Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Southern Coordinating Committee 33 Minutes of the 2007 Annual Meeting The 2007 Annual Meeting of SCC-33 Information Exchange Group was held Wednesday and Thursday, January 31 and February 1 at the Ramada Key Largo (lodging), Holiday Inn Key Largo (meeting) in Key Largo, FL. Bill Bruening, University of KY and Kelly Whiting, Delta and Pine Land Co. served as co-chairs for the meeting. Debra Ahrent of the University of Arkansas handled pre-registration and registration. Debra also serves as treasurer of SCC-33. The Wednesday morning and afternoon breaks were sponsored by Delta and Pine Land Co. (Kelly Whiting, rep.) and the lunch on Wednesday was sponsored by Delta King Seed Company (Monty Malone, rep.). Twenty-seven registered members attended the meeting. Wednesday Program: Bill Bruening served as the moderator for the Wednesday session and Kelly Whiting served as the Thursday program coordinator. Following brief announcements and self-introductions by the members present, Clarence Watson, Administrative Advisor for SCC-33, made a few remarks on issues that were pertinent to the group. He stated that since our 2006 meeting, he had retired from Mississippi State University and taken a position as Associate Director of the Oklahoma State University Agricultural Experiment Station. Dr. Watson stated that he would continue as the Administrative Advisor for SCC-33, in his current position. He also stated that Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) had agreed to continue to maintain the SCC-33 website. Dr. Watson discussed the continued pressure at the federal level to reduce federal formula funding that comes to the State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES) and move more of those monies into competitive grant pools. Such reductions would have a financial impact on regional committees such as SCC-33, since a portion of HATCH funds go to support multi-state research. For the past two years the OMB and Presidents proposed reductions have been staved off because of the concerted lobbying efforts in all states of their congressional senators and representatives. Bill Bruening gave an overview of the KY Small Grains Variety Testing Program, including the specific website that is devoted to posting of variety trial results as well as details about the program and links to other states websites that contain related information. Bill Pearce gave a presentation on the KY Corn Hybrid testing program. He mentioned that in addition to the regular hybrid tests that they conduct each year, in 2006 they (Pearce, Ron Curd and Chad Lee) conducted a test on 32 corn hybrids for seed yield and ethanol yield. They plan to continue to test corn hybrids that might be best for ethanol conversion. The third presentation was by Eugene Lacefield who presented an overview of the KY Soybean Variety Testing Program. He also highlighted some of the equipment his program was using in planting and harvesting. Lingxiao (Ling) Zhang from Mississippi State University gave a presentation regarding the importance of soybeans in China, imports and export figures and soybean variety testing in China. Variety testing is handled quite differently in China as compared to the U.S. Dr. Zhang reported that in China soybean breeding, variety testing and variety releases are handled as a national program under the control of the Chinese government. It is somewhat similar to our USDA-ARS system. The Chinese system of variety classification is different from the U.S. maturity group classification. The Chinese distinguish varieties as spring, summer, or autumn types and they are different in different regions of the country. Next, Dennis Egli from the University of Kentucky, whose specialty is soybean physiology and seed technology, made a presentation on soybean yield trends in high and low yield environments in different soybean producing states for the purpose of determining whether a yield plateau had been reached. Dr. Egli concluded that there was no evidence in the data examined that a yield plateau had been reached in high yield environments. However he stated that there was some evidence that yield plateaus had been reached in some of the low yield environments. Daryl Bowman, NC State University, raised several issues relating to variety testing: (1) how to handle large numbers (>50) of wheat or corn entries (or other crops) in a single yield trial. Dr. Bowman indicated that he used spatial analysis to handle large tests in which there was a lot of field variation. Fred Allen, University of Tennessee, indicated that he routinely used incomplete blocks in the SAS analyses to reduce error caused by field variation. Others mentioned that large field variations were not a problem in their test sites. (2) inquires about contact information regarding Gleaner combine dealer in NC. Dr. Bowman provided the name and address as: Forrest Oakley, 4201 Highway 96, Oxford, NC 27565 (919-693-4367). (3) Dr. Bowman expressed concern that at least one major seed company had chosen not to participate in the university yield testing program in one or more states, and whether this would be an increasing trend in the future. In Kater Hakes absence, Kelly Whiting presented an overview of some of the input traits of the future. Some of the crops covered were corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat, vegetables, fruits, some grasses, and