Germplasm collections

Dilday RH, Lin J, Yan W (1994) Identification of allelopathy in the USDA-ARS rice germplasm collection. Aust J Exp Agri 34 901-910... 

Table 1. Total germplasm holdings of CGIAR germplasm collections as of April...

Involve organic breeders and farmers in discussions if and what kind of germplasm material is missing in the collections, where that could be obtained or collected and, whenever feasible, to involve them in the actual collecting activity. Assist in searching for specific traits in germplasm collections worldwide ... 

Engels, J.M.M. and L. Visser (eds.) (2003) A guide to effective management of germplasm collections.- IPGRI Handbooks for Genebanks No. 6. IPGRI, Rome, Italy. 

Plant genetic resource collections are vital to plant breeding efforts. In the early 1990s, one survey concluded that the Jerusalem artichoke gene pool available to plant breeding may not exceed 150 accessions (van Soest et al., 1993). However, even given duplications in different collections, this appears to be an underestimate. Many hundreds of accessions are today maintained in plant germplasm collections worldwide. These include wild and weedy accessions, landraces or traditional and obsolete cultivars, and advanced or improved cultivars. 

Section 8.14.2). Two wild-collected accessions, one of Ukrainian (TJM060000F) and one of U.S. ( UE0100253 ) origin, are also held in other Ukrainian germplasm collections (Eurisco, 2003). 

In Slovakia, the crop plant germplasm collection is stored in around 18 specialized research and breeding institutes. The Research Institute of Plant Protection in Piestany, Slovakia, holds six accessions (2002 data) four advanced cultivars and a landrace from Hungary, and an advanced cultivar from the Czech Republic (IPGRI, 2006). 

IPGRI, IPGRI Directory of Germplasm Collections, July 2006, http //www.ipgri.org/, 2006. 

Lawrence, T., Toll, J., and van Sloten, D.H., Directory of Germplasm Collections. 2. Root and Tuber Crops. IB PGR, Rome, 1986. 

Tissue culture enables germplasm of Jerusalem artichoke to be preserved in biodiversity conservation programs. Once established in tissue culture, Jerusalem artichoke cultures can be stored for extended periods at low temperatures. In vitro cultures of nine cultivars, for example, were maintained in a Canadian study as a backup to a field germplasm collection (Volk and Richards, 2006). Survival was highest for plants kept for 3 months at 5°C, while after 6 months 52% of cultures remained healthy. 

Rao, Y.S., Gupta, U., Anand, K. and Naidu, R. (1993b) A note on large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) germplasm collection, journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 2(1 2), 77-80. 

The genetic diversity of wild sunflower allowed researchers to obtain a number of varieties of defined characteristics. The North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station (Iowa), which gathers dozens of species, has distributed materials to researchers and companies interested in either the study or use of these materials. The sunflower germplasm collection of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the largest and most complete collection worldwide, including wild materials from 48 U.S. states, as well as samples from Canada and Mexico. The... 

The positive agronomic characteristics of these endophytic associations have recently led to efforts to commercialize them. The ability to find natural associations, coupled with an ability to identify and maintain them in plant germplasm collections (Clement, 2000), will continue to be important. Current commercialization efforts have pursued several strategies and will potentially increase in both scope and number in the future. 

When William Morse retired in 1949, Martin G. Weiss replaced him. Weiss with Jackson L. Cartter of the U.S. Regional Soybean Laboratory at Utbana, Illinois, initiated the development of a comprehensive soybean germplasm collection. In 1951, Fdgar F. Hartwig was appointed curator of the southern collection at Stoneville, Mississippi. In 1954, Richard L. Bernard became the curator of the northern collection located at Urbana. 

Table 1.4. USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection and Number of Strains in Each Group as of December 31,2006 ...

After World War II, the USDA developed a national soybean germplasm collection. Curtendy, the collection contains over 20,000 strains. It is the primary source for new genetic traits for the improvement of soybean cultivars as well as for basic genetic studies. 

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