PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 6:50 PM by Luigi

Conservation of traditional crops at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii

I recently visited three sites and four gardens belonging to the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTNG) in Hawaii at the invitation of Dr Diane Ragone of the Breadfruit Institute and I'd like to share with you some of the intersting things I saw:

The Headquarters of both NTBG and the Breadfruit Institute (BFI, a division of NTBG, with its own trustees) is at the McBryde Garden on the south coast of Kauai (adjacent to the Allerton Garden, which also belongs to NTBG). Some 35 breadfruit trees (mainly duplicates from the main collection at Kahanu Garden, see below) are maintained at McBryde, and there is also an interesting Pandanus collection at Allerton.
Limahuli Garden is on the north coast of Kauai. Ancient taro terraces found within the garden have been restored and the director, Kawika Winter (kwinter@ntbg.org), is growing traditional Hawaiian taro and sweet potato varieties there. The idea is to manage the whole watershed in which the garden is located along the lines of an “ahupua’a” (“an ancient Hawaiian land division system which contained strips of land that extended from the mountain to the sea and supported a self-contained community working with a spirit of cooperation of caring and revering the land to meet the needs of all”).
Kahanu Garden is on the north coast of Maui, near Hana. It houses BFI’s collection of about 200 accessions (mainly of A. altilis but also of A. camansi, A. mariannensis and A. altilis x mariannensis) and a small field station of BFI. There are 1-3 trees of each accession, mainly in one block but with some trees elsewhere in the garden. All are well labelled. Morphological descriptions have been completed (by BFI technician Julie White julieulu@gmail.com, who is based at Kahanu) and some molecular characterization done. There are fruiting phenology data going back several years. A “core collection” of varieties which as a set produce fruits the whole year round has been identified. The garden also houses a kava collection and the Wishard Coconut Collection. A “canoe garden” has been established in front of the famous Hale Pi’ilani Heiau (temple mound) containing traditional varieties of taro, sweet potato, sugar cane and other crops (see photos below). The director of Kahanu Garden is Kamaui Aiona, an ethnobotanist (kaiona@ntbg.org) trained at UH.

Luigi Guarino, PGR Adviser, SPC



	A blog maintained by Tevita Kete, PGR Officer Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands
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). 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Box 77 Nausori Fiji Islands Tel: (679) 3477044 Fax: (679) 3477546-400262 Email: apisainu@yahoo.com Dr Maurice Wong Service du Developpement Rural B.P. 100 Papeete Tahiti 98713 French Polynesia Tel: (689) 42 81 44 Fax: (689) 42 08 31 Email: maurice.wong@rural.gov.pf Mr Tianeti Beenna Ioane Head, Research Section Division of Agriculture Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development P.O. Box 267 Tarawa Kiribati Tel: (686) 28096-28108-28080 Fax: (686) 28121 Email : agriculture@tskl.net.ki; Beenna_ti@yahoo.com Mr Frederick Muller Secretary Ministry of Resources & Development P.O. Box 1727 Majuro 96960 Marshall Islands Tel: (692) 6253206 Fax: (692) 6257471 Email: rndsec@ntamar.net Mr Herman Francisco Director Bureau of Agriculture Ministry of Resources & Development P.O. Box 460 Koror 96940 Palau Tel: (680) 4881517 Fax: (680) 4881725 Email: bnrd@pnccwg.palaunet.com Ms Rosa Kambuou Principal Scientist PGR NARI Dry Lowlands Programme Laloki Agricultural Research Station P.O. Box 1828 Boroko National Capital District Papua New Guinea Tel: (675) 3235511 Fax: (675) 3234733 Email: kambuou@global.net.pg Ms Laisene Samuelu Principal Crop Development Officer Crops Division Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries & Meteorology P.O. Box 1874 Apia Samoa Tel: (685) 23416-20605 Fax: (685) 20607-23996 Email: lsamuelu@lesamoa.net Mr Jimi Saelea Director of Research Department of Agriculture and Livestock P.O. Box G13 Honiara Guadalcanal Solomon Islands Tel: (677) 27987 Mr Tony Jansen Planting Materials Network Kastom Gaden Association Burns Creek, Honiara P.O. Box 742 Honiara Solomon Islands Tel: (677) 39551 Email: kastomgaden@solomon.com.sb Mr Finao Pole Head of Research Ministry of Agriculture & Forests P.O. 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DIVA-GIS	Tuesday, August 22, 2006 Posted 6:50 PM by Luigi Conservation of traditional crops at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii I recently visited three sites and four gardens belonging to the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTNG) in Hawaii at the invitation of Dr Diane Ragone of the Breadfruit Institute and I'd like to share with you some of the intersting things I saw: The Headquarters of both NTBG and the Breadfruit Institute (BFI, a division of NTBG, with its own trustees) is at the McBryde Garden on the south coast of Kauai (adjacent to the Allerton Garden, which also belongs to NTBG). Some 35 breadfruit trees (mainly duplicates from the main collection at Kahanu Garden, see below) are maintained at McBryde, and there is also an interesting Pandanus collection at Allerton. Limahuli Garden is on the north coast of Kauai. Ancient taro terraces found within the garden have been restored and the director, Kawika Winter (kwinter@ntbg.org), is growing traditional Hawaiian taro and sweet potato varieties there. The idea is to manage the whole watershed in which the garden is located along the lines of an “ahupua’a” (“an ancient Hawaiian land division system which contained strips of land that extended from the mountain to the sea and supported a self-contained community working with a spirit of cooperation of caring and revering the land to meet the needs of all”). Kahanu Garden is on the north coast of Maui, near Hana. It houses BFI’s collection of about 200 accessions (mainly of A. altilis but also of A. camansi, A. mariannensis and A. altilis x mariannensis) and a small field station of BFI. There are 1-3 trees of each accession, mainly in one block but with some trees elsewhere in the garden. All are well labelled. Morphological descriptions have been completed (by BFI technician Julie White julieulu@gmail.com, who is based at Kahanu) and some molecular characterization done. There are fruiting phenology data going back several years. A “core collection” of varieties which as a set produce fruits the whole year round has been identified. The garden also houses a kava collection and the Wishard Coconut Collection. A “canoe garden” has been established in front of the famous Hale Pi’ilani Heiau (temple mound) containing traditional varieties of taro, sweet potato, sugar cane and other crops (see photos below). The director of Kahanu Garden is Kamaui Aiona, an ethnobotanist (kaiona@ntbg.org) trained at UH. Luigi Guarino, PGR Adviser, SPC * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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