alfalfa. Traits will come from companies such as DuPont/Pioneer, Monsanto, Syngenta and others. Some of the traits covered were herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance, high and low temperature tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency, insect and disease resistance. Allen Wilson, a Juniper Systems/HarvestMaster Inc. representative, presented information on the HarvestMaster hardware and software available for field plot work. Chad Lee, Grain Crops Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky gave a presentation on the preliminary results that KY has on corn hybrids evaluated for ethanol production. Dr. Lee stated that their results indicate a positive relationship between starch content and ethanol yield, and a negative relationship between grain protein and oil and ethanol yield. They found differences among the 32 hybrids evaluated for ethanol yield per bushel of grain. Dr. Lee and colleagues Bill Pearce and Don Curd plan to continue a corn ethanol yield test in 2007. Fred Bourland, University of Arkansas, made a presentation on COTVAR  a computer program for comparing performance of cotton varieties in state variety tests from multiple states. The five states currently involved are AR, MO, TN, MS, and LA. Dr. Bourland stated that the program is in the final stages of development but the first version should be released in March, 2007. The program allows the user to compare selected varieties across the states, or across a state or region within or across the states. Ron Curd, University of Kentucky, made a presentation on equipment modifications that he had made for the purpose of planting, harvesting and processing sweet sorghum. His KY collaborators in those efforts have been Morris Bitzer and Todd Pfeiffer. Wade Thomason, Virginia Tech gave an update on the on-going work on hulless barley product and market development taking place in VA. He indicated that market development had been slow but there still may be niche opportunities in the future. In the final presentation on the Wednesday program, Kelly Whiting discussed the results of the survey that he conducted among the variety test coordinators for both university and industry programs. The results of the survey will be posted on the SCC-33 website. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:40 p.m. Business Meeting: The business meeting was called to order at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, January 31, 2007 by the moderator, Bill Bruening. A motion was made by Don Day, seconded by Kelly Whiting to accept the 2006 Minutes as distributed via email to the group. The motion passed without dissent. The 2007 SCC-33 Outstanding Service Award was presented to Debra Ahrent, University of Arkansas, for her years of excellent service to our group. Treasurers Report: Treasurer, Debra Ahrent reported that the SCC-33 account balance was $740.72 as of January 26, 2007. Bill Bruening made a motion, seconded by Chad Lee, to approve the Treasurers report. Motion passed. New Business: After some discussion about the SCC-33 web page, Roger Rhodes made a motion, seconded by Bill Pearce, to eliminate the Discussion Group icon on the web page and to change the Message Center icon to List Serve. All attendees were asked to encourage their colleagues who are involved in variety testing to attend the SCC-33 annual meeting, especially representatives from industry. Bill Bruening pointed out the necessity of having a minimum of $1000.00 in the treasury in order for the co-chairs to pay, prior to the annual meeting, for incidental expenses and meeting rooms associated with the annual meeting. Based on that discussion, a motion was made by Eugene Lacefield, seconded by Monty Malone and passed by the group to charge $100 for pre-registration in 2008 and $125 for on-site registration in 2008. Election of New Officers: Steve Moore from LSU was elected as the 2008 co-chair representing the public sector and Brent Sanders, Terral Seed Co. was elected as the 2008 co-chair representing the industry sector. Some discussion was held regarding the 2008 meeting site and a tentative plan was established to hold the meeting, Jan. 23-25, 2008, in San Antonio, TX. The plans could change and will be left to the discretion of the co-chairs for 2008. A motion to adjourn was made by Kelly Whiting, seconded by Brent Sanders and passed. The business meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m. Thursday Program: Kelly Whiting was the coordinator for the program on Thursday, February 1, 2007. The group toured 27 Farms located in Homestead, FL. Steve Moore introduced Robert Bishop, the general manager of 27 Farms, who gave the group an overview of their operations and explained that part of their business was conducting winter nurseries for university and commercial plant breeding programs. The other part of their operations is commercial production of vegetables and fruits. Steve Moore also discussed the corn and soybean population increases that LSU has contracted with 27 Farms. Afterwards the group departed for Pennecamp State Park in Key Largo. The group participated in a glass bottom boat tour of nearby coral reefs. The tour ended the official functions associated with the 2007 SCC-33 meeting. Minutes recorded by Fred Allen, University of Tennessee.

Publications for particpating institutions and organizations available at: http://www.mafes.msstate.edu/scc33/iegpubs.html