Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Rebecca Nelson spent the first half of 2009 (February-June; a return trip in July-August) on sabbatical leave in Kenya. She was based at the BioSciences East and Central Africa Hub at the International Livestock Research Institute. She worked with collaborators there to establish aflatoxin testing capacity for regional surveillance and breeding efforts and pursued research under a grant from the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future. In Africa and Ithaca, she continued to support the McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) as Scientific Director, and to focus on the East & Horn of Africa as CCRP's regional liaison scientist. Kelly Bulkeley continued to develop the CCRP Web site (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/). A database system was been created via Microsoft Access that tracks our field nursery, raw phenotyping and genotyping data, seed stocks, as well as pathogen stocks. The Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population was scored for Northern Leaf Blight (NLB) at the Muskgrave Research Farm in Aurora NY in 2009 by Jesse Poland. NAM was planted in Blacksburg VA in 2009 and infected with Gray Leaf Spot (GLS) via heavy natural inoculation, scored for GLS, by Jacqueline Benson. Leaves were collected from NAM and scanned with a color-coded legend as a reference control for lesion pigment color. Analysis from two years of NLB and one year of GLS data from NAM was conducted using General Linear Model in SAS (GLM Select). Several finemapping experiments for resistance to NLB were conducted in 2009, including: qNLB1.02(Tx303): 3,456 plants of the a Tx303/B73 BC5F3 population were planted in Aurora in 2009, genotyped to determine recombinants at bin 1.02, and selfed for generation advancement by Tiffany Jamann. qNLB1.06(Tx303): 4,080 Tx303/B73 BC4F4 lines were planted in Aurora in 2009 and genotyped with markers at bin 1.06 by Jesse Poland. qNLB6.05(CML52): Three CML52/B73 F7, 20 F8, and 13 F9 selected NILs segregating for bin 1.06 or 6.05 were evaluated for resistance to NLB and Stewart's wilt at Aurora in 2009 by Chia-Lin Chung. qNLB8.06(DK888): A total of 85 F11 NILs for qNLB8.06(DK888) were derived from selected lines capturing different breakpoints within the ~4Mb introgression region. F11 NILs were evaluated for NLB IP and lesion type at Aurora in 2009. F1 and F2 populations were developed in the greenhouse by crossing the Ht2 and Htn1 differential lines with the F9 NILs carrying DK888 or S11 alleles. B68Htn1(8.06): F2 lines from a B68/B68Htn cross were genotyped by Judith Kolkman to determine the target 8.06 interval. 1,859 F3 lines were scored in Aurora in 2009 for IP, DTA, and DLA. Phenotyping for kernel and silk resistance to Aspergillus flavus in maize in a CML52/B73 RIL mapping population and a series of inbred lines was conducted in Aurora and Mississippi by Santiago Mideros. Samuel Mutiga spent May-August in Kenya, surveying maize seed at 9 maize mills in each of the three major maize growing agro-ecological zones for aflatoxin, a mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus flavus. Samples from approximately 900 households were involved in this study. PARTICIPANTS: R.J. Nelson, P.I., Scientific Director, McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program, Associate Professor in Departments of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, and Plant Breeding and Genetics Judith Kolkman, Research Support Specialist, finemapping of Htn @ bin 8.06 in maize genome Kelly Bulkeley, administrative assistant for the McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program Chia-Lin Chung, graduate student, finemapping of q8.06 and q6.05 in maize Jesse Poland, graduate student, NLB resistance in NAM population, finemapping of q1.06 in maize Jacqueline Benson, graduate student, GLS resistance in maize NAM population Tiffany Jamann, graduate student, finemapping of q1.02 in maize Santiago Mideros, graduate student, resistance to Aspergillus flavus in maize Samuel Mutiga, graduate student, aflatoxin accumulation in Kenyan maize-based food systems Ariel Falko, undergraduate student employee, summer 2009 Sara Heins, undergraduate student employee, summer 2009 Oliver Ott, undergraduate student employee, winter nursery, Dec/Jan 08/09 TARGET AUDIENCES: Jesse Poland gave a talk on Barcoding and database management, May 20-30th, 2009 to Maize Breeders and Collaborators in Kenya through the McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program: East and Horn of Africa Community of Practice. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
