V. CULTIVARS AND GERMPLASM

NATIONAL SMALL GRAINS COLLECTION WHEAT GERMPLASM EVALUATIONS.

USDA-ARS National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility, Agricultural Research Service-USDA, University of Idaho Cooperating, P.O. Box 307, Aberdeen, ID USA.

National Small Grains Collection wheat germplasm evaluations.

H.E. Bockelman, D.M. Wesenberg, C.A. Erickson, B.J. Goates, and S. Nieto.

The USDA-ARS National Small Grains Collection (NSGC) is one of the 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 Nation Small Grains Collection.

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Taxonomy NSGC Accessions*

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Triticum 45,962

Hordeum 27,285

Avena 21,242

Oryza 17,514

Aegilops 2,076

Secale 1,914

X Triticosecale 1,381

All Species 117,411

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* March, 1997

The systematic evaluation of wheat accessions in the NSGC and other elite germplasm continued to be coordinated or conducted by National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility (NSGGRF) staff at Aberdeen during 1996. Cooperative NSGC wheat evaluations continued for reaction to RWA; Hessian fly; BYDV; 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 RWA in wheat and barley. The Aberdeen staff has been directly involved 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 21,000 accessions in 1996 and more than 2,000 to date in 1997. Maintenance and evaluation of NSGC small grains germplasm, including quarantine entries, also continued at Maricopa, AZ, in 1995-96 under the supervision of S. Nieto. A 3-year experiment designed to determine the relationship of inoculum levels on seed or in soil on dwarf bunt incidence was completed in 1996. The experiment was coordinated by B.J. Goates and conducted at three field locations in Montana and Utah. Fumigation of soil with methyl bromide at the three field locations effectively killed teliospores of T. 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 and Eversmeyer), Davis, CA (Qualset), and Stillwater, OK (Webster).

A new Specific Cooperative Agreement entitled `Evaluation of Wheat Germplasm for Resistance to Karnal Bunt Disease' was initiated in 1996 with CIMMYT. Dr. Jesse Dubin, Head Crop Protection, is the Principle CIMMYT Investigator with the cooperation of Dr. G. Fuentes Davila and Dr. S. Rajaram. The new project is designed to evaluate the reaction of established spring and winter wheat cultivars, elite spring and winter wheat germplasm, and selected NSGC accessions to Karnal bunt disease. Initial evaluations involve spring and facultative wheat. A 200-entry 1996-97 Karnal Bunt Evaluation Trial, composed of 199 spring and facultative wheat varieties and selections and Betzes barley was planted in Mexico for evaluation of resistance to Karnal bunt disease. Research is being performed at CIMMYT facilities at Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico. The wheats include proprietary varieties developed by AgriPro, Arizona Plant Breeders, Northrup King, Pioneer HiBred International, Inc., Resources Seeds, Inc., Western Plant Breeders, and World Wide Wheat (Seeds West) and varieties and selections developed in the public sector in California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, California/Australia, CIMMYT/California, Pioneer/North Dakota Research Foundation, USDA-ARS/Idaho, USDA-ARS/Minnesota, Washington/Idaho/USDA-ARS, and Washington/Oregon. Market classes include durum, hard red spring, soft white spring, hard white spring, soft red winter, and hard white winter. The project is expected to end in February, 2002, subject to annual renewal.

Descriptors appropriate for wheat have been established in collaboration with the Wheat Crop Germplasm 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 have been obtained on approximately 36,000 wheat accessions during the 1983-96 period. Special nurseries are grown for that purpose at Aberdeen, Idaho and Maricopa, Arizona, 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, MD. 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, WSMV, green bug, cereal leaf beetle, and protein.


Triticum descriptors with data currently on the GRIN system are summarized below:

(updated March, 1997)

Table 2. National Small Grains Collection disease evaluation on GRIN-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 38,754

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 15,456

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 1,671

Common bunt-R36 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID 1 74

Common bunt-R39 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID 1 1,422

Common bunt-R43 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID 1 318

Common bunt-T-1 1981-92 Aberdeen, ID 1 6,301

Common bunt-multiple 1981-95 Aberdeen, ID 1 11,093

Dwarf bunt 1978-96 Aberdeen, ID 2 9,924

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.

Table 3. National Small Grains Collection insect evaluation on GRIN-wheat.

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Number of

Character Years Location accessions

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Hessian fly-B 1983-94 West Lafayette, IN 449

Hessian fly-C 1983-94 West Lafayette, IN 24,165

Hessian fly-E 1983-94 West Lafayette, IN 24,149

Hessian fly-GP 1983-94 West Lafayette, IN 14,441

Hessian fly-L 1983-94 West Lafayette, IN 5,864

Russian wheat aphid 1988-95 Stillwater, OK 41,109

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Table 4. National Small Grains Collection agronomic, taxonomic, and quality evaluations on GRIN-wheat.

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Number of

Character Years Location accessions

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Growth habit 1987-94 Aberdeen, ID 36,931

Chromosome number 1988-91 Columbia, MO 519

Market class 975

Lysine content 1966-69 Lincoln, NE 10,367

Awn color 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 20,065

Awn type 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 24,070

Glume color 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 19,992

Glume pubescence 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 21,355

Heading date 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 18,392

Kernel color 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 19,993

Kernels/spike 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 1,156

Kernel weight 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 1,157

Leaf pubescence 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 21,059

Plant height 1983-95 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 21,173

Shattering 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 10,637

Spike density 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 13,850

Spike type 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 13,668

Straw breakage 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 17,003

Straw color 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 19,019

Straw lodging 1983-94 Aberdeen, ID & Maricopa, AZ 23,243

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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, CA; 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, Jill E. McNeil, Kathy E. Burrup, Dave E. Burrup, Kay B. Calzada, Vicki Gamble, Evalyne McLean, Judy Bradley, Carol S. Truman, Sharon Klassen, and Mark A. Bohning.

Wheat Genetic Stocks Collection.

An Hang.

A major portion of the E.R. Sears Wheat Genetic Stocks Collection has been transferred to the USDA-ARS National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility at Aberdeen, ID. These stocks consist of various aneuploids of Chinese Spring wheat, including monosomic, trisomic, tetrasomic, nullisomic-tetrasomic, ditelosomic, double monotelosomic, dimonotelosomic, monotelodisomic, double ditelosomic, and various addition, substitution, and translocation lines. A list of these stocks and seed are available upon request to Dr. An Hang, USDA-ARS, P.O. Box 307, Aberdeen, ID 83210.
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