universities have many graduate students but they do not have enough money to supportresearch. On the other hand, under recent

reforms, my institute is cutting back on paid staff.So we opened our doors and have the studentswork with us, and in turn we help them preparetheir theses. Perhaps this approach is already

popular elsewhere, but for China this is very newand very useful.

Even more important than the number of scientistshas been the growth of maize scientistsknowledge and research skills. The scientists inthese programs have higher degrees in more basicareas of science. This is particularly clear in theChinese case. At the time AMBIONET started, anumber of senior scientists were retiring. These

scientists had made major contributions to Chineseagricultural development, including theintroduction and development of single-crossmaize hybrids that boosted yields in the 1980s and1990s. They were knowledgeable and skilled breeders, but few had PhDs or training inmolecular biology. In contrast, four of the youngscientists who have joined the maize section of theInstitute of Plant Breeding with AMBIONETsupport have PhDs in genetics or plant breedingand at least two have post-doctoral researchexperience in molecular markers and mapping.

In Indonesia, both the degree training and researchexperience of scientists have been important. Fouryoung scientists from the maize research system inMaros, Suluwesi, have obtained MSc degrees inplant breeding from Padjadjaran University andone from the University of the Philippines, Los

Table 7. Scientists and technicians in the AMBIONET teams before and after joining AMBIONET.China-North China-South India Indonesia Philippines Vietnam Thailand

Number of scientists before joining AMBIONET 2 6 2 8 1 30 5Number of scientists after joining AMBIONET 5 8 1 8 4 30 3Number of technicians before joining AMBIONET 1 6 3 No info 0 10 3Number of technicians after joining AMBIONET 5 7 2 No info 3 10 1

Increase in number of scientists 3 2 -1 0 3 0 -2Increase in number of technicians 4 1 -1 No info 3 0 -2

Source: Survey by author.

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Banos (UPLB). The research of the twoPadjadjaran students used molecular markers andwas financed by AMBIONET. They continuedtheir work at the biotechnology laboratories in

Bogor, while the Indonesian maize program andAMBIONET equipped the labs in Maros. Inaddition, a faculty member from PadjadjaranUniversity, Bandung, West Java, obtained a PhD atUPLB working on an AMBIONET-financedproject in molecular breeding.

The contributions of AMBIONET to the skills of participating scientists through short courses andactual work in advanced labs probably equals or

exceeds degree training in importance (Table 8).At the beginning of AMBIONET, Prasanna andDesiree Hautea (Philippine team leader inAMBIONET Phase I) were the only partnerscientists with training in the use of molecularmarkers, knowledge acquired during a course atCIMMYT in the early 1990s. The country teamsassembled the few scientists who had experience,if they could. In China some young scientists withpost-doctoral experience were available. In othercases, scientists trained by Rockefeller or ARBN inthe use of markers for rice helped the program getstarted. Frequently, the institutes hired people andsent them for training. Indonesian scientists who

had worked in ARBN got the project started, whileother scientists went for training in the Philippines.The first researchers sent for training did not staywith AMBIONET, so others trained with Prasanna

(see below). In short, almost all scientists whoactually did the work, except a few in China andIndia, had to be trained in AMBIONET mappingand marker training programs.

In addition to formal training, longer trainingprograms, where scientists from one programworked in another AMBIONET lab, wereimportant. The Indonesian team sent two of theiryoung scientists to Prasannas laboratory in New

Delhi, India. Indonesian scientist Firdaus Kasimreported this to be extremely useful, particularlyfor his colleagues Marcia Pabendon and M. Azrai,who went for one month to a genomics workshopfor Indian scientists. Prasanna showed ourscientists how to do downy mildew and geneticdiversity research. He was a very good teacherstrong in genetics and statistics. After they came back they made a lot of progress. Prasannaprovided the second set of lines that Pabendonfingerprinted in diversity studies and also 400primers (markers) for downy mildew resistance.The groups remain in close contact through email.

Table 8. Participants in training programs by country.China China

Course, location, year North South India Indonesia Philippines Vietnam Thailand

Molecular Marker Applications to Plant Breeding, Mexico, (1998) 4 3 2 4 4DNA fingerprinting, Thailand (1999) 2 2 2 2 2Utilization of DNA-based Markers for Crop Improvement and

Candidate Genes, Thailand (2000) 10The Master Class in Molecular Plant Breeding, Australia (2000) 1 1QTL Mapping Workshop, Philippines (2001) 3 3 2 5 6 4Genetic Diversity, Thailand (2002) 3 4 4 5Proposal development workshop, Thailand (2003) 3 1 1 3 3 2 4In country training on SSR Protocols 2In country training on Data encoding & analysis 5Molecular marker technologies, Vietnam 10Laboratory exchange visits 3 2 1 3 5 1 1

Total 15 5 13 20 30 13 31

Source: Survey.