R.J. Nelson gave a talk at Colorado State University, entitled Quantitative disease resistance in the cereals on October 18th, 2008 in the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management. As part of our outreach efforts, graduate student J. Poland gave a consulting workshop (McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program: East and Horn of Africa Community of Practice) in Africa as a way to expand utilization of high throughput technologies via barcoding and database management. Kelly Bulkeley, with Rebecca Nelson, produced four quarterly newsletters for the McKnight Foundation CCRP. Analysis of the 2007/08 NAM data for resistance to NLB using GLM Select (SAS) identified 21 Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) across the genome. Many of these localized to targeted regions near previously identified QTL. Three of these QTL were at novel regions of the genome. Analysis of the 2008 NAM data for resistance to GLS using GLM Select (SAS) of the NAM population identified 10 QTLs across the maize genome. Finemapping results for several QTL/loci around the genome resulted as follows: qNLB1.02(Tx303): 1,239 Tx303/B73 BC5F3 recombinant plants were identified in the 1.02 region from the B73/Tx303 NIL mapping population. The region containing our QTL of interest is delimited to at 13.4 Mb (17 cM) region. qNLB1.06(Tx303): From the 3,166 Tx303/B73 BC4F4 plants, 234 lines had recombinants in the left-flanking introgression interval that overlapped with the NAM Tx303/B73 RIL population QTL results. The 234 lines were selfed for generation advance. qNLB6.05(CML52): Previous analysis identified two QTL affecting multiple diseases at bins 1.06 and 6.05 in the same F5 line from the CML52/B73 cross. The CML52-derived QTL at bin 1.06 confers resistance to NLB and Stewart's wilt; the CML52 allele at bin 6.05 confers resistance to NLB and ASR. qNLB8.06(DK888): Allelism analysis suggested that qNLB8.06DK888 is identical, allelic, or closely linked and functionally related to Ht2. Analysis of the F11 DK888-derived NILs narrowed the locus to a region of 460 kb Out of 12 annotated genes in the region, three candidate genes including two encoding protein kinases and one encoding a protein phosphatase were identified. B68Htn1(8.06): IP distribution of the B68/B68Htn F2 population did segregate for a single resistance gene. Stepwise multiple regression of the F2 population with SSRs identified 2 loci in the 8.06 region that contributed independently to resistance, a small effect locus near marker umc1149 and a large effect locus near marker umc2210. The umc1149 locus has been implicated in previous NLB studies, and the umc2210 locus is near the DK888 putative Ht2 locus. Results of Aspergillus infection on kernels and silks from a set of inbred lines showed surprising variability between and within environments. Analysis of the CML322/B73 RIL population, however, was less sensitive to environmental deviation and QTL were mapped, several QTL which were in unique locations and several which co-localized with previously identified lines. Approximately 10% of the samples from the 27 maize mills in Kenya were found to harbor above-acceptable levels of aflatoxin.
Publications
- Mideros SX, Windham GL, Williams WP, and Nelson RJ. 2009. Aspergillus flavus biomass in maize estimated by quantitative real-time PCR is strongly correlated with aflatoxin concentration Plant Disease (in press; available online).
- Poland JA, Balint-Kurti PJ, Wisser RJ, Pratt RC, Nelson RJ. 2009. Shades of gray: the world of quantitative disease resistance. Trends Plant Sci. 14(1):21-9.
- Balint-Kurti P, Belcher A, Dhawan R, The Maize Diversity Project, Kolkman J, Kump K, Nelson RJ, Rhyne D, Santa-Cruz J, Wisser R, Wolters P. 2009. The Genetic Analysis of Quantitative and Multiple Disease Resistance in Maize. Maize Genetics Conference 51:P221
- Benson JM, Poland JA, Maize Diversity Project, Nelson RJ, Stromberg EL. 2009. Nested Association Mapping of Gray Leaf Spot Resistance in Maize. Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts 51:P214.
- Kolkman JM, Zhang Z, Casstevens T, Wisser RJ, Poland J, Van Esbroek G, Balint-Kurti P, and Nelson RJ. 2009. Association mapping analysis of resistance to northern leaf blight in maize. Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts. 51:P176.
