Genetic resources for tropical areas: achievements and perspectives.

This paper analyses the present status of tropical forage resources and their utilization in the development of novel cultivars based on the accumulated information from past decades of collecting, evaluation and whatever little breeding has been pursued. The situation of world collections of tropical forages is presented and discussed in the light of limited investment and dwindling resources. A cause for concern is the lesser priority assigned to conservation and manipulation of official tropical germplasm banks, such as CSIRO’S and CIAT’s. In order to assure the availability of tropical genetic resources for the future it is imperative that international efforts be undertaken to renew investments into organizing world databases, providing human and financial resources to maintain existing collections and that national and international research organizations be stimulated to act cooperatively in favor of a common goal. Perhaps by assigning value to biodiversity, the stimuli for national organizations to collect, conserve and exchange will come forth. In order to fully exploit genetic resources and guarantee continued diversity for selection, breeding activities need to be pursued. It is odd, however, that tropical forages have deserved such little input from breeding: most cultivars in use, are little more than selections from the wild, whereas the animals grazing those pastures have been bred for generations and many times using sophisticated methodologies. A survey of major Brazilian university curricula in agronomy and animal sciences provided a clue: only two of those have a forage breeding course at the graduate level and hardly any of those has a forage breeder in the staff. However, all of them have at least one animal breeding course in the required curriculum and animal breeders in their staff. If no forage breeders are being trained, genetic resources of forage plants will continue to be underutilized in the future. A vast body of information was generated in the past decade on characteristics and agronomic value of tropical forages. A scheme generally followed to develop new cultivars was presented in this paper and discussed using examples of a grass (Panicum maximum) and a legume (Stylosanthes). Forages as pastures for animal production in the tropics are ever so much more important than in the temperate zones, where some form of forage conservation or grain needs to be utilized to maintain animals over the winter. Meat is produced mostly from pasture-fed cattle in the tropics, which has an ecological appeal, contributes to competitiveness and gains public endorsement worldwide. Therefore the perspectives for developing new improved cultivars to yield better quality and produce meat more cost and energy efficiently are large. To achieve such goals, team work is essential such that breeders, agronomists, phytopathologists, etc. establish priorities closely linked with the demands of the producer, as to assure quick and easy adoption once the variety is released, without forgetting the requirements of the consumers. A form of involving the private sector in the development of the technology should be seriously considered in these times of diminished resources and plant protection laws.