Two important wheat workshops as part of China-CIMMYT collaboration

The Chinese National Wheat Quality Conference, jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS), the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), and CIMMYT, was held in Beijing on 13 to 14 December. The program covered market needs and quality improvement, biotechnology applications, quality testing, the development of high-quality varieties, and crop management. In addition to 150 Chinese participants from more than 20 provinces, Roberto Javier Peña and Erika Meng from CIMMYT, Rudi Appels from Australia, and Peter Shwery and Huw Jones from Rothamsted Research were invited to talk on global wheat quality, the health grain project, and wheat transformation.

This is a continuation of CIMMYT-China joint efforts in promoting Chinese wheat quality. Zhonghu He, CIMMYT representative in China, talked about Chinese wheat quality and future trends. More than 8 wheat quality workshops and conferences, including the Sino-Australia Wheat Quality Conference (2002) and International Wheat Quality Conference (2004), with a total of more than 1,000 participants, have been organized by CAAS and CIMMYT during the last 10 years.

The Sino-UK Wheat Workshop, jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Rothamsted Research, and CIMMYT, was held in Beijing on 10 to 11 December. It was coordinated by Zhonghu He, CIMMYT Representative in China, and Peter Shwery from Rothamsted Research. They were more than 40 participants, including 20 from Rothamsted Research, UK, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, John Innes Center, and University of Nottingham, along with participants from 6 Chinese institutes. The presentations covered breeding technologies, sustainability and yield, grain development and quality, and plant pathogens. Lijian Zhang, CAAS vice president, was presented in the opening ceremony. Priority areas for future collaboration were identified and the second Sino- UK wheat workshop will be held in UK in 2009. The workshop was sponsored by UK Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Nature Science Foundation of China.