- Poland, JA, Chung C-L, Wisser RJ, Balint-Kurti PJ, Kump KL, Benson JM, Kolkman JM, The Maize Diversity Project, Nelson RJ. 2009. Genetic Dissection Of Quantitative Disease Resistance In Maize. Plant & Animal Genomes XVII Conference, San Diego, CA: W105 : Challenge Program.
- Poland JA, The Maize Diversity Project, Nelson RJ. 2009. Nested Association Mapping Of Northern Leaf Blight Resistance In Maize Plant & Animal Genomes XVII Conference, San Diego, CA: P332 : Maize, Sorghum, Millet, Sugar Cane, and related.
- Wisser R, Ott O, Walsh E, Kolkman JM, Nelson RJ, Kump K, Balint-Kurti P, Holland J. 2009. Characterizing the selection response by selection and association mapping. Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts. 51:P181B
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: As scientific director of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), a competitive grants program The McKnight Foundation, Rebecca Nelson took the lead in preparing a grant proposal to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to allow the expansion of the CCRP. She also contributed to program design and recruitment processes to support the program expansion. She contributed to leadership of the CCRP by participating in regional workshops and other activities of the program. Kelly Bulkeley continued to develop the CCRP Web site, including a password-protected section for program management (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/).The Nelson Lab made significant progress in various aspects of research on quantitative disease resistance in maize. Using genetic resources developed by Dr. E. Buckler, Jesse Poland conducted nested association mapping of resistance loci for northern leaf blight, obtaining a second year of field data at Aurora NY. Jacqueline Benson conducted nested association mapping of resistance loci for gray leaf spot, obtaining a first year of field results in Blacksburg VA. Chia-lin Chung characterized a set of near-isogenic lines for disease resistance and did fine mapping of an important quantitative trait locus (QTL) for northern leaf blight. Research support specialist Judy Kolkman initiated fine mapping of a major gene for northern leaf blight resistance. Graduate student Santiago Mideros developed a quantitative PCR for Aspergillus flavus and mapped QTL for resistance to this aflatoxin-producing fungus. Undergradate honors student Oliver Ott conducted a thesis project in which he identified putative disease resistance loci from wild relatives of maize, teosinte. The Nelson Lab developed a Web page, with tremendous assistance from Ms. Dawn Daily O'Brien (http://www.plantpath.cornell.edu/Labs/Nelson_R/index.html). In addition, graduate student Jesse Poland further developed the lab's relational database. The Nelson lab was active in the Cornell Mycotoxin Working Group. With support from the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future, the group was convened and has advanced plans for research and scholarship at Cornell and in Africa. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a five-year grant of $26.7 million to The McKnight Foundation to support the expansion of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP). This doubles the resources available to the CCRP for the next five years, complementing a 10-year commitment from McKnight. In the expanded program structure, Rebecca Nelson will serve both as scientific director and as liaison scientist for a grants cluster in the East and Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda). Nelson will help support the regional projects as a "community of practice." Using the nested association mapping population developed by Buckler et al., we mapped QTL for northern corn leaf blight (NLB) and gray leaf spot, two of the most important diseases of maize. QTL were mapped at high resolution. Some of the QTL were confirmed in near-isogenic lines developed and/or refined in our laboratory. Two QTL on chromosome 1 were characterized through fluorescence microscopy and found to affect pathogenesis in distinct ways: one reduced the efficiency with which the pathogen enters the leaf, while another reduced the efficiency with which the pathogen entered the vasculature. A QTL on chromosome 6 was found to affect three different vascular diseases: NLB, anthracnose leaf blight and Stewart's wilt. The largest QTL for NLB was found in bin 8.06 of the maize genome. This QTL was also found through several independent lines of study. A near-isogenic line for the locus was extracted from the DK888 and narrowed to a region of ~0.5 Mb. For a major gene in the same area, a fine-mapping population was developed and assayed for disease resistance. Aspergillus flavus is a fungus that infects maize (and many other crops and foodstuffs), causing contamination with a deadly toxin. A quantitative PCR technique for A. flavus was developed, validated and used to measure fungal biomass in a set of 20 diverse maize hybrids. A high correlation was found between fungal biomass and aflatoxin accumulation in collaboration with USDA-ARS colleagues at Mississippi State University. Methods were developed to screen for resistance to A. flavus in different tissues of the maize ear. Resistance was found in certain genotypes for silk and young kernels. QTL were mapped on a preliminary basis for resistance to A. flavus.
