Wheat genetic resources in Russia: Current status and prebreeding studies

Abstract

In recent decades, issues of the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, which are the core of breeding technologies, sustainable agricul� ture, and food security, have received significant atten� tion around the world. In Russia these resources are stored mainly in the form of collections at the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIPI). The collection con� servation activities consist of a large number of diverse types of work, including the collection of new samples; the development of a system for safe storage and main� tenance of the high viability of seed samples; the inves� tigation and identification of valuable traits for breed� ing; the creation of donors; the provision of research, breeding, and educational institutions with source material; the development of an electronic record sys� tem; and integration of the collections into the inter� national system of seedbanks. This paper gives a brief description of the VIPI wheat collection and reviews the history of the relevant prebreeding studies and the objectives and results of genetic diversity evaluation of wheat samples using DNA markers.