The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Genn., is a major pest of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and other crops throughout the tropics and subtropics. The objectives of this study were to characterize 255 accessions of S. galapagense, S. cheesmaniae and S. pimpinellifolium for trichome types, and to evaluate selected accessions with high densities of glandular trichomes for...
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) belongs to the genus Lactuca L. and is an important vegetable worldwide. Over the past decades, there have been many controversies about the phylogeny of Lactuca species due to their complex and diverse morphological characters and insufficient molecular sampling. In this study we provide the most extensive molecular phylogenetic reconstruction of...
The basis of any patterns of variation in plant populations is the breeding system they express. In the genus Brachypodium, the breeding system ranges from autogamy in facultatively chasmogamic Brachypodium distachyon to allogamy in obligatory chasmogamic B. pinnatum. B. distachyon and B. sylvaticum appeared to be extremes with respect to dormancy and germination behaviour...
Old World crops entered the Americas as provision on slave ships and were planted by enslaved Africans in their home gardens, known as the ‘Botanical Gardens of the Dispossessed’. Escaped slaves who settled in Maroon communities in Suriname’s forested interior practiced shifting cultivation for centuries with seeds they brought from their home gardens. After the abolishment of...
Alkaloids represent the main antinutritional factor in lupins. The total content and qualitative composition of four major alkaloids in L. angustifolius L. were analyzed. The material included 329 accessions from the Polish collection divided into three classes of origin: wild lines, cultivars, and other man-made accessions. A very broad differentiation was found in terms of...
Salt stress is becoming a serious problem in food production field. To find sources of salt tolerance, we screened 74 accessions of adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) and 145 accessions of cross-compatible wild relatives (seven species). We performed the primary screening in soil culture and the secondary screening in hydroponic culture, and identified JP205833 of V. riukiuensis...
A recently developed synthetic amphiploid, Triticum timococcum Kost., nom. nud. (2n = 6x = 42, AtAtGGAmAm) is described in the present study. This hexaploid taxon was developed by colchicine treatment in Martonvásár from the hybrid of a selected accession of Triticum timopheevii Zhuk. (2n = 4x = 28, AtAtGG) and a prebred semi-dwarf line of Triticum monococcum L. (2n = 2x = 14...
The attempt was made to estimate the mechanical loads on seeds, taking into account their geometric properties and chemical composition. Material chosen for the study comprised 46 samples of common vetch representing collection accessions originated from Europe. Additionally, accessions of other legume species were involved. The study included determinations of seed thickness and...
With the aim of identifying durum wheat landraces (LR) with a potential use in breeding programs for gluten strength enhancement, the allelic combinations present at five glutenin loci were determined in a collection of 155 LR from 21 Mediterranean countries. A set of 18 modern cultivars (MC) was used for comparison. Gluten strength was determined by SDS-sedimentation test on...
The genetic diversity of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is held by landraces, which are generally considered to be endemic to a particular region to which they are well adapted. To evaluate the effect of climate in the countries of origin on their agronomic performance, 172 durum wheat landraces from 21 Mediterranean countries were grown in northeastern Spain. Average long...
Central crop databases or registries are important tools to enhance the use and conservation of plant genetic resources. In 2008–2009 a group of Centers from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research worked together on the development of central crop registries for eight different crops. The International Rice Research Institute and the International Maize and...
Recent advances in next generation sequencing technologies make genotyping by sequencing (GBS) more feasible for molecular characterization of plant germplasm with complex and unsequenced genomes. We used a GBS protocol consisting of Roche 454 pyrosequencing, genomic reduction and advanced bioinformatics tools to analyze genetic diversity of 24 diverse yellow mustard accessions...
In Poland oat breeding began at the late nineteenth century. During the World War II almost all of Polish breeding materials were lost, and then were replaced by German cultivars. The main aim of this paper was to show the level of genetic diversity of Polish oat cultivars which were bred before 1939. Simultaneously usefulness and informativeness of molecular and morphological...
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center maintains the world’s largest international public collection of vegetable genetic resources at its headquarters in Taiwan. The ex situ conservation and dissemination of germplasm to researchers and breeders worldwide contributes to global food and nutrition security but also carries considerable costs. The objective of this study is to quantify...
Hd1 is one of the major photoperiod genes with high degree of polymorphisms and contributes to rice (Oryza sativa L.) flowering in different light conditions. Ninety-two rice landraces and 111 accessions of common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) from the mini-core collections in China were selected and sequenced to analyze the domestication process and association of Hd1 with...
The genetic basis of adaptation can be unraveled directly at the genome level, without regard to selectively advantageous genes or traits. Genetic variation and adaptation of polyploidy in the evolution of plants is becoming an area of intense interest. Whether hexaploid wheatgrass species has higher adaptability to altitude than tetraploid or not needs to be proofed by...
Due to the rapid diffusion of improved crop varieties, fewer and fewer landraces are being grown by farmers. The on-farm conservation of crop landraces has been proposed as means of conserving potentially important crop germplasm as an alternative to its ex situ conservation in gene banks, but the effectiveness of this approach is unproven. Particular attention is currently...
The National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) Genebank coordinates the conservation of plant, microorganism, and animal genetic resources related to food and agriculture in Japan. It also coordinates the distribution of genetic resources in the public domain for research, breeding, and educational purposes. To operate the NIAS Genebank efficiently, we have developed a...
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture entered into force in 2004 and is an important instrument by which plant breeders can access crop genetic diversity on the basis of multilateral “facilitated access”. To test how well access works, we sent seed requests to 121 countries that are Contracting Parties to the Treaty. Seeds were received from...
The morphological variations (growth habit, leaf shape, leaf color, height, stem diameter, number of branches and internodes, leaf area, blade ratio, leaf thickness, number of leaves, and total leaf area) and protein content of 53 Indonesian amaranths (Amaranthus spp.), consisting of weedy-, vegetable-, and ornamental-types, were assessed. The extent of variation in the...
All over the world about 220,000 accessions of the genus Avena is preserved in gene banks. Polish oats collection, in the National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, consists of about 2,500 accessions. More than 80 % of them belong to the species Avena sativa. Only 136 accessions have the landrace or traditional cultivar status and 91 of them were collected in Poland. The main...