Publications
- Poland, J, Balint-Kurti PJ, Wisser RJ, Pratt R and Nelson RJ (2008). Shades of gray: The world of quantitative disease resistance. Trends in Plant Science, In Press (available on line, 11 Dec. 2008). Wisser, RJ, Murray SC, Kolkman JM, Ceballos H and Nelson RJ (2008). Selection mapping of loci for quantitative disease resistance in a diverse maize population. Genetics 180: 583-599.
- Chung CL*, Poland J*, Wisser R, Kolkman J, The Maize Diversity Project, and Nelson R (2008). Analysis of qEt8.06, a major QTL for resistance to northern leaf blight in maize. Poster presented at the 2008 Annual Research Meeting of Generation Challenge Programme, Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 2008. (* Joint first authors)
- Chung C L*, Poland J*, Wisser R, Kolkman J, The Maize Diversity Project, and Nelson R (2008). Genetic dissection of loci conditioning disease resistance in maize bin 8.06. Poster presented at the 2008 American Phytopathological Society Centennial Meeting. (* Joint first authors). Phytopathology 98: S39.
- Chung CL, Longfellow J, Walsh E, Van Esbroek G, Balint-Kurti P, and Nelson R (2008). Mapping and genetic dissection of loci conditioning disease resistance in maize. Poster presented at the 50th Maize Genetics Conference, Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 2008, Washington DC.
- Poland J, The Maize Diversity Project, and Nelson R (2008). Uncovering molecular mechanisms of quantitative disease resistance using nested association mapping. Poster presented at the 50th Maize Genetics Conference, Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 2008, Washington DC.
- Walsh E, Longfellow J, Chung CL, and Nelson R (2008). How do disease resistance QTLs affect the development of northern leaf blight in maize Poster presented at the 50th Maize Genetics Conference, Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 2008, Washington DC.
- Zwonitzer J*, Chung CL*, Longfellow J, Nelson R, and Balint-Kurti P (2007). Near-isogenic lines for disease QTL in maize. Poster presented at the 2007 Annual Research Meeting of Generation Challenge Programme, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Poster award. (* Joint first authors)
- Chung C L and Nelson R (2007). Targeted discovery and characterization of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for resistance to northern leaf blight and other foliar fungal diseases in maize. Poster presented at the 49th Maize Genetics Conference, St. Charles, IL, March 22-25, 2007.
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
I serve as program director for The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), a grants program aimed at improving food security in the developing world (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/index.html). Through the CCRP, The McKnight Foundation funded 24 projects in 17 countries in 2006. Updates on the CCRP program and its constituent projects can be found in our quarterly newsletters, which can be found on our web site. I manage the CCRP office. We work with members of the CCRP's oversight committee and staff at The McKnight Foundation to provide support to grantees, ensure that program goals are met. Over the last calendar year, we have focused on advancing the status of three geographically and topically focused sets of projects, our Communities of Practice (CoP). Workshops conducted: First meeting of the CCRP's West Africa CoP held March 5-9, 2007 in Niamey, Niger. Third meeting of the CCRP's Andean CoP held July 16-21, 2007 in Cuzco, Peru. First
meeting of the Eastern/Southern Africa Legumes CoP held September 25-28, 2007 in Lilongwe, Malawi. Triennial Grantee Conference to be held in Chantilly, France from December 1-6, 2007. Website: Kelly Lindsay has further developed the CCRP's Website. In 2007, translation of the CCRP Web continued. The site is now 100% English, 36% Spanish and 20% French. She has also been updating project pages with a new format and performed the usual maintenance. CCRP events: February 4-14, 2007: Site visits to the Rice biodiversity (Southeast Asia) project partners in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. March 11-13; December 1 and 6, 2007: CCRP Oversight Committee meetings in Paris, France. June 13, 2007: Gates and McKnight Foundation meeting, New York City, NY. August 24-26, 2007: McKnight Foundation board meeting, Minneapolis, MN. September 17-24, 2007: Site visits to projects in the Eastern/Southern Africa Legumes CoP in Malawi and Mozambique. Other professional events: January 13-17, 2007: Invited
speaker for the 15th International Plant and Animal Genome meeting held in San Diego, California, CA. March 26-30, 2007: Invited speaker for the Third General Meeting of the Rockefeller Foundation program on Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops, Maputo, Mozambique. April 4-6, 2007: Invited panelist for the Genes, Seeds, Plots, Models and the Poor roundtable sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. April 10-12, 2007: Invited seminar speaker for the Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University. May 21-23, 2007: Invited seminar speaker for the Department of Biology, University of Washington. September 12-16, 2007: Invited PI, 2007 Generation Challenge Programme Annual Research Meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Cornell events: January 29, 2007: Land grant mission discussion meeting, 117 Warren Hall. April 18, 2007: Guest lecturer, PLPA 601 class. April 23, 2007: Guest lecturer, S&TS 201 class. May
