Person: Taba, S.
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- Background on the development of the: global strategy for the Ex situ conservation and utilization of maize germplasm(Global Crop Diversity Trust, 2007) Goodman, M.; Taba, S.The genetic resources of maize constitute an immeasurable treasure for humankind. Conservation of maize germplasm and knowledge about its variation and uses provide (i) resources for agricultural improvement to reduce hunger and poverty and (ii) a solid knowledge base for future generations of researchers and technological users. The variability among maize landraces exceeds that for any other crop. The collection and study of the accessions of the races of maize are unprecedented in man's agricultural heritage; their maintenance and regeneration has been remarkable, and their widespread and open availability to research workers has been unique (Taba, 2005). Nonetheless, problems remain: 1. Integration of maize germplasm resources and maize breeding is challenging; historically, efforts have been inconsistent. 2. Most racial studies of maize have been New-World-oriented. 3. Regeneration of some eco-specific accessions has been difficult. 4. Distribution of individual seed requests via national germplasm banks as generally been ineffective due to resource and/or policy issues. 5. Phytosanitary restrictions are a major bottleneck in distributing germplasm samples. 6. Teosinte populations are endangered and have scattered (and less than complete) representation in the major international germplasm banks. 7. Documentation of the materials held in national collections is inconsistent, and sometimes poor, and is held in multiple databases that are not necessarily well maintained or easily accessible. 8. Tripsacum populations are part of the secondary gene pool of maize genetic resources, and some are endangered; some populations should be monitored and conserved. 9. Developing a worldwide strategy for preservation, documentation, distribution, and utilization of maize genetic resources will require attention to these and other, generally less difficult, problems.
Publication - Identifying appropriate germplasm for participatory breeding: an example from the central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico(CIMMYT, 2000) Bellon, M.; Smale, M.; Aguirre Gomez, J.A.; Taba, S.; Aragon Cuevas, F.; Diaz, J.; Castro, H.Identifying the appropriate germplasm to be improved is a key component of any participatory breeding effort because of its implications for impacts on social welfare and genetic diversity. This paper describes a method developed to select a subset of 17 populations for a participatory breeding project from a set of 152 maize landraces. The larger set of landraces was collected in order to characterize, for conservation purposes, the maize diversity present in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. The method combines data representing the perspectives of both men and women members of farm households and those of genetic resources specialists, including professional plant breeders, gene bank managers, and social scientists. The different perspectives complement each other. The results show that when the choice of germplasm is based only on the perspective of genetic resources specialists, traits and materials that are important to farm households may be ignored. Such selections may be less valuable to farmers, limiting the impact of the participatory breeding effort on their livelihoods. However, the findings also indicate that relying solely on the perspectives of farm households may lead to lower diversity. Choosing populations based solely on either perspective involves a social cost-either in terms of diversity or in terms of farmer welfare. Although our approach has limitations, many of which are common to participatory research, it represents a systematic method for meeting one of the important challenges of participatory plant breeding.
Publication - Maize genetic resources(CIMMYT, 1997) Taba, S.This publication documents the origin and worldwide spread of maize from Mesoamerica, and describes the characterization, use, and conservation of maize genetic resources, including the crop's nearest wild relatives, teosinte and Tripsacum. Results of an international survey on the continued use of maize landraces in developing countries are reported, along with progress on the work of Latin American maize banks, in concert with CIMMYT, USAID, and USDA-NSSL, to regenerate their endangered holdings of maize landraces. An update is provided on collaborative research by CIMMYT and the French National Research Institute for Development Cooperation (ORSTOM) to transfer apomixis from Tripsacum to maize.
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