THE GENEVA COLLECTION OF PISUM GENETIC STOCKS: MOVING TOWARD COMPUTER ACCESSIBILITY

PNL Volume 17 1985 GENE BANKS 89

THE GENEVA COLLECTION OF PISUM GENETIC STOCKS: MOVING TOWARD COMPUTER

ACCESSIBILITY

Marx, G. A. and P. McInnis

The collection of genetic stocks of peas maintained in the

Department of Horticultural Sciences at Cornell University's Experiment

Station in Geneva has been growing steadily since it was started in

1959. Comprehensive and diverse, the collection contains lines from

various other collections, e.g. the Weibullsholm and USDA Plant

Introduction collections, and from individual workers throughout the

world. It also contains wild and primitive forms, some varieties,

breeding lines, and material from other miscellaneous sources. But by

far the largest part of the collection comprises 1ines derived from over

5,000 crosses made over the last 25 years or more. Some 75,000 seed

packets are now on hand. Included are multi-marker and multi-resistant

stocks, isolines, groups of linked genes, etc. Over the years, many

hundreds of seed samples have been distributed to serve the varied needs

of users from many countries. This collection, hereinafter referred to

as the Geneva collection, is separate and distinct from the collection

of USDA Plant Introduction (P.I.) accessions, maintained nearby at the

Northeast Regional Plant Introduction Station, Geneva, New York.

The importance of and need for maintaining the Geneva collection is

generally recognized, but the difficulty of organizing the collection to

make it readily accessible is not well appreciated. The Geneva

collection is a working collection as opposed to a museum collection.

It is therefore dynamic, with new lines being added regularly as a

result of crosses made among lines already present and with new lines

from outside sources. This dynamicism complicates record keeping and

data retrieval. All data have been assiduously collected and manually

recorded in books over a 25-year period. It is essential of course to

link the identifying number of a given lino with the appropriate genetic

and descriptive data for that line. Since, alter a cross is made, the

identifying number for each progeny which descends from a given cross

changes with each succeeding generat ion, and since the data collected in

each generation may be slightly different from the generation before

(until the line is genetically fixed), each new cross generates a wealth

of information which must be evaluated and collated.

Heretofore, all record keeping was done manually. For example,

each generation (3 per year) requires a new planting plan. Recorded in

that plan, in addition to the current Identification number, is all the

information pertaining to the history ofeach entry, i.e. previous

identification number, cross number, identity of parents, pedigree, and

relevant genetic or descriptive data. To trace specific lineages a

whole series of data books had to be individually consulted for the

identification numbers used in successively earlier generations.

Moreover, it was only possible to trace backward from a given point, not

forward. A particular cross may produce dozens, even hundreds, of

entries after many generations. Searching for genetic or descriptive

data was still more difficult.

PNL Volume 17 1985

GENE BANKS

Although gratifying progress has been made, much more work is

required before the collection can be considered to be organized and

ready for routine use. Considerably more data need to be entered into

the computer. When a core collection of the most useful entries has

been established, a continuing effort must be made to add to or refine

the information already at hand. Stocks must be propagated to maintain

their viability and, as each accession is grown for that purpose,

genetic and descriptive data not previously noted will be added. A

catalog of available Pisum stocks in the collection is not presently

available. Such a catalog is needed if we and others are to benefit

fully from the resources which have been diligently and systematically

developed over nearly three decades.

Since October, 1983, the USDA-ARS has provided critical financial

support for organizing and maintaining the Geneva collection, and the

task is now underway. The collection has become a part of the National

Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), but control and direction remain with the

curator (GAM). Our goal is to develop a cross-indexed, multi-referenced

"core" collection of stocks consisting of 4000 to 5000 genetically

defined lines. To this end, more than thirty computer programs have

been written to accomplish various retrieval objectives.