2007: Manuscript reviews for Department of Plant Pathology. August 16, 2007: Guest speaker, Boyce Thompson Institute Post-Graduate Society summer retreat. October 14, 2007: CALS admissions open house.
Impacts
The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) supports efforts to improve the food security of some of the world's poorest people. http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/about/vision.html. Over the past year, the CCRP has continued progress in establishing Communities of Practice, groups of projects that will work together to solve regional problems, in the Andes, West Africa and East Africa.
Publications
- Nicklin, C., M. Rivera and R. Nelson. 2007. Realizing the potential of an Andean legume: roles of market-led and research-led innovations. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 4(1): 61-78.
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
I serve as program director for The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), a grants program aimed at improving food security in the developing world (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/index.html). Through the CCRP, The McKnight Foundation funded 24 projects in 17 countries in 2006. Updates on the CCRP program and its constituent projects can be found in our quarterly newsletters, which can be found on our Web site (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/participants/reports.html). I manage the CCRP office. We work with members of the CCRP's oversight committee and staff at The McKnight Foundation to provide support to grantees, ensure that program goals are met. Over the last calendar year, we have focused on advancing the status of three geographically and topically focused sets of projects, our Communities of Practice (CoP). Workshops conducted Second meeting of the CCRP's Andean Community of Practice, held July 18-21, 2006 in Quito, Ecuador.
http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/participants/cop2_06/wkshpcop06.html Legumes project development workshop, held March 28-31, 2006 in Arusha, Tanzania. http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/participants/arusha06/wkshparusha06. html Website. Kelly Lindsay has further developed the CCRP's Website. In 2006, the CCRP Web became trilingual. http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu. CCRP events: October 11-12, 2006 CCRP Oversight Committee meeting in New York City. November 8, 2006 Hosted visitors J. Lynch (PSU), I. Widders (MSU) and three scientists from Mozambique. Other professional events: March 15-16, 2006 Invited speaker, UC Davis Plant Genomics Program, Charley Rick Symposium, UC Davis, CA. Gave talk on quantitative disease resistance in the cereals April 3, 2006 Invited speaker, Presentation at the Gates Foundation meeting. Participated in a consultation process involving representatives of organizations that fund international agricultural research September 12-16, 2006 Invited speaker,
Generation Challenge Program 2006 Annual Research Meeting, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Gave talk on QTL alleles in maize and rice Cornell events: March 7, 2006 Invited speaker, seminar held in Geneva, New York. Gave talk on my quantitative disease resistance in the cereals. April 8, 2006 Invited speaker to the Alumni 'Return to the Classroom' event, Cornell University. I made a presentation about global food security and the related activities of the international crop research program I manage. April 13, 2006 Gave lecture in PLPA 601; discussed plant disease resistance in evolutionary and agricultural contexts. April 13, 2006 Invited seminar speaker, Program on International Nutrition. Presented a seminar on 'outrages, opportunities and obstacles in international crop research,' about linking agricultural research with nutritional outcomes. June 9, 2006 Invited speaker, The Social Implications of Sustainability, during Alumni Week. October 21, 2006 Represented IARD major for CALS Open House
2006. November 3, 2006 IADR representative for CALS transfer day. November 16, 2006 Gave a lecture on Integrated Pest Management, CSS/IARD 414 (Tropical Cropping Systems) Grants applied for: USDA/ARS: Pending NSF: Pending
Impacts
The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) supports efforts to improve the food security of some of the world's poorest people. http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/about/vision.html. Over the past year, the CCRP has made progress in establishing Communities of Practice, groups of projects that will work together to solve a regional problem, in the Andes, West Africa and East Africa.
