Sugar, Starch and Fibre Crops Network
| Beta Working Group |
Sugar, Starch and Fibre Crops Network
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Report of a Working Group on Beta and the World Beta Network.
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Background information
The Third meeting of the Technical Consultative Committee of
ECPGR,
Reykjavík, Iceland, 1985, had recommended that ECPGR enhance collaborative activities for Beta,
in its third Phase. Consequently, in 1987, a Beta workshop was convened at the Centre for Plant
Genetic Resources, Wageningen, The Netherlands, in order to develop a collaborative programme on
Beta genetic resources. In 1989, IPGRI launched the concept of self-sustaining crop networks. The ECPGR Working Group on Beta was established in 1998, in order to improve the
joint management of European Beta collections and the involvement of their curators in international
activities. This Working Group is seen as an integral part of the WBN, improving the function of this
international network. The Second joint meeting of the Beta Working Group and WBN was held in Bologna,
Italy, on 23-26 October 2002.
The International Database for Beta (IDBB)
In 1987 the European Beta Database was established, which became the
International Database for Beta
two years later. The IDBB has been used to identify Most Original Samples and duplicates in the world
Beta holdings and it has been entirely redesigned. Characterization and evaluation data of the
GENRES CT 95 42 project have been included as well as characterization data recorded by VIR in the
framework of a ECPGR-funded Beta project.
Currently 20 171 observations are available in the IDBB. Data can be searched on-line by any user free of any restrictions and charges.
Collecting activities
Since 1989, the IDBB has been used to identify taxonomic and geographic gaps
in the world Beta holding. Germplasm collecting missions have been
organized to close (minor) geographic gaps in the holding of Beta lomatogona and Beta vulgaris
subsp. maritima known to exist in Azerbaijan, to give a more recent example.
Core collection
In 1995, the Gene Bank of the Federal Center for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants (BAZ), Braunschweig, Germany developed a core collection for the genus Beta that is composed of accessions from various national holdings documented in the IDBB. This collection, called the "Synthetic Beta Core Collection" (SBCC), was used as the working collection within the framework of the EU Beta project GEN RES CT95 42. Characterization, evaluation and molecular marker data were documented in the IDBB. A meeting of a Task Force to review the core collection proposed by the BAZ genebank, to further develop it and bring it into harmony with the various national core collections, was held in Capelle–en–Pévčle, France, in September 2000 (See: Report). The Task Force recommended that an International Beta Core Collection (IBCC) be developed, using the SBCC as a starting point.
Ex situ and in situ management
The need for complementary management activities was first addressed by the World Beta Network members in 1999. The core collection Task Force suggested underlining the importance and function of in situ management by adding a database module to the IDBB for in situ managed populations (See: Report).
Seed regeneration guidelines: available protocols can be found below,
listed by country: A pamphlet for seed increase procedures is also available to Network partners and to any user requiring help in handling Beta germplasm. Beta curators are encouraged to produce a description of their seed production procedures.
Sharing of responsibilities
Definition and implementation of specific quality standards for the conservation
of Beta genetic resources is considered by the Group a pre-requisite to establish a reliable mechanism
for responsibility sharing.
Pre-breeding
Various concepts for pre-breeding have been discussed by the Working Group since 1989 (see: L. Frese et al. article [here]). In 2001, the establishment of "buffer" populations started for the third time with promising leaf spot resistant (Cercospora beticola) germplasm detected by the GEN RES CT95 42 project partners. Almost all breeding companies in the world are using Rhizomania-resistant germplasm derived from genebank accessions. The first Rhizomania-resistant material collected by the US genebank in Europe was provided by the USDA/ARS. Public genebanks, research institutes as well breeding companies make available interesting accessions or pre-bred material to partners in China, India and Iran which underlines the international character of the Working Group.
Link with EU project
The five-year (1997–2002) EU-funded project GEN RES CT95 42 on "Evaluation and enhancement of Beta collections for extensification of agricultural production" was carried out by all partners located in 6 European countries. Its objectives were: improvement of conservation of Beta collections; evaluation on disease and stress resistance; rationalization of collections, and documentation. On the initiative of ECPGR, the GEN RES CT95 42 project has been supplemented by projects in east European countries in 1997 and 1998. These activities were facilitated through ECPGR funds and co-funding by national agencies. Project partners in the Czech Republic (Gene Bank, Prague), Poland (Agricultural University of Kraków) and Russia (Vavilov Institute, St. Petersburg) conducted seed multiplication, characterization, evaluation and database work in close cooperation with the project coordinator of GEN RES CT95 42, the BAZ Gene Bank. For more information or comments: |
IPGRI and INIBAP
operate under the name Bioversity International.