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Strength through the networkAll participants interviewed commented on thevalue of collaborative research with other nationalprograms and CIMMYT. Being forced to present

results to peers from other countries energized theyoung scientists in China and India and the seniorscientists in Indonesia. They received constructivecriticism, learned about how others overcameproblems, and arranged follow-up visits to theirprograms by researchers from CIMMYT or othercountries.

Hautea emphasized the cumulative impact of research that allowed young scientists to shuttle

between NARS and CIMMYT labs and to developcontacts with other scientists. The first step formost in AMBIONET Phase I was a trainingprogram involving actual research in an advancedlab. This gave participants the confidence that theycould apply the techniques, as well as contacts forcontinuing consultation when they neededassistance. Collegial links and exchange of information and feedback were re-enforced at theannual meetings. Research steps that could not becarried out successfully in national program labscould be done at CIMMYT or in the AMBIONETservice lab at IRRI.

At Bogor, Indonesia government scientists listedseveral other advantages of networks. Techniciansor scientists from CIMMYT could come to Bogor tohelp solve problems. Consumable suppliesparticularly imported chemicalscould beordered through the AMBIONET Support Lab atIRRI for much lower prices and with much lesshassle. Machine repairs could often be done atIRRI more quickly than by sending the apparatusto a factory in the US or Europe.

When the Chinese team encountered a technicalproblem, they contacted CIMMYT for assistance by phone, email, or, on occasion, through direct

visits. Zhang cited an example of the latter, in anincident pertaining to virus resistance. The Chineseresearchers thought they had identified sugarcanemosaic virus (SCMV), but the sample tested

differently from SCMV elsewhere; some localscientists said it was actually maize dwarf mosaicvirus (MDMV). CIMMYT maize pathologist Dan Jeffers traveled to China with AMBIONET supportand confirmed that the disease was SCMV. Uponhis return to CIMMYT, he developed a newmethod for inoculating plants with SCMV to testlines and populations for susceptibility. Themethod is still used in China and represented animportant breakthrough in research to develop

virus resistant maize.

Impact on research capacity outsideAMBIONET partner institutionsAMBIONET partners are starting to contribute tothe research capacity of other institutions in theircountries, through training and collaborativeresearch. Thesis research funded and numbers of students and scientists who received short-termtraining from AMBIONET teams are shown inTable 9. The Chinese and Indian institutions, whichhave major graduate training programs in theirinstitutes, support PhD and MSc thesis research.The graduates are taking jobs in other universitiesand government research institutes using themolecular marker techniques learned fromAMBIONET partners. The programs also teachthese techniques to graduate students. SichuanAgricultural University reports that about 350students have been introduced to the techniques.The AMBIONET teams are also spreading the

techniques to other breeders, both for maize andother crops, through short-term training programs.The Indian team seems to have done the mostshort-term training. The Chinese institutesprovided training to private sector scientists. TheThai and Indonesian programs have supported afew theses or training courses (they do not belongto institutions with teaching responsibilities).

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The CAAS team has provided training in markeruse to public and private scientists through a seriesof short-term programs. Two scientists fromprivate firms (Denghai Seed Co. and Tunyu Seed

Co.) and one scientist from another public institutehave worked in their labs for several weeks, inpreparation for setting up their own labs. TheCAAS team has provided the companies andinstitutes with a list of equipment and chemicalsneeded and have helped them buy equipment andsupplies. Denghai Seed Co now has an operatinggenetic fingerprinting lab which the author visited.PhD and MSc students from all over China areconducting their thesis research in the lab of the

CAAS team (four students were from XinjiangAgricultural University, three from ShenyangAgricultural University, and three from theNortheast Agricultural University in Harbin),many with AMBIONET funding.

The Indian government is now establishingnetworks modeled loosely on the AMBIONET,ARBN, and the Rockefeller Foundation RiceBiotechnology Network to reinforce their formal

training programs. Prasanna is involved in a maizegenomics project that will provide training, backstopping, and a central lab facility for anetwork of government research institutionsworking on maize functional genomics.

Private firms in the AMBIONET countries are beginning to use molecular breeding technologies.Most interested are local companies whose maize breeding programs are too small to justify the

investment in molecular markers. This includescompanies with annual sales as high as US $20-40million, such as MAHYCO in India, the DenghaiSeed Company and Tunyu in China, andDominguez in the Philippines. The multinationalshave their own MAS programs more advancedthan the AMBIONET work.

