A blog maintained by Tevita Kete, PGR Officer Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands
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This weblog documents the activities of Pacific Agricultural Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN), along with other information on plant genetic resources (PGR) in the Pacific. The myriad varieties found within cultivated plants are fundamental to the present and future productivity of agriculture. PAPGREN, which is coordinated by the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), helps Pacific countries and territories to conserve their crop genetic diversity sustainably, with technical assistance from the Bioversity International (BI) and support from NZAID and ACIAR. SPC also hosts the Centre of Pacific Crops and Trees (CEPaCT). The CEPaCT maintains regional in vitro collections of crops important to the Pacific and carries out research on tissue culture technology. The CEPaCT Adviser is Dr Mary Taylor (MaryT@spc.int), the CEPaCT Curator is Ms Valerie Tuia (ValerieT@spc.int).
PAPGREN coordination and support
PAPGREN partners Mr William Wigmore Mr Adelino S. Lorens Dr Lois Englberger Mr Apisai Ucuboi Dr Maurice Wong Mr Tianeti Beenna Ioane Mr Frederick Muller Mr Herman Francisco Ms Rosa Kambuou Ms Laisene Samuelu Mr Jimi Saelea Mr Tony Jansen Mr Finao Pole Mr Frazer Bule Lehi Other CROP agencies Pacific biodiversity Other Pacific organizations Pacific news Interested in GIS?
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Monday, January 03, 2005 Posted 3:03 PM by Luigi
Update on Research at the SPC Regional Germplasm Centre Kava tissue culture A protocol for establishing kava in tissue culture has been developed at the Regional Germplasm Centre (RGC), which gives an average of 70 to 80% survival using shoot-tip meristems. The protocol has been successfully evaluated with 17 named Fijian cultivars. This project was initiated to address the problem of kava dieback, which has caused 40 to 100% crop loss in certain areas of Fiji. There is evidence that CMV virus is the main cause of the disease, and therefore meristem culture could assist in the elimination of the virus from the plant tissue. Virus indexing is currently in progress to test the efficacy of meristem culture in eliminating CMV. The use of clean planting material and appropriate cultural practices will help reduce the spread of the dieback disease. An added benefit of the tissue culture system is that multiplication rate of kava in vitro is much higher than what is obtained conventionally. Tissue culture can therefore solve the crisis of limited planting materials that the farmers often face. Taro cryopreservation A cryopreservation method for taro is under evaluation at the RGC. This is a continuation of the work carried out by Rajnesh Sant for his Masters. The vitrification protocol presented in the Masters thesis was revised after a visit from Dr Bart Panis from INIBAP and results are very promising. Recovery rates of 100% have been achieved for several cultivars from the TaroGen collection. The response of other cultivars is currently being investigated but it is expected that this protocol could be used to cryopreserve the Pacific taro collection. |
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Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives.
PestNet: For on-line
information, advice and pest identification for the Pacific and beyond.
Contact: Grahame Jackson.
Pacific Mapper: For on-line
mapping of point data over satellite images of the Pacific provided by Google Maps.
DIVA-GIS: For free, easy-to-use
software for the spatial analysis of biodiversity data.
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