D. ENNEKING and H.

KNPFFER

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

D. E NNEKING 1,2 and H. K NPFFER 1

Introduction The EU GENRES CT-98-104 project ( NNEKING 1999-2002) is concerned with imE proved access to, and utilisation of, barley germplasm in Europe. The three-year project began in 1999 with 28 partners (breeders, genebanks, public research institutions). In 2001, an additional seven partners from non-EU countries, including several EU candidates, joined the project in its final phase. Our activities are focussed on two areas: Development of an information system for European barley collections comprising passport, characterisation and evaluation data. Evaluation of barley germplasm for resistance against various biotic and abiotic stresses.

The European Barley Database The basis for the information system is an updated version of the European Barley Database (EBDB) (ENNEKING 2001-2002, ENNEKING and KNPFFER 2001b). This is being developed as a backbone to link with information related to individual accessions. The database is an inventory for barley germplasm held in 35 genebanks and for the International Barley Core Collection (BCC, 1,126 accessions, cf. KNPFFER and HINTUM 1995, 2003), totalling 155,525 accessions. Three collections from outside of Europe, namely those of the International Center for Research in the Dry Areas, ICARDA, and the Australian Winter Cereals Collection, Tamworth, and the Barley Germplasm Center, Okayama University, Japan, are also included.
1

Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Genebank Corrensstrasse 3 D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany present address: Breite Str. 46, D-06484 Quedlinburg, Germany

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

For the passport data, emphasis is being placed on the improvement of georeferencing, standardisation of accession names according to published cultivar inventories (ARIAS et al. 1983, BAUM et al. 1985, BAUMER and CAIS 2000) and compilation of synonymous accession numbers. Important sets of germplasm (i.e., material from the German 1938/39 Tibet expedition, or from expeditions in Nepal 1971, Pakistan 1974, etc., organised by the University of Bangor, Wales, UK.) which were virtually inaccessible due to a lack of documentation detail have now been linked either via collecting, donor and synonymous numbers or on the basis of other clues. For example collecting site names are in some collections recorded as Cultivar or accession names.

Evaluation of the Barley Core Collection for resistance against and tolerance to biotic stresses The BCC has been conceived as a representative sample of the genetic diversity in the barley gene pool to provide a manageable set of genetically well defined accessions (maximum 2,000 entries) for genetic, characterisation, and evaluation studies (KNPFFER and HINTUM 1995). Screening for resistance against, in the European context, economically important fungal and viral diseases was carried on its complete East Asian, American, European, and partial South-West Asian subsets. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the available genetic diversity for disease resistance and to pinpoint particular parts of the genepool for further detailed evaluation. For the years 1999, 2000 and 2001, a total of 23,899 observations were provided by partners of the project GENRES CT98-104, funded by the European Union. These data were collected during three spring and two winter seasons. 22,571 observations on BCC material were used as the basis for a first analysis. Two further seasons observations (winter 2000 and spring 2001) have been carried out (bringing the total to 41,273 observations) but have not been completely included in the present analysis. Resistances against Pyrenophora teres and Rhynchosporium secalis and the virus diseases (BaYMV complex, BYDV) have been observed in accessions of the BCC. Resistance to Blumeria graminis and Puccinia hordei is limited in the H. vulgare germplasm of the BCC and mainly restricted to well characterised cultivars. It appears that the BCC subset from ICARDA (incl. H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum) includes promising germplasm for resistance against leaf rust and powdery mildew. Parts of this short paper have been presented at other meetings (ENNEKING and KNPFFER 2001a, ENNEKING et al. 2001). 220

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References ARIAS, G., REINER, A.; A. PENGER and A. MANGSTL (1983): Directory of barley cultivars and lines. Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer. BAUM , B.R., L.G. BAILEY and B.K. THOMPSON (1985): Barley register. Canada Governm. Publ. Centre. Cat. No. A53-1783/1985. BAUMER, M. and R. CAIS (2000): Abstammung der Gerstensorten. Freising: Bayerische Landesanstalt fr Bodenkultur und Pflanzenbau. http://www.stmelf.bayern.de/lbp/forsch/pz/gerstenstamm.pdf. ENNEKING, D. (1999-2002): Evaluation and conservation of barley genetic resources to 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. KNPFFER (2001a). Fishing in the gene pool: Evaluation of barley genetic resources in Europe. In: Abstracts, EUCARPIA Section Genetic Resources Symposium Broad Variation and Precise Characterization Limitation for the Future, May 16-20, 2001, Poznan, Poland, pp. 79-80. ENNEKING, D. and H. KNPFFER (2001b): The European Barley Database. In: H. KNPFFER, R. VON BOTHMER, M. A MBROSE , 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. 5062. ENNEKING, D.; E. SCHLIEPHAKE and H. KNPFFER (2001): Documentation and evaluation of barley genetic resources in Europe. 4th International Triticeae Symposium, Crdoba, Spain. Junta de Andaluca. Consejera de Agricultura y Pesca, Crdoba, p. 26. KNPFFER, H. and TH. VAN HINTUM (1995): The Barley Core Collection - an international 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 and Sons, U.K., pp. 171-178. KNPFFER, H. and TH.J.L. VAN HINTUM (2003): Summarised diversity - the Barley Core Collection. In: R. VON BOTHMER, T.J.L. VAN HINTUM , H. KNPFFER and K. SATO (Eds.), Diversity in Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Elsevier Science, pp. 259-267.

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