This project will support up to nine U.S. scientists to participate in a U.S.-Pakistan workshop to discusss research needs both in biotechology and in conventional areas to enhance the productivity and quality of oilseed crops. The U.S. team leader is Dr. Milton Gordon, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, and the Pakistani team leader is Dr. S. Riazuddin, Director, Center for Advanced Molecular Biology, University of Punjab, Lahore. The meeting is supported by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Center (ARC) and the University Grants Commission (UGC). The areas to be represented by the participants include biochemistry, plant physiology, molecular biology, plant breeding, agronomy and agricultural planning. The problems to be tackled include tolerance to harsh soil/water/weather conditions, susceptability to various diseases, resistance to insects, and the value of the product for various uses. A national meeting of Pakistani experts will generate a report on the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of these problems . This report will be made available to the workshop participants well in advance of their meeting. The workshop papers and recommendations for research projects will be published in a proceedings. Scope: The U.S. participants are well known experts in their research fields and have considerable experience in developmental work for improving agricultural products. The Pakistani coperating scientist is one of that country's leading biologist, with considerable experience in molecular biology and in coordinating activities similar to this project. The support of the Pakistan ARC is very important because of the significat scientific resources it has, and to give the results of this project the weight necessary for future action by the Pakistani side on joint projects.
