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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Aberdeen, Idaho » Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #72299
Title: RYE GERMPLASM RESOURCES IN THE USDA-ARS NATIONAL SMALL GRAINS COLLECTION

Author
item Bockelman, Harold
item Eberhart, Steve
item PUCHALSKI, JERZY - POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
item Webster, James

Submitted to: Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The NSGC Rye Collection consists of 1,897 accessions in nine species and subspecies of Secale with origins in at least 62 countries. Landraces constitute more than 1,100 accessions with significant collections from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. The rye accessions were acquired through exchange with other genebanks and institutes, organized collecting expeditions, and rye breeding programs. Regenerations are scheduled based on seed viability and inventory quantities. Viability tests are scheduled every 10 years. Presently, viability data is available on 1,713 accessions. About 97% of the tested accessions have greater than 60% viability and 73% have greater than 85% viability. A total of 1,628 accessions have seed supplied from the joint regeneration project of NSSL and the Botanical Garden of the Polish Academy of Sciences ("Rye Seed Regeneration for Long- Term Storage", PL-ARS-140(A)). The NSGC Rye Collection is being evaluated for a number of traits, including various agronomic, disease, insect, and quality descriptors. Rye accessions were evaluated for reaction to Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia),an important new insect threat in the western U.S. Usable levels of resistance (consisting of various levels of antibiosis, antixenosis, and tolerance) were found in 45 accessions, mainly from Afghanistan and Turkey. Data on several agronomic, seed, and quality traits were collected in the NSSL/Botanical Garden project, including grainfill period, tillering, 1000 kernel weight, kernels per spike, protein content, and others. Considerable variability exists among the accessions for these traits. Landrace accessions from the former Yugoslavia appear to be a good source of higher seed protein content. The descriptor data, plus available passport data will be utilized in selection of a rye core subset.