This award will support a seminar, "Ecological and Physiological Aspects of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes," organized jointly by Prof. James E. Harper of the University of Illinois, Urbana, and Prof. Kikuo Kumazawa of the University of Tokyo, Japan. Participants will meet October 11-14, 1989 at the University of California, Davis, to report recent research results on the subject of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, and to continue exchanges of ideas previously effected through exchange visits and earlier joint workshops. Symbiotic Nitrogen fixation is of enormous importance in agriculture, because nitrogen is the element which most often limits plant growth. Participants in this workshop will discuss methods of improving the efficiency of nitrogen fixation in legumes, and of extending nitrogen fixation to other major food crops. Scientists from both countries involved here will benefit from the general interaction and from detailed discussion of research results prior to formal publication. Results of this workshop, and of research stimulated by it, could have major impact on developing countries, because limitations in systems for the manufacture and distribution of fertilizer may be a major factor limiting crop production in those countries.
