GrainGenes
A Database for Triticeae and Avena
Meeting of the IOC of the IBGS
Aleppo, Syria19, 20 March 1994
1991 Meeting | 1996 Symposium | 2000 Symposium | Funding
IOC | Committees | ICARDA Liason | Miscellaneous
PRESENT: von Bothmer, Harvey, Johnston, Kiffits, Shevtsov, Franckowiak, Konishi, Shewry, Tahir
REGRETS: Friedt, Shao
GUESTS: Jaradat, van Schoonoven
OPENING REMARKS:
The Chairman, von Bothmer, opened the meeting by expressing our gratitude to ICARDA for hosting the meeting and for providing the opportunity to visit the various programs at ICARDA. He welcomed the new members to the committee, M. Tahir - ICARDA, P. Johnston - Australia and V. Shevtsov - Russia.
AGENDA:
The agenda proposed by the Chairman was approved.
MINUTES:
The minutes of the last meeting, 1991 Helsinborg Sweden, were approved.
ITEMS ARISING:
None outside of items covered by the agenda.
1991 MEETING:
Evaluation documents were circulated.
Strengths
Excellent scientific program.
Availability of the short papers in Volume 1 at the time of Symposium.
Support for attendance by delegates from financially challenged nations and CIS countries.
Warmth of the hospitality of the host countries.
Areas Requiring Improvement
Facilities for poster sessions.
Approach to handling poster sessions.
Accompanying Persons Program.
1996 SYMPOSIUM
Harvey presented a report on progress made to date. It will be a joint conference with the
International Oat Workers. The dates are 30 July - 6 August for barley and 2 August - 8
August for oat. The Local Organizing Committee is:
Barley chair - B. HarveyThe program format, i.e. few key invited speakers and extensive use of poster presentations, will be similar to that agreed upon by the IOC for the last several meetings. Plot tours will be included and also the possibility of pre and/or post conference tours.
Oat chair - B. Rossnagel
Program - B. Rossnagel, G. Scoles
Housing - R. Bhatty
Transportation - R. Baker Registration - A. Slinkard
Tours - P. Hucl
Finance - R. Holm
Special Events - G. Rowland
Accompanying Persons - E. Harvey, L. Rossnagel.
Key target dates:
December 1993 - Letter of Intent to potential donorsFinances: The Oat Workers have excellent up front support. We have support pledged from the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute of Canada. It will be very difficult to obtain much support from industry and governments given the current economic climate. Aid agencies will be approached to support attendance by delegates from underdeveloped nations and those with economies in transition. ICARDA and IPGRI have indicated a willingness to provide some assistance. Foreign support will probably only materialize on a sponsorship basis.
June 1994 - First mailout (including a request for any workshops)
March 1995 - Second mailout
December 1995 - Registration form
February 1996 - Abstract/Short Paper deadline
April 1996 - Early Registration deadline
2000 SYMPOSIUM
There was a discussion regarding the frequency of the IBGS. It was initially 6 years later reduced to 5 years. Some favored every 3 years since developments occur very quickly these days. It was agreed that the time be reduced to 4 years. Thus the next symposium would be in the year 2000. There were three possible hosts identified: Czechoslovakia, Australia and ICARDA. (China had indicated an interest at the Helsinborg meeting but nothing has been heard from them since). In the case of the Czechoslovakia it is not clear whether it would be from the Czech or Slovak Republic or a joint hosting. It was agreed that all were good potential sites and would be invited to prepare a detailed invitation by December 1995. The IOC will decide on which offer to accept at the Saskatoon meeting.
FUNDING
Von Bothmer presented a financial statement for the 1991 symposium. The remaining funds will be transferred to Harvey for the Saskatoon meeting as soon as convenient. It was agreed that fund raising would be very difficult and that for countries outside Canada direct sponsorship of a speaker or delegate from an underdeveloped country be sought. It was agreed that the financial committee chaired by Shewry would not conduct a general fund raising campaign.
IOC
It was agreed that the IOC should play a strong coordinating role. The Chairperson and the Secretary are the key contacts and no executive is needed. The IOC as a whole should be the decision making body. It was agreed that there was good logic in the established pattern of the Secretary being the delegate from the next host country and the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the next symposium. The Chair of the IOC is the Past Secretary (i.e. the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the immediately past symposium). Clearly the most important role of the IOC is the symposium. Thus it is important that these key positions have experience and direct involvement in the symposium. It was agreed that the IOC should meet between symposia to ensure momentum is maintained and to deal with issues on a timely basis. Another important role of the IOC is liaison with ICARDA (obviously important because of its global mandate for barley research).
