NATIONAL SMALL GRAINS COLLECTION WHEAT GERMPLASM EVALUATIONS.
National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility, Agricultural
Research Service-USDA, Cooperation University of Idaho,
Aberdeen, ID USA.
H.E. Bockelman, D.M. Wesenberg, S. Nieto, and B.J.
Goates.
The USDA-ARS National Small Grains Collection
(NSGC) is one of several components of the National Plant Germplasm
System. The NSGC is a working collection, in contrast to the
base collection at the National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL)
at Fort Collins, Colorado. The numbers of accessions in the NSGC
are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. USDA-ARS National Small Grains Collection.
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Triticum 47,245
Hordeum 27,274
Avena 21,285
Oryza 17,107
Aegilops 1,994
Secale 1,914
X Triticosecale 1,381
All Species 118,237
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*March, 1996
The systematic evaluation of wheat accessions in
the NSGC and other elite germplasm continued to be coordinated
or conducted by the National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility
(NSGGRF) staff at Aberdeen during 1995. Cooperative NSGC wheat
evaluations continued for reaction to Russian wheat aphid; Hessian
fly; barley yellow dwarf virus; stripe, leaf, and stem rust; powdery
mildew; and dwarf bunt, as well as ploidy analysis of Triticum
species. The evaluations identified resistance to dwarf and common
bunt of wheat and resistance to Russian wheat aphid in wheat and
barley. The Aberdeen staff is involved directly in the entry
of NSGC evaluation data into the GRIN system and the evaluation
of growth habit of NSGC wheat accessions.
Under the direction of H.E. Bockelman, the NSGC
staff distributed over 27,000 accessions in 1995. Maintenance
and evaluation of NSGC small grains germplasm, including quarantine
entries, also continued at Maricopa, AZ, in 1994-95 under
the supervision of S. Nieto. Experiments coordinated locally
by B.J. Goates continued at three field locations to determine
the relationship of inoculum levels on seed or in soil on dwarf
bunt incidence. Fumigation of soil with methyl bromide at three
field locations killed teliospores of Tilletia controversa.
Specific Cooperative Agreements or within ARS Fund
Transfers involving such cooperative evaluations and related research
for all small grains involve several University and ARS projects
in at least 15 states. Fund transfers concerned with wheat germplasm
evaluations involve Pullman, WA (Line); West Lafayette, IN (Ratcliffe);
Manhattan, KS (Hatchett & Eversmeyer); Davis, CA (Qualset);
and Stillwater, OK (Webster).
Descriptors appropriate for wheat were established
in collaboration with the Wheat Crop Advisory Committee. Field
evaluation data are recorded on such descriptors as growth habit,
number of days from planting to anthesis (heading), plant height,
spike or panicle density, lodging, straw breakage, shattering,
and awn and glume characteristics, including color. Data on field
descriptors were obtained on approximately 36,000 wheat accessions
during the 1983-95 period. Special nurseries are grown for
that purpose at Aberdeen, ID, and Maricopa, AZ, with grain being
harvested from each field evaluation nursery to replenish NSGC
seed stocks.
Data obtained from evaluations of NSGC germplasm
are entered in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)
system by the NSGGRF staff in cooperation with the ARS National
Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, MD. GRIN is a database
containing the characteristics and availability of all genetic
resources included in the National Plant Germplasm System. The
Database Manager is J.D. Mowder, Beltsville, Maryland. The NSGGRF
staff interacts with the GRIN system in recording NSGC orders
(seed requests), entering a variety of data, and conducting information
searches. No evaluations have been conducted to date for descriptors
such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance, winter hardiness, Cephalosporium
stripe, flag smut, leaf blight, loose smut, snow mold, take all,
tan spot, wheat streak mosaic, green bug, cereal leaf beetle,
and protein.
Triticum descriptors with data currently
on the GRIN system are summarized in Tables 2, 3, and 4 (updated
March, 1996).
Similar evaluations are currently underway for other
major NSGC components, including barley, oats, rice, and triticale.
Other important cooperative projects, especially involving wheat,
include the Specific Cooperative Agreement "Evaluation of
Small Grains Germplasm, including west Asian Triticum,
for BYD and other Characters" (University of California,
Davis-C.O. Qualset). B.J. Goates annually conducts evaluations
of wheat germplasm for bunt resistance at Aberdeen, ID, and Logan,
UT.
The authors wish to acknowledge the important contributions
of the NSGGRF staff in this effort, with special thanks to Glenda
B. Rutger, John F. Connett, Kathy E. Burrup, Dave E. Burrup, Kay
B. Calzada, Vicki Gamble, Evalyne McLean, Judy Bradley, Carol
S. Truman, Fawn R. Buffi, Sharon Klassen, and M.A. Bohning.
Table 2. National Small Grains Collection disease evaluations on grain-wheat.
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Number of Character Years Location accessions
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Barley yellow dwarf virus 1985-92 Davis, CA 2,287
Barley yellow dwarf virus 1988-94 Urbana, IL 17,517
Soilborne mosaic virus 1985-89 Urbana, IL 6,587
Leaf rust 1983-89, 1991-95 Manhattan, KS 38,753
Stripe rust-Adult 1984-95 Mt. Vernon, WA 30,525
Stripe rust-Adult 1984-95 Pullman, WA 21,803
Stripe rust-Cdl 17 1984-95 Pullman, WA 15,455
Stripe rust-Cdl 20 1984-95 Pullman, WA 12,508
Stripe rust-Cdl 25 1984-95 Pullman, WA 1,682
Stripe rust-Cdl 27 1984-95 Pullman, WA 14,511
Stripe rust-Cdl 29 1984-95 Pullman, WA 14,259
Stripe rust-Cdl 37 1984-95 Pullman, WA 1,851
Stripe rust-Cdl 43 1984-95 Pullman, WA 1,805
Stripe rust-Cdl 45 1984-95 Pullman, WA 1,880
Stem rust-Adult 1987-94 Rosemount, MN 8,078
Stem rust-Adult 1987-94 St. Paul, MN 19,141
Stem rust-HJCS 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,342
Stem rust-QFBS 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 8,639
Stem rust-QSHS 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,455
Stem rust-RHRS 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,312
Stem rust-RTQQ 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 8,973
Stem rust-TNMH 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,402
Stem rust-TNMK 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 8,938
Stem rust-HNLQ 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,705
Stem rust-RKQS 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 4,682
Stem rust-Genes 1987-92 St. Paul, MN 1,018
Common bunt-R36 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID1 74
Common bunt-R39 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID1 1,422
Common bunt-R43 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID1 318
Common bunt-T-1 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID1 6,301
Common bunt-Multiple 1981-95 Aberdeen, ID1 11,093
Dwarf bunt 1978-95 Aberdeen, ID2 9,033
Septoria nodorum 1970-78 Bozeman, MT 8,095
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1 1985-86 Pendleton, OR.
2 Field tests are conducted at Logan, UT, by Aberdeen
ARS staff.