Lathyrus Genetic Resources Network
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Introduction
Structure
Activities
Publications
Partners
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Lathyrus is a grain-cum-fodder legume crop suited to marginal areas and is important in parts of South Asia and the Central and West Asia and the North Africa (CWANA) region. A greater emphasis is needed in the conservation and utilization of this crop. In order to collaborate at the regional level, the Lathyrus Genetic Resources Network (LGRN) was initiated in 1993. The countries/organizations, namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Ethiopia, China, Canada and the European Union are members of the Network. Representatives from IPGRI-APO, IPGRI-CWANA, ICARDA (Syria), CLIMA(Australia) also participate in the network activities. The membership is open to countries with interest in Lathyrus genetic resources conservation and use. The Network includes people from different disciplines. The IPGRI South Asia Office in New Delhi is currently the interim Secretariat of LGRN which has the following major objectives:
The Network operates through the Country Coordinators, Working Groups and a Steering Committee. Thematic Working Groups consisting of experts from different disciplines provide focus to LGRN. There are five Working Groups, viz., WG1 – Genetic Diversity; WG2 – Germplasm Enhancement and Use; WG3 – Nutritional Quality; WG4 – Information Management and Training and WG5 – Socio-economics. The Country Coordinators, in consultation with the concerned authorities and Lathyrus researchers in their respective countries, will identify the members for different Working Groups. The Steering Committee consists of all Country Coordinators and the representatives from other organizations in the same region, the Network Coordinator and additionally the co-opted specialists. The major activities have been carried out through close interaction between National Programmes in the participating countries with International Organizations such as ICARDA, CLIMA, IDRC and IPGRI. A Regional Workshop on Lathyrus Genetic Resources in Asia was organized by IPGRI in collaboration with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidhyala (IGKVV) in Raipur, India from 27-30 December 1995. It was attended by 23 scientists from different countries engaged in Lathyrus plant genetic resources activities. The discussions revolved around the status of genetic resources collecting, characterization, evaluation, utilization, documentation and conservation in the regions of South Asia, and CWANA. The participating countries included Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Nepal and Turkey. International participants were from CLIMA, ICARDA and IPGRI. Emphasis was on utilization of Lathyrus as forage in the CWANA region and as a pulse or dual purpose crop in South Asia. The role of biotechnology in generating useful variability was also highlighted. As a follow-up of the recommendations of the Raipur workshop, a Working Group meeting was organized by IPGRI at NBPGR in New Delhi on 8-10 December 1997. The progress of Lathyrus genetic resources activities since the Raipur workshop was presented. At this meeting, it was possible to re-ascertain the interest of the national programmes and international organizations in this neglected crop, as well as the interest of the countries/partners to work within a network for Lathyrus. Draft descriptors for Lathyrus have been developed and will be published during 1999. Work on a Lathyrus Germplasm Directory, Workers Directory and development of global database is in progress. Evaluation of Lathyrus germplasm for ODAP(B-N-Oxalyl-L- alpha (sign), B-diaminopropionic acid) content is being undertaken at IGKVV, Raipur, India, with IPGRI support, in which 2243 accessions were grown to identify accessions with low or no Beta-ODAP content. The results of the study are currently being analyzed, but as an immediate follow up, discussions started on similar studies in Bangladesh.To promote exchange of information on Lathyrus, IPGRI is assisting in the editing of the Lathyrus Lathyrism Newsletter, which is published jointly by the Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) and the Third World Medical Research Foundation (TWMRF). This NL can accessed at http://www.clima.uwa.edu.au/lathyrus/
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Introduction
Dr M.A. Malek