Publications
- Wisser, R.J., Balint-Kurti, P.J., and R.J. Nelson. 2006. The genetic architecture of disease resistance in maize: a synthesis of published studies. Phytopathology 96(2): 120-129.
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
I serve as program director for The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), a privately funded competitive grants program aimed at improving food security in the developing world (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/index.html). Through the CCRP, The McKnight Foundation funded 20 projects in 2005. Seven of these were new grants established in the Andes and six were new grants established in W. Africa. Information on the projects, which are based in Africa, Asia and Latin America, is available on the CCRP Web site (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/projects/index.html). Considerable research progress was made by the projects in the past year. Together with my administrative assistant, Kelly Lindsay, we manage the CCRP office based in the Cornell Plant Science building. We work closely with members of the CCRP Oversight Committee and staff at The McKnight Foundation to provide support to grantees, ensure that program goals are met and to design new
calls for proposals. I was assisted by three excellent Cornell graduate students and recent graduates over the past year: Rachel Bezner Kerr (Development Sociology), Mohamed Ag Ayoya (International Nutrition), and Beth Medvecky (Crop and Soil Science). Over the last calendar year, we have focused on advancing the status of three geographically and topically focused sets of projects. These are: achieving impact in the Andes, millet- and sorghum-based systems in W. Africa, and enhancing the utilization of legumes in E. and C. Africa.
Impacts
The Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) embodies The McKnight Foundation's commitment to a world in which all people have access to the food they need, on terms they can afford, and produced in ways that can be sustained by the wise management of local resources. The program supports efforts to bring science to bear to achieve this vision and to empower people in developing countries to share in it. For our vision, strategies and goals, follow this link: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/about/vision.html. Over the past year, the CCRP has made progress in its new vision of establishing Communities of Practice, groups of projects that will work together to solve a regional problem, in the Andes, West Africa and East Africa.
Publications
- Ortiz, O., G. Frias, R. Ho, H. Cisneros, R. Nelson, R. Castillo, R. Orrego, W. Pradel and M. Bazan. 2005. Collaborative participatory research as a learning process: the case of CIP and CARE in Peru. Paper presented in the Impact Assessment Workshop of the CGIAR's PRGA program, Oct. 19-21, 2005.
- Wisser, R.J., Qi, S., Kresovich, S., and R.J. Nelson. 2005. Identification and characterization of regions of the rice genome associated with broad-spectrum, quantitative disease resistance. Genetics 169: 2277-2293.
- Garry, G., A. Salas, G. Forbes, W. Perez, M. Santa Cruz, and R.J. Nelson. 2005. Host specialization not detected in isolates of Phytophthora infestans attacking wild and cultivated potatoes in Peru. European J. Plant Pathology 54: 740-748.