COMMITTEES
A discussion was held regarding committees and their role. The following are some highlights and a listing of the committees required.
Standing committees
Nomenclature for Genes and Markers: This has been an ongoing area of contention. Clearly there is a need for an agreed upon system. P. Shewry agreed to have one more try at reaching a compromise and to report back in one year.
Germplasm Network: It was agreed that three subgroups would report to this committee; namely, Core collection, Data base and Genetic stocks. These were not considered to be fixed and could be changed as the situation dictates. A meeting of the Germplasm Network was held in Guelph, Ontario in conjunction with the American Barley Researchers Workshop. At that meeting, IBPGR (now IPGRI) expressed a desire to step out of the leadership role and into a supportive role. They passed a motion that the committee become the responsibility of the IOC. A special session was held with Dr. Jaradat to confirm that this was still the case and he indicated that it was (Harvey later reconfirmed this with G. Hawtin in Rome). The IOC then agreed to take on the leadership role. It was understood that the IOC had no financial resources to devote to this and thus IPGRI and ICARDA would be looked to if necessary. It was agreed that the membership should continue for the time being. Dr. Fraleigh, the Chairman, has a new position and so will be asked if he should remain as Chairman. He will also be asked for a report. (Harvey to follow up.)
Core Collection: Von Bothmer gave an update indicating that good progress was being made. European and American cores are essentially in place. Asia is slow due to difficulties in obtaining input from China. Prof. Takeda will take over from Konishi who is retiring. The Hordeum spontaneum core is well in hand but progress is slow with the wild species. The question was raised, where do we go from here once it is assembled. Some concerns were raised regarding the maintenance of genetic purity of the entries. It was noted that IPGRI has a strong interest in this area as does ICARDA.
Data base: It was reported that progress was being made. IPGRI has compiled the agreed upon descriptor list which is now in the final editing stage. (Dr. Lindsey Withers indicates that it should be available in a few months.)
Genetic Stocks: to be part of Germplasm Network Committee. Lundqvist and Franckowiak are in the process of developing descriptors and recommendations for the handling of these materials. Franckowiak reported that the U.S. stocks are being moved from Fort Collins to Aberdeen.
Publications: It was agreed that there was a need for a forum for lists (stocks, pedigrees, etc.), exchange of current research results, news communications, workshop proceedings and symposium proceedings. A committee was established to deal with these needs: Harvey (Chair), Mather, Tahir, Franckowiak and Shewry.
Barley Genetics Newsletter: It was agreed that we need to re-establish a regular annual publication schedule. This is certainly the logical repository for lists and current research. Firm guidelines must be established to ease the burden on the Editor.
Newsflyer: It was agreed that this could be incorporated into Rachis (published twice annually) either as an integral part or an offprint mailed with it. Dr. Tahir agreed to look into this. It would require revising the current mailing list.
Workshops: ICARDA has an ongoing role in this area and will continue this mandate. Liaison with the committee will occur through Dr. Tahir.
It was agreed that we should attempt to get a summary of the minutes of this meeting in the next BGN and/or Rachis.
Adhoc Committees
A Code of Ethics committee was established: Johnston (Chair), Harvey. The committee will prepare a Code of Ethics for barley researchers for adoption at the Saskatoon symposium.
A Molecular Markers committee consisting of P. Shewry was established. He will develop a workshop for the Saskatoon meeting (it will not include nomenclature).
A wheat, barley chromosome rationalization committee was established with responsibility for genome symbols as well as the chromosome correlations. Von Bothmer will contact the following for participation: K. Shepherd, 1. Linde-Laursen and P. Heslop-Harrison.
ICARDA LIAISON
A meeting was held with Dr. Aart van Schoonoven, the Deputy Director. He assured the IOC of ICARDA's strong interest and expressed their appreciation for their involvement. He indicated that the regional IPGRI office is at the Aleppo site and that cooperation is very good. He indicated ICARDA's willingness to play a key role in the collection and increase of the core collection. He indicated that a clearly stated Memorandum of Agreement needs to be drawn up in this regard so that responsibilities are defined. He expressed a willingness on ICARDA's part to develop a proposal to host the 2000 symposium. He also indicated ICARDA's support for delegates from the WANA region. They are willing to support the newsletter activity and reminded us of their role as a literature centre for barley. He also expressed an interest in using the IOC as a sounding board and as a resource for various activities. Chairman von Bothmer expressed our appreciation for the support.
MISCELLANEOUS
It was agreed to invite the Wheat Genetics IOC to meet with us in Saskatoon.
Reported by
B.L. Harvey