The USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NGPS) is an invaluable resource to researchers and breeders of horticultural crops. Crop Germplasm Committees, with members from academic, private and governmental organizations provide expertise in a variety of topics, including collection priorities and vulnerabilities, identifying important traits for evaluation, and reviewing Plant Exploration and Evaluation grant proposals. The CGCs are a great opportunity for ASHS members to get more involved in setting germplasm related priorities for their crops of interest. This session gives an overview of the activities of the CGC and highlight activities of 3 specific CGCs. The talks will be followed by a 30-minute discussion session on avenues for increased interaction between the ASHS PICs and the CGCs to ensure that germplasm collection priorities are relevant to the needs of stakeholders.
Coordinator(s)- Cecilia McGregor, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
Speaker/Participant(s)- Gayle Volk, USDA, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
Introduction to Crop Germplasm Committees: An Opportunity to have an Impact on Crop Collections in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (20 mins)
Summary: The USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) maintains over 620, 000 accessions of more than 200 crops at 22 sites around the United States. Most crop collections have Crop Germplasm Committees (CGC) that provide guidance to the curator with regard to vulnerabilities, acquisitions, maintenance, genotypic characterization, phenotypic evaluations and distribution. CGCs welcome new members to improve the quality and impact of the NPGS collections. - Glenn Wright, University of Arizona - Yuma Agriculture Center, Yuma, AZ, United States
The Rewards and Challenges of Chairing Two Crop Germplasm Committees (20 mins)
Summary: The Citrus CGC and the Date Palm CGC are both affiliated with the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates in Riverside, CA. Membership of both committees include representatives of the federal government, academia, and industry. Activities of both committees include advising the NCGRCD on critical issues, including staffing, infrastructure, threats to the genebank, and germplasm backup, acquisition, sanitation, and distribution. We also advise repository staff on project plans, relevant research, and strategic planning. Finally, the committees comment and approve germplasm evaluation, plant exploration and plant exchange proposals. - Kim Shearer, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, United States
Seeing the Forest for the Trees (20 mins)
Summary: The Woody Landscape Plant Crop Germplasm Committee has a somewhat unique task in that the wild crop relatives can include all of the trees and shrubs of all of the forests. As a group, we found that the task of identifying priorities and vulnerabilities limited to specific taxonomic categories seemed insurmountable. How could we predict an event like the introduction of emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) wiping out native floodplain forests and masses of street trees? What can be lost in an uncertain future with the onset of climate change? And how could we communicate this vulnerability in a way that was politically palatable? In this talk, the strategy for developing a new crop vulnerability statement and QUAD will be presented along with some examples of projects that have been funded and implemented for both plant exploration and evaluation. - Cecilia McGregor, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
Crop Germplasm Committees: An Opportunity for Value-added Research (20 mins)
Summary: The Cucurbit Crop Germplasm Committee (Cucurbit CGC) includes experts from local and global academic institutions and private industries, as well as the federal government. In addition to the routine activities of the CGC, the participation of several Cucurbit CGC members in the federally supported SCRI CucCAP and CucCAP2 projects provided the opportunity for improved coordination and alignment of federally funded academic research and germplasm priorities This contributed to the development of tools and resources that adds value to the existing Cucurbit germplasm collections.
