Genotypic Assessment of the Latvian Rye (Secale Cereale L.) Collection

Abstract

Rye (Secale cereale L.) is an important grain crop in Latvia, where it is mainly used for baking rye bread, which is a popular staple. However, the area under rye cultivation in Latvia is small, and the majority of varieties planted are foreign. In 1937, almost 290 000 ha of rye were planted, while in 2011, only 28 000 ha were planted, or ~5% of the area planted with cereals. The Latvian rye genetic resources collection contains nine accessions, including old and new cultivars, landraces and one repatriated accession, which was previously held in the N. I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry collection. A set of descriptors has been developed for rye, and field evaluations of the Latvian rye collection have been started. A set of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers has been utilised for genetic fingerprinting of the collection. The initial genetic results indicate that the Latvian rye collection contains a high degree of genetic diversity. Analyses are continuing in order to more fully characterise the collection both phenotypically and genetically.

Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Secale cereale Based on SSR Markers

“…Landraces displayed considerable diversity and were distant from accessions obtained from breeders. This finding is not surprising because landraces are closely related to the wild ancestors of rye and embody much more variation than modern high-yielding cultivars (McCouch 2004 ), and it has been postulated that landraces could represent a valuable source of genetic variation that has been lost in modern breeding (Gailîte et al 2013 ; Boczkowska and Traczyk 2013 ). Landraces may be a source of potentially useful alleles also for rye breeding.…”

Phylogeny and genetic structure in the genus Secale

“…Rye has a cross-pollinating reproductive system and thus its levels of intraspecific diversity are high compared to self-pollinating grains [ 22 ]. Although, cultivated varieties of cereal rye has been experiencing extensive genetic bottleneck [ 23 ] due to strong selection pressure, like many other cereal crops, significant proportion of genetic diversity is maintained in landraces [ 24 , 25 ] and wild and weedy forms [ 26 , 27 ]. Furthermore, these populations contain potentially useful traits such as resistance to diseases, adaptability to biotic and abiotic stress [ 28 , 29 ].…”

Genetic Distinctiveness of Rye In situ Accessions from Portugal Unveils a New Hotspot of Unexplored Genetic Resources

“…SSRs have proven to be a marker of excellence for examining rye's genetic diversity (Shang et al, 2006 ; Akhavan et al, 2010 ; Gailīte et al, 2013 ; Parat et al, 2016 ; Targońska et al, 2016 ). Several studies using a wide range of molecular markers systems, have contributed to a better knowledge on rye's genetic diversity (e.g., Persson and von Bothmer, 2000 , 2002 ; Chikmawati et al, 2005 , 2012 ; Bolibok-Brbągoszewska et al, 2012 ; Ribeiro et al, 2012 ; Al-Beyroutiová et al, 2016 ; Parat et al, 2016 ; Santos et al, 2016 ; Targońska et al, 2016 ), with studies using rye cultivars and landraces, particularly from ex situ collections (e.g., Matos et al, 2001 ; Hagenblad et al, 2016 ; Parat et al, 2016 ; Targońska et al, 2016 ).…”