The Denghai Seed Company was investing in thistechnology to strengthen their control over the

inbred parents of their maize hybrids. They werefingerprinting all inbred lines for which they wereobtaining plant variety certificates, to helpestablish their ownership in the courts. Theycurrently have more certificates on maize than anyother company, and they also have taken morelegal action than other companies to enforce theircertificates. Their leader Li Denghai reported in June 2004 at his headquarters near Qingdao thatstronger property rights through plant breeders

rights had allowed him to increase revenues frommaize sales dramatically and augment investmentsin maize breeding from US $2.5 million in 2000 toabout US $12 million in 2004.

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Table 9. Thesis research and short-term training supported by AMBIONET teams.China-North China-South India Indonesia Phi lippines Vietnam Thailand

Thesis researchMSc 8 9 5 2 0 3 0PhD 2 3 5 0 0 1 0Short-term training coursesNumber of students 10 350 100 4 100 150 0Number of public sector scientists working on maize 15 20 20 0 3 10 0Number of public sector scientists working on other crops 0 20 30 0 10 15 0Number of private sector scientists 12 3 0 0 0 0 0

Source: Survey by author


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Maize is not a major crop for MAHYCO, but itdoes have a small breeding program to develophybrids for farmers with marginal waterresources. Brent Zehr, head of MAHYCOs

research program, said in a 29 July 2004 email:

The one area where we have used DNAmarkers has been in fingerprinting ourparental lines, so that we can betterunderstand underlying genetic diversity anddevelop heterotic group clusters in order tomake more informed crossing decisions. Thisis well established in hybrid maize programsglobally; and DNA markers in this crop are

published such that it is relatively easy toperform the tests in-house.

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In response to the follow-up question: Have youseen the work that Prasanna of IARI has done inthis area and if so, was it helpful to your program?Zehr replied: Yes, we had seen the work a few

years back, and had decided to utilize some of thesame markers, as his work included Indian basedgermplasm. So I would say that it helped give ussome direction for initiation of the work. Beyondthat, we have developed further marker profilesand taken directions that are useful for our goalsin breeding of hybrid maize.


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Table 10. Pathways from AMBIONET research to improved cultivars.Contribution of AMBIONET to Research institutes using AMBIONET lines Year of approval orbreeding material and names of new hybrids/OPVs Intended impact/benefits expected approval

1. Information about combining South China: hybrids SAU 23 and SAU 27. 2002 (SAU 23).ability leads to new hybrids. Higher yield.Higher yield. 2004 (SAU 27).2. Lines identified in studies to Thai Department of Agriculture: hybrids NS 72 DM resistance. 2001 (NS 72).develop QTLs. and NSX 982013. DM resistance + higher yield. 2003 (NSX 982013).

India: University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore; DM resistance. Expected 2006.Composite NAC3002. Hybrids under development.

3. Resistant lines identified and Breeders at public research institutes and universities. DM resistance.

incorporated into lines with goodcombining ability using markers.

China: CAAS, 16 institutes are using lines. SCMV resistance.AMBIONET team develops resistant lines that can DM resistance.be used in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. 2011?

4. Hybrids and OPVs developed IARI producing hybrid to demonstrate DM resistance. 2010.using MAS. molecular breeding.

CAAS producing hybrid to demonstrate SCMV resistance. 2008.molecular breeding.Indonesia maize research program and Stacked DM resistance and QPM. Unknown.Padjadjaran university.

For maize in Asia, the ultimate goal of CIMMYTand the national AMBIONET programs is todevelop new cultivars that improve the well-beingof the poor. Thus, AMBIONET research willhopefully result in new varieties for farmers andconsumers that improve their diets, health, andincomes. Developing a new maize variety typicallytakes at least 8 to 10 years, after which in mostAsian countries it goes through several years of government testing. Following this, new cultivarstake a while to spread to farmers and increase theirincomes and the availability of food. Even if thisprocess is accelerated a bit through molecular breeding, it is still early to expect a project thatstarted late in 1998 to have produced new cultivarsor impact on farmers. The project has, however,produced knowledge, research tools, and lines of maize that will contribute to the development andspread of new cultivars and the improved well- being of farmers.

Progress toward improved cultivarsInterviews and questionnaires have revealed that,despite the short life of the project, each step of molecular breeding has produced new lines orhybrids, and that there is substantial progresstoward developing disease resistant and QPMcultivars using MAS. Most partners haveestablished a program that can be the basis fordeveloping higher-yielding hybrids and droughttolerant cultivars in the f

Documents

The Asian maize biotechnology network (AMBIONET): A Model for strengthening national agricultural research systems