China: Meeting Held on Establishment of China Tobacco Pests and Diseases Specimens Resources Bases

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 10/24/2012

The 2012 annual meeting on coordinating the execution of the project of establishing China tobacco pests and diseases specimens bases was held in Yuxi City of southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province on September 24-26, with the participation of experts from four major research institutions. The meeting was sponsored by Yunnan Provincial Tobacco Science Research Institute which takes charge of execution of the project of establishing China tobacco pests and diseases specimens bases, with the participation of Yunnan Agricultural University. The experts participating in the meeting were from Kunming Institute of Botany of China Academy of Sciences, Kunming Institute of Zoology of China Academy of Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University and the Institute of Bio-Technology and Genetic Resources of Yunnan Provincial Agricultural Science Institute. The year 2012 is a crucial period of time for the establishment of China tobacco pests and diseases specimens resources bases. Under concerted efforts by all sides, remarkable progress has been made in the establishment of the bases. So far, the tasks for the establishment of the bases have been fulfilled by over 70 percent. Major tobacco pests and diseases specimens produced have undergone systemic collation. Large-scale work has been done in the establishment of bases of resources for the storage of tobacco viruses and origins of viruses, the separation and storage of major agents causing tobacco diseases including tobacco phytophthora nicotianae, alternaria alternate, and wildfires/angle spot germs, separation of nematodes and storage of pests origins. So far, two major resources bases – the tobacco diseases base and tobacco insects bases – have been formed under the electronic resources databases of information on major tobacco pests and diseases in China. Both bases have entered the stages of practical application and improvement. The research work so far has contributed to laying a sound foundation for the establishment of the resources bases in a next period of time. Professor Chen Hairu, in the capacity of the chairperson of the project, emphasized that all the research units designated to execute the project need to strengthen communication, provide information to one another, carefully check the contracts, find out any loopholes, fill any gaps, actively collect specimens, and make a full use of resources nationwide, in order that the specimens of tobacco pests and diseases to be stored in the bases will cover all tobacco-growing regions in China, that the bases established should reach the highest standards in China, and that they should be able to play powerful leading roles in the tobacco industry. Enditem