IAEA/RCA Regional Training Course on Application of Mutation Breeding and Screening of Target Traits in Bioenergy Crops held in Beijing

RCA Regional training course on “The Application of Mutation Breeding and Screening of Target Traits in Bioenergy Crops” was held in Beijing from 24 to 28 August 2015. It was organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in cooperation with the China Atomic Energy Agency (CAEA) through Institute of Crop Science (ICS) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). 26 participants from 15 different countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam, New Zealand and China joined the training. Dr. Jin Ke, Deputy Director General of Department of International Cooperation of CAAS, and Dr. Wang Shumin, Deputy Director General of ICS presented at the opening ceremony.

During this training course, IAEA specialist Dr. Hitoshi Nakagawa and local experts delivered lectures on roles and perspectives of RCA, development history and impact of plant mutation breeding, mutation induction methodologies and screening techniques, heavy ion beam irradiation and space mutagenesis, mutation breeding in bioenergy crops, progress in bioenergy crops, sweet sorghum and Miscanthus etc. Experiments, practical demonstrations and visits were also involved in the course. According to the feedback, participants speak highly for this training course.

This training course is one of the most important activities of IAEA/RCA project RAS/5/070 “Developing Bioenergy Crops to Optimize Marginal Land Productivity through Mutation Breeding and Related Techniques”.Professor Liu Luxiang is the National Project Coordinator of this project and served as the Director of the Course.