Short Communication

Barley Genetics Newsletter (2010) 40:1

 

 

Hordeum vulgare – H. bulbosum introgression lines.

 

Richard Pickering (retired), Paul Johnston, Viji Meiyalaghan, Stan Ebdon and Ed Morgan The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Private Bag 4704, Christchurch

New Zealand

 

In cooperation with many international research workers and breeders, our team at The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, New Zealand, has developed 195 lines from H. vulgare x H. bulbosum hybrids. These lines contain discrete introgressions of H. bulbosum chromatin in an H. vulgare background. The size and location of the introgressions have been characterised and the introgressions have been assigned to specific chromosomes using molecular and cytogenetic methods. All of them have been screened in small-plot nurseries in New Zealand, Nordic countries and elsewhere; some have been evaluated agronomically in yield trials and developed further by plant breeders in Nordic countries and in Europe, North America and Australasia. The resistance or tolerance of these lines to diseases that are limiting factors in barley cultivation has been recorded. They also possess other traits that could be valuable in breeding programmes such as those focused on tolerance to abiotic stresses. The lines will be freely available from NordGen within the next few months once they have been multiplied; stocks will be lodged in the ‘Svalbard Global Seed Vault’ sited within the Arctic Circle.

 

For more information on the lines contact:

paul.johnston@plantandfood.co.nz (Dr Paul Johnston)

ed.morgan@plantandfood.co.nz (Ed Morgan, group leader)

 

Breeders and researchers can obtain details of availability and access as well as order seeds from:

 

NordGen

Nordic Genetic Resource Center
Box 41, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

www.nordgen.org