The next five years of the
UK Vegetable Genebank
Charlotte Allender
Warwick Crop Centre, School of Life Sciences
Farming systems have changed….
We now grow fewer varieties of a smaller number of crops
Crop genetic diversity once
maintained by farmers has been lost
or is at risk
Modern mechanized agriculture needs uniform varieties adapted
to agronomic practices – traditional material does not fit
requirements
The UK Vegetable Genebank: conserving
vegetable genetic diversity
• UK vegetable genebank
• Globally significant seed collections
• Funded by Defra
Total number of Accessions
Brassica (cabbage and related
crops)
Allium (onions, leeks)
Daucus (carrot)
Lactuca (lettuce)
Raphanus (radish)
13980
5273
1754
1481
1483
803
Genetic variation is the raw material used by plant breeders…..
• Wild relatives of crops and landraces are important parts of crop gene pool
• Changes in farming practices resulted in reduction of crop genetic diversity
?
Crop wild relatives - potential sources of
beneficial traits for new crop varieties
Collecting locations for wild carrot accessions
conserved in the Genebank
Landraces reflect local
environment and
preferences
Cauliflower and broccoli in Italy
are good examples
Priorities for 2014-2019
Project divided into Work Packages
• WP1 – Housing and maintenance
• WP2 – Conservation
• WP3 – Security and Storage
• WP4 – Records and Archives
• WP5 – Networking
• WP6 – Increasing Utilization
Project Resources
Staff
Senior technician
(operational manager)
3 x technicians
Resource for database
development and curation
Facilities:
2 x cold stores
2 x drying rooms
Bulb store
3 x glasshouses
46 isolation cages
2 x Dutch Light frames
Seed laboratory
WP1,2 and 3: collection management
• Seed stored under low moisture/low
temperature regime
• Packaged in foil laminate pouches
• Viability of seed monitored
• Regeneration of material as required
• Seed made available to researchers
and plant breeders upon request
Regeneration is a vital part of collection management
Germination tests used to monitor health of the seed in long
term storage
Data Management
Currently MS Access database
• Passport data (standard format)
• Stock management data
New data management system to be developed
• Web-based
• Better integration of characterization data
• Directly searchable
• Online ordering
• Barcoding of seed packets
Increasing Utilization
• Improve access to data
• Collect more characterization and
evaluation data
• Demonstration field trials with partners
VeGIN Carrot field trial 2012
and other events showcased
material from the collection
European Cooperative Programme on Plant Genetic
Resources
Membership of crop-specific
Working Groups
• Brassica
• Leafy Vegetables
• Umbellifer
• Allium
• Solanaceae
AEGIS – A European integrated genebank system
• Decentralised
European collection of
plant genetic resources
• More efficient use of
resources to conserve
unique and important
material
Use of Warwick GRU Material in Genetic
Improvement Networks
GINs –facilitate the development of new crop varieties which can offer
higher productivity under reduced inputs and a changing
environment
Development of ‘Diversity Sets’ as a resource:
- representative sub-sample of genepool
- derived from genebank accessions
- allow targeted genetic research and facilitate introduction of key
traits into breeding lines
The Team….
Manager
Deputy
Senior Technician
Glasshouse Manager
Technician
Technician (research)
Charlotte Allender
Peter Walley
Rob Hornsey
Ann Price
Joan Yurkwich
John Carder