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Fishing in the gene pool: evaluation of barley genetic resources inEurope

D. ENNEKING 1,2 and H. KNÜPFFER 1

Introduction

The EU GENRES CT-98-104 project (ENNEKING 1999-2002) is concerned with im-proved access to, and utilisation of, barley germplasm in Europe. The three-yearproject began in 1999 with 28 partners (breeders, genebanks, public research institu-tions). In 2001, an additional seven partners from non-EU countries, including severalEU candidates, joined the project in its final phase.

Our activities are focussed on two areas:

• Development of an information system for European barley collections comprisingpassport, characterisation and evaluation data.

• Evaluation of barley germplasm for resistance against various biotic and abioticstresses.

The European Barley Database

The basis for the information system is an updated version of the European BarleyDatabase (EBDB) (ENNEKING 2001-2002, ENNEKING and KNÜPFFER 2001b). This isbeing developed as a backbone to link with information related to individual acces-sions.

The database is an inventory for barley germplasm held in 35 genebanks and for theInternational Barley Core Collection (BCC, 1,126 accessions, cf. KNÜPFFER andHINTUM 1995, 2003), totalling 155,525 accessions. Three collections from outside ofEurope, namely those of the International Center for Research in the Dry Areas,ICARDA, and the Australian Winter Cereals Collection, Tamworth, and the BarleyGermplasm Center, Okayama University, Japan, are also included.

1 Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)

GenebankCorrensstrasse 3D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany

2 present address: Breite Str. 46, D-06484 Quedlinburg, Germany

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For the passport data, emphasis is being placed on the improvement of geo-referencing, standardisation of accession names according to published cultivar in-ventories (ARIAS et al. 1983, BAUM et al. 1985, BAUMER and CAIS 2000) and compila-tion of synonymous accession numbers. Important sets of germplasm (i.e., materialfrom the German 1938/39 Tibet expedition, or from expeditions in Nepal 1971, Paki-stan 1974, etc., organised by the University of Bangor, Wales, UK.) which were virtu-ally inaccessible due to a lack of documentation detail have now been linked eithervia collecting, donor and synonymous numbers or on the basis of other clues. Forexample collecting site names are in some collections recorded as Cultivar or acces-sion names.

Evaluation of the Barley Core Collection for resistance against and tolerance tobiotic stresses

The BCC has been conceived as a representative sample of the genetic diversity inthe barley gene pool to provide a manageable set of genetically well defined acces-sions (maximum 2,000 entries) for genetic, characterisation, and evaluation studies(KNÜPFFER and HINTUM 1995).

Screening for resistance against, in the European context, economically importantfungal and viral diseases was carried on its complete East Asian, American, Euro-pean, and partial South-West Asian subsets.

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the available genetic diversity fordisease resistance and to pinpoint particular parts of the genepool for further detailedevaluation.

For the years 1999, 2000 and 2001, a total of 23,899 observations were provided bypartners of the project GENRES CT98-104, funded by the European Union. Thesedata were collected during three spring and two winter seasons. 22,571 observationson BCC material were used as the basis for a first analysis. Two further seasons ob-servations (winter 2000 and spring 2001) have been carried out (bringing the total to41,273 observations) but have not been completely included in the present analysis.

Resistances against Pyrenophora teres and Rhynchosporium secalis and the virusdiseases (BaYMV complex, BYDV) have been observed in accessions of the BCC.Resistance to Blumeria graminis and Puccinia hordei is limited in the H. vulgaregermplasm of the BCC and mainly restricted to well characterised cultivars. It ap-pears that the BCC subset from ICARDA (incl. H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum) includespromising germplasm for resistance against leaf rust and powdery mildew. Parts ofthis short paper have been presented at other meetings (ENNEKING and KNÜPFFER

2001a, ENNEKING et al. 2001).

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References

ARIAS, G., REINER, A.; A. PENGER and A. MANGSTL (1983): Directory of barley cultivarsand lines. Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer.

BAUM, B.R., L.G. BAILEY and B.K. THOMPSON (1985): Barley register. CanadaGovernm. Publ. Centre. Cat. No. A53-1783/1985.

BAUMER, M. and R. CAIS (2000): Abstammung der Gerstensorten. Freising: Bayeri-sche Landesanstalt für Bodenkultur und Pflanzenbau.http://www.stmelf.bayern.de/lbp/forsch/pz/gerstenstamm.pdf.

ENNEKING, D. (1999-2002): Evaluation and conservation of barley genetic resourcesto improve their accessibility to breeders in Europe.Project homepage: http://barley.ipk-gatersleben.de.

ENNEKING, D. (2001-2002): The ECP/GR European Barley Database.http://barley.ipk-gatersleben.de/ebdb.php3.

ENNEKING, D. and H. KNÜPFFER (2001a). Fishing in the gene pool: Evaluation of bar-ley genetic resources in Europe. In: Abstracts, EUCARPIA Section Genetic Re-sources Symposium “Broad Variation and Precise Characterization – Limitationfor the Future”, May 16-20, 2001, Poznan, Poland, pp. 79-80.

ENNEKING, D. and H. KNÜPFFER (2001b): The European Barley Database. In: H.KNÜPFFER, R. VON BOTHMER, M. AMBROSE, R. ELLIS, A.M. STANCA, D. ENNEKING,L. MAGGIONI and E. LIPMAN (compilers): Report of a Working Group on Barley.Sixth Meeting, 3 December 2000, Salsomaggiore, Italy. IPGRI, Rome, pp. 50-62.

ENNEKING, D.; E. SCHLIEPHAKE and H. KNÜPFFER (2001): Documentation and evalua-tion of barley genetic resources in Europe. 4th International Triticeae Sympo-sium, Córdoba, Spain. Junta de Andalucía. Consejera de Agricultura y Pesca,Córdoba, p. 26.

KNÜPFFER, H. and TH. VAN HINTUM (1995): The Barley Core Collection - an interna-tional effort. In: T. HODGKIN, A.H.D. BROWN, TH.J.L. VAN HINTUM and E.A.V.MORALES (Eds.), Core Collections of Plant Genetic Resources. John Wiley andSons, U.K., pp. 171-178.

KNÜPFFER, H. and TH.J.L. VAN HINTUM (2003): Summarised diversity - the Barley CoreCollection. In: R. VON BOTHMER, T.J.L. VAN HINTUM, H. KNÜPFFER and K. SATO

(Eds.), Diversity in Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Elsevier Science, pp. 259-267.