[Long term programs in breeding research]

Plant breeding research on agricultural crops in the Netherlands is described. A generally high level of breeding can be expected, when there is close cooperation between free research in a university department, directed research in an institute (based on a program planned to produce practical results), and private plant breeders. The increasing activities and efficiency of private breeders call for more basic research and more help on a higher level. Therefore long term programs of the Foundation for Agricultural Plant Breeding (S.V.P.) are necessary to point out to all interested groups in which direction research may be expected to go in the coming period. For long term programs private breeders know in which parts of their work the S.V.P. is supposed to help them.The board and heads of the institute will have formed a better overall picture of the situation so that priority of the different problems can be estimated and flexibility in research work can be maintained. It is necessary that the research institute and private breeders continually be in contact to avoid misunderstanding, duplication and unwanted gaps. To realize this the research workers from the institute should regularly visit private breeders and vice versa.Furthermore working groups in each of the crops with which S.V.P. is working should meet at least once a year to exchange ideas and discuss the actual situation. The S.V.P. itself should not breed varieties but should leave this entirely to private breeders. In the Netherlands this system has proved to be very workable and satisfactory.The main tasks of this research work are: (1) Research in collections. - (2) Detection of important characters and their genetical analyses. - (3) Introduction of new characters. - (4) Building up parental lines for the benefit of private breeders. - (5) Research on breeding methods. - (6) Research on testing methods. - (7) Studies on the influence of environmental conditions.Consequently the type of specialized research workers has to be changed from "crop experts" to "problem solvers". The plant material resulting from their research serves as a building stone in the program of the private breeders.The increasing number of specialized problems makes it impossible to do all the necessary fundamental research at a plant breeding institute. Cooperation with other institutes, specialized in the discipline involved, is very important. To maintain a high level of research activities it is suggested that strong cooperation between institutes in different countries should be aimed at.