http://www.isaaa.org/kc/A weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA).en-usFri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3604The report “Field to Market: The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture” has just been released by Keystone Alliance, a diverse group facilitated by the non-profit organization, Keystone Center, specializing in collaborative decision-making processes for environment, energy, and health policy issues. The initial findings of the Environmental...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Globalhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3595Good news for farmers in West and Central Africa (WCA). Researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Nigeria’s Institute for Agricultural Research (IRA) announced that they have successfully developed maize varieties resistant to the deadly weed Striga. Also known as witchweed, the parasitic plant infests some 50 ...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Africahttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3598U.S.-based Arcadia Biosciences Inc announced that it has entered an agreement with Advanta India Ltd to develop nitrogen-use efficient (NUE) sorghum. Under the deal, Advanta will have exclusive global rights to use Arcadia's NUE technology in sorghum, in return for an upfront payment, milestone fees and a share in sales. Financial details were not...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3599Kansas State University (KSU) has received a US$ 1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to keep the wheat crops in the state blast fungus-free. The wheat blast fungus is a close relative of a devastating fungus that has long affected rice crops and another fungus that affects turf grass across the country. In the mid-1980s...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3601The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking public comment on a petition by Syngenta Seeds Inc. to deregulate a corn genetically modified to produce the microbial enzyme alpha-amylase. This enzyme helps breakdown large corn starch molecules, facilitating ethanol production. If APHIS grants the ...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3612The Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Agriculture (DA) has submitted the results of an audit of the DA controls over the importation of transgenic plants and animals to the Secretary for International and Homeland Security Affairs and Biotechnology Office. Controls were found to be appropriate for current risk associate...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3594Scientists and biofuel manufacturers alike have been optimistic about the potential of food crops to produce energy, but a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Minnesota suggests that the global yield of most biofuel crops have often been exaggerated. Matt Johnston and colleagues found that yields of mos...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3605Bt brinjal is likely to be the first biotech food crop to be approved and adopted in India in the near term. Bt brinjal has been under development by Mahyco in collaboration with public sector institutions in India for the last 8 years. It has undergone a rigorous science-based regulatory approval process in India and is currently at an advanced s...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3609 "Achieving Self-sufficiency in Agricultural Production and Nutrition", a seminar organized by the Indian Merchants' Chamber on December 20, 2008 in Mumbai brought together some of India's top notch agricultural scientists and agribusinesses to discuss various aspects of the agricultural sector including input supplies, role of technology, governme...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3610According to a report by Farm Weekly, Queensland's Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) and the Cotton CRC are investigating reports of cotton bollworm survivors in Bollgard II plants in the Emerald Irrigation Area. Some 85 bollworm larvae were collected from the Bollgard II cotton at Emerald, 31 Helicoverpa punctigera and 54 ...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3591The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), along with a global consortium of researchers, has undertaken the mammoth task of re-engineering the photosynthetic pathway in rice. The research could lead to the development of rice varieties that can produce 50 percent more grain using less fertilizer and less water. For this project, the Institu...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3592A new government agency has been created in a bid to strengthen research on food and the environment in the United Kingdom. The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) will work in plant and crop protection, food chain safety, crises response and environmental risk assessment. The new organization brings together the country’s Department of Env...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Europehttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3593Researchers at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology and Ghent University are one step closer to developing novel crop plants resistant to nematode pests. They have shown that nematodes are able to manipulate the transport of the phytohormone auxin in order to force the plant to produce food for them. Auxin coordinates numerous growth and behavi...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Europehttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3602The European Parliament voted to ban some 22 pesticides deemed as dangerous to the human health and the environment. The EU lawmakers passed two laws that will force farmers and chemical producers to replace the “cancer-causing” products over the next decade. The move has garnered the support of numerous organizations. Hiltrud Breyer, the German ME...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Europehttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3596Plant leaves can be simple, a single leaf blade, or compound when divided to distinct leaflets. In addition, margins of both simple and compound leaves can have serrations or lobes. Scientists from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and Oxford University have pinpointed the family of genes responsible for leaflet formation in d...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3597Genetically modified, insect resistant maize was first cultivated in Spain in 1998. GM maize growing areas reached 64,200 ha in 2006, with 85 percent of the transgenic maize crop originating in the northeastern region of the country. Spain is the largest GM maize producer in the European Union. Bt-maize has proved to be an excellent means to contro...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3611By growing shinier crops or plant varieties with waxy coatings on their leaves, much of Europe and North America could be cooled by up to 1°C during the summer growing season, a study conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol in UK suggests. This could translate to an annual global cooling of over 0.1°C, almost 20 percent of the total...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3619The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Worldwide Academy is giving a distance learning advanced course on biotechnology and intellectual property (IP) from 26 March to 4 June 2009. The course covers topics such as the nature of plant breeder's rights systems and IP as a factor in research in development. A student should have a general...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3603With the theme, Horticulture for Livelihood Security and Economic Growth, the 2009 International Conference on Horticulture, will be conducted on 9-12 November in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The conference is organized by Prem Nath Agricultural Science Foundation (PNASF) and Vegetable Science International Network (VEGINET), in collaboration with ...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3600An International Conference on Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance is scheduled to be held at Vienna, Austria on February 8-11, 2009. Topics to be covered during the conference include: plant response to cold, heat, drought and nutrient stresses, signal transduction and functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance in plants and current developments a...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3622The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has published "Coping with water scarcity: What role for biotechnologies?" by J.Ruane, A. Sonnino, P. Steduto and C. Deane. The publication is based on the background paper and summary report from a moderated e-mail conference that FAO organized as one of its initiatives to mark World Water Day 2007. The ...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Document Remindershttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/online/default.asp?Date=1/16/2009#3606The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its latest Brief 38 on the development and regulation of biotech brinjal in India. Brief 38 is a comprehensive review of all aspects of the cultivation in India of the important vegetable brinjal, also known as eggplant or aubergine. This ISAAA Brief 38 is a...Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0800Document Reminders