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
I serve as program director for The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), a privately funded competitive grants program aimed at improving food security in the developing world (http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/index.html). The McKnight Foundation funded 15 projects through the CCRP during 2004. Two projects completed a decade of funding during the year, and the program finishing the year with 13 active projects. Information on the projects is available on the CCRP Web site. Considerable research progress was made by the projects in the past year. Together with my administrative assistant, Kelly Lindsay, we manage the CCRP office based in Cornells Plant Science building. We work closely with members of the CCRPs Oversight Committee and staff at The McKnight Foundation to provide support to grantees, ensure that program goals are met and to design new calls for proposals. I was assisted by two excellent Cornell graduate students over the past
year: Rachel Bezner Kerr (Development Sociology) and Mohamed Ag Ayoya (International Nutrition). Over the last calendar year, we have focused on three geographically and topically focused calls for proposals. These are achieving impact in the Andes, Millet and sorghum-based systems in W. Africa, and Enhancing the utilization of legumes in E. and C. Africa. The Andes RFP was released on January 15 and a total of 134 pre-proposals were received by the April 15 deadline. Twenty-three solicitors were invited to submit full proposals, and seven of these were chosen for site visits and recommendations for funding. In December, I visited projects in Peru and Bolivia and interviewed individuals who potentially offered the services of financial agent to support the selected projects. To inform the design of the second theme, aimed at improving the food security of people depending on millet- and sorghum-based systems in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, we held a consultation workshop in Niamey,
Niger in January, 2004. The West Africa RFP was released on September 1 and a total of 38 were received around the December 1 deadline. The pre-proposals are currently being reviewed, and some will be chosen during the next Oversight Committee meeting scheduled for early April 2005. The third theme, on legume integration in E./S. African cropping systems, is currently being designed. The CCRP Website made its official internet debut on December 18, 2002. In 2004, Kelly Lindsay began a massive effort to redesign the CCRP Webs navigation system. After months of restructuring the site to have a more fluid menu structure for virtually seamless browsing, the new look of the CCRP Web was made public on December 23, 2004. The site also now features public access to all pages, an updated site map and users guide, rolling images on every page (must be using IE 6.0 or above, will not work in Mozilla), and an updated policies page. To access the CCRP Web, follow this link:
http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu. For more information about the web and a breakdown of its features, visit the CCRP Web users guide: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/users.html
Impacts
The Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) embodies The McKnight Foundation's commitment to a world in which all people have access to the food they need, on terms they can afford, and produced in ways that can be sustained by the wise management of local resources. The program supports efforts to bring science to bear to achieve this vision and to empower people in developing countries to share in it. For our vision, strategies and goals, follow this link: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/about/vision.html
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
The McKnight Foundation CCRP funded 16 active projects at the beginning of 2003, finishing the year with 14. Together with the McKnight Foundation and the CCRP oversight committee, the program provides support to grantees, ensures that program goals are met and to design new calls for proposals. Information on the projects is available on the CCRP Web site. Considerable research progress was made by the projects in the past year. Over the last calendar year, we have focused on three geographically and topically focused calls for proposals. These are: 1. Achieving impact in the Andes, 2. Millet and sorghum-based systems in W. Africa and 3.Enhancing the utilization of legumes in E. and C. Africa. To inform the design of the first two themes, we held consultative workshops in the respective regions, bringing together diverse stakeholders to summarize the current status, constraints and opportunities, and ways forward. A current request for proposals regarding this topic
was drafted and released in early January. For the third theme, I conducted a survey visit to E. Africa, together with graduate student assistant Rachel Bezner Kerr, to interview people working in this area of research and development. In addition to preparing for this new cycle of grant-making, we organized mid-term evaluations and site visits for the current set of projects. We began planning the biennial grantee conference that will be held at the Dolce Kasteel Vaalsbroek Conference Center in Vaalsbroek, The Netherlands on November 6-10. This conference will include participants from our currently active projects and focus on topics chosen from grantee suggestions. For more information on these conferences and workshops, follow this link: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/participants/conference.jsp Midterm evaluations and site visits were conducted for projects in Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Brazil, and India. The midterm evaluation for projects in China, scheduled for
May, were cancelled due to concerns about SARS. The CCRP Website made its official internet debut on December 18, 2002. 2003 was the site first full year on the internet. During that time, the site saw considerable growth with the addition of new pages and features including seven searchable databases, pages for events, individual projects, and information about the program; and a secure section for program participants. Over the course of the year, the site had close to 150,000 hits and 8,000 unique users. The site continues to grow and extend improved services to users from over 50 countries around the world. To access the CCRP Web, follow this link: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu. For more information about the web and a breakdown of its features, visit the CCRP Web user guide: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/users.html
Impacts
The Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) embodies The McKnight Foundation's commitment to a world in which all people have access to the food they need, on terms they can afford, and produced in ways that can be sustained by the wise management of local resources. The program supports efforts to bring science to bear to achieve this vision and to empower people in developing countries to share in it. For our vision, mission and principles statement, follow this link: http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/about/vision.html
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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