Nomenclatural standards of raspberry cultivars bred in the Altai

This article is devoted to designing nomeclatural standars and herbarium vouchers of raspberry cultivars bred in the M.A. Lisavenko Research Institute of Horticulture for Siberia. The article presents nomeclatural standards of cultivars ‘Barnaul’skaya’, ‘Blesk’, ‘Dobraya’, ‘Zoren’ka Altaya’, ‘Illyuziya’, ‘Kredo’ and ‘Rubinovaya’. The work has been performed according to the rules and recommendations outlined in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants and guidelines developed for the vegetatively propagated plants. The material for nomenclatural standards should be collected with assistance of either the cultivar author, a representative of the institution owning the cultivar, or an expert in these cultivars. Therefore, material of the cultivars in question was picked with assistance of N.D. Yagovtseva, a representative of the Lisavenko Institute and author of two cultivars ‘Blesk’ and ‘Dobraya’. Nomenclatural standards contain two herbarium sheets with parts of one plant collected at the same time: the first sheet holds the middle third of a primocane and a leaf from this part, while the second one displays the middle third of a floricane and a lateral branch with fruits. Also, the specimens were supplied with photos of fruits taken before herbarization. The nomenclature standards have been deposited with the Herbarium of cultivated plants, their wild relatives, and weeds (WIR).

Cyanogenesis in the Sorghum Genus: From Genotype to Phenotype

Domestication has resulted in a loss of genetic diversity in our major food crops, leading to susceptibility to biotic and abiotic stresses linked with climate change. Crop wild relatives (CWR) may provide a source of novel genes potentially important for re-gaining climate resilience. Sorghum bicolor is an important cereal crop with wild relatives that are endemic to Australia. Sorghum bicolor is cyanogenic, but the cyanogenic status of wild Sorghum species is not well known. In this study, leaves of wild species endemic in Australia are screened for the presence of the cyanogenic glucoside dhurrin. The direct measurement of dhurrin content and the potential for dhurrin-derived HCN release (HCNp) showed that all the tested Australian wild species were essentially phenotypically acyanogenic. The unexpected low dhurrin content may reflect the variable and generally nutrient-poor environments in which they are growing in nature. Genome sequencing of six CWR and PCR amplification of the CYP79A1 gene from additional species showed that a high conservation of key amino acids is required for correct protein function and dhurrin synthesis, pointing to the transcriptional regulation of the cyanogenic phenotype in wild sorghum as previously shown in elite sorghum.

Evolutionary Genetics of Crop-Wild Complexes

Since Darwin’s time, the role of crop wild relatives (CWR), landraces, and cultivated genepools in shaping plant diversity and boosting food resources has been a major question [...]

Hybrids of Solanum corymbiflorum and S. diploconos (Solanaceae) – a hope for new commercial varieties of edible fruits

Solanum diploconos (Mart.) Bohs („guava tamarillo”) and Solanum corymbiflorum (Sendtn.) Bohs („hardy tamarillo”) are wild relatives to subtropical, orchard, small tree – Solanum betaceum Cav. (called simply „tamarillo”). Both these species create edible fruits, but they have not been cultivated widely so far as fruit trees. However, each one of these species has valuable features. Solanum corymbiflorum is quite hardy to frost, deciduous and early blooming both in fenological year time as well as in its lifespan but has untasty fruits. Solanum diploconos has quite good tasting fruits and it is pest and disease resistant. This work has been an attempt to connect their best features in hybrids to create new, potentially commercial cultivars to grow as fruit plants. Three types of hybrids were created: F1 hybrid type – Solanum corymbiflorum × Solanum diploconos, BC1 backrossing type - (Solanum corymbiflorum × Solanum diploconos) × Solanum corymbiflorum and the second BC1 backcrossing type – (Solanum corymbiflorum × Solanum diploconos) × Solanum diploconos. Out of the numerous variable individuals within each type, we selected three very valuable from an agronomic point of view cultivars (Solanum 'Lynn', 'Pinczow Springs' and 'Iwona'). The work with crossing and selecting the next cultivars will be continued.