Genetic diversity in local cultivars of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) conserved 'on farm' and in historical collections

Abstract

During a national Swedish collection mission of vegetable varieties conserved 'on farm' more than 70 pea accessions were obtained, many of which had been grown locally for more than 100 years. In spite of a likely origin in the multitude of obsolete commercial pea varieties available on the Swedish seed market in the nineteenth century, the rediscovered local cultivars have lost their original names and cultivar identity while being maintained 'on farm'. To analyze genetic diversity in the repatriated material, 20 accessions were genotyped with twelve SSR markers and compared with 15 obsolete cultivars kept in genebanks and 13 cultivars preserved as non-viable seeds collected in 1877-1918. Most of the local cultivars were genetically distinct from each other, and in only a few cases could a possible origin in a tested obsolete cultivar be suggested. These results reflect the wide diversity of pea cultivars present in Sweden during the nineteenth century. Both between and within accession genetic diversity was larger among the historical samples of obsolete cultivars compared to local cultivars and cultivars preserved in genebanks, indicating genetic erosion over time both in genebanks and during conservation 'on farm'. The constraints on identifying and verifying historical cultivars using genetic markers are discussed.

Keywords

Cultivar identification; Genetic differentiation; Pea; Pisum sativum L.; SSRs

Published in

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution
2014, volume: 61, number: 2, pages: 413-422
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Nygårds, Lena

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Swedish Biodiversity Centre

Global goals (SDG)

SDG2 Zero hunger

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences
Botany

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-013-0046-5

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/67736