Latin America Maize Project Leaves Untapped Legacy of Agricultural Riches

摘要

The pioneering effort of the Latin America Maize Project (LAMP) to save, characterize, and evaluate landraces of one of the world's most important crops has been completed, leaving a rich legacy of germ-plasm accessions and data identifying resistances to diseases, pests, and climate that assures the safety of a crop consumed around the world (see DIVERSITY, no. 12, p.17, and vol.7,nos. l&2,p.41). The LAMP project, a model coordinated international project for the evaluation of a major world crop, combined efforts and collaboration of principal investigators in 12 participating countries--Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela--and included financial support from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., and administrative support from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Completion of the project realizes an aspiration of the late William L. Brown, a world-respected maize breeder and public-spirited corporateleader who initiated the program in 1985 when he was CEO of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (see DIVERSITY, no.7,p.9).