An influential plant breeders conference has attracted more than a dozen top international speakers including Dr Swapan Datta, of the Philippines, breeder of 'golden rice'.

The 13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference is being held in Christchurch, New Zealand in April 2006. It is the first time this conference has been held in New Zealand.

"The conference is about successfully breeding better or new crops of all types - from kiwifruit to grass - and will be influential, attracting over a dozen top international speakers, including Dr Datta, and Drs Joe Bouton and Steve Tanksley from the USA," says one of the organisers Bill Griffin of Crop & Food Research Ltd., New Zealand.

Dr Datta is leader of the golden rice project which will provide malnourished people with rice with beta-carotene added to seeds to provide Vitamin A. It also has double the amount of iron to combat another dietary deficiency that can lead to anaemia.

"We're expecting around 300 specialist visitors to the conference. It's an excellent opportunity for plant breeders to meet, exchange ideas and put their work forward."

Australian participation will be the key to the conference's success. Australian keynote presentations will include an outline of recent changes to their national wheat breeding programmes and managing plant responses to environmental stress. Over 35 other Australian papers will also be presented.

"Recently announced trans-Tasman partnerships for tree and pastoral forage crop breeding, and other current activities for horticultural, vegetable and arable crops illustrate how closely Australasian agricultural scientists are now working together," says Dr Griffin.

Co-operation across sectors, and the relevance of plant breeding to agriculture, will be features of the conference.

"We'll aim to show the contribution plant breeding has made to primary industry improvement and to remind science funders and industry sectors that plant breeding is a critical component in the sustainability of all our industries."

Australia's Grains Research & Development Corporation is the principal sponsor of this event with major sponsorship also coming from three New Zealand CRIs, two Australian Co-operative Research Centres, and Grasslanz Technology Ltd.

More details on the conference can be found at: www.apbc.org.nz