The Satellite Collections North of the IPK Genebank, located at Gross Luesewitz and Malchow/Poel (both Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) are responsible for the collection, maintenance, characterization, evaluation, documentation, research and distribution of/on potato, oil and fodder crop plant genetic resources. A highlight of the satellite collections at both sites consists in the fact that large and comprehensive genetic resources collections were compiled over six decades via systematic collection trips and material exchange. These in large parts reflect the genetic diversity of the respective cultivated species and their relatives.

 

In addition to the main activities connected with the maintenance of genetic resources, research on aspects of biodiversity utilization have been initiated, based on externally acquired funds (BioChancePlus; ‚Innovationsförderung’ of the BLE, Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe/FNR). Among others, topics here are resistance to potato cancer, employment of intra-/interspecific crosses to increase diversity in grass cultivars, ryegrass persistence and optimizaton of Lolium with regard to biomass production.

 

The Gross Luesewitz Potato Collections contain more than 6,000 samples, consisting of a cultivar collection with 2,700 samples (KKS), a collection of short-day adapted genotypes from the Andean and equator region (AKS, 550 accessions, mainly native Andean cultivars), and a collection of almost 130 wild and cultivated potato species from South and Central America (WKS) with more than 2,850 populations.

The maintenance of the AKS and the KKS accessions is achieved in its major proportion via in vitro culture, but also takes place in the field (for evaluations, control of variety purity and production of tubers for interested parties). In addition, cryopreservation - conducted by IPK's research group 'In vitro Storage and Cryopreservation' at Gatersleben - is used as an additional technique. The maintenance of the generatively propagated WKS species as populations is conducted via seed production in the greenhouse. The generated seeds are stored locally at 4°C and as safety duplicates at Malchow/Poel or at Svalbard/Norway, respectively.

In cooperation with the Julius Kuehn Institute (Gross Luesewitz and Kleinmachnow) and the Rostock Plant Protection Office, resistance screens in respect to important potato pests are conducted (mainly Globodera pallida, Phytophthora infestans, Synchytium endobioticum). The respective results are available via Internet or by request.

 

With regard to health status, the entire potato germplasm is being tested systematically and in defined periods against quarantine diseases. This happens in co-operation with the responsible Plant Protection Offices. For in vitro plantlets, special measures for virus eradication are conducted. At field cultivation, the occurrence of latent viruses (PVS, partly PVX) is tolerated, which should be considered when requesting tubers from the field.

 

For private requests, generally only tubers of cultivated accessions are available, but no in vitro plantlets or cryo cultures (for a list of all available tuber samples cf. http://glks.ipk-gatersleben.de/glks_knollenliste.pdf). For each material request, a Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA; also necessary for requests from the Malchow collections) has to be agreed upon between the recipient and IPK. In this respect, a direct placing of orders is feasible via IPK’s Genebank Information System GBIS.

 

Detailed passport data and evaluation data are recorded and can be partially accessed in the internet via GBIS (additional link for all three potato collections: GLKS homepage).

 

The Malchow collections hold a total of more than 14,000 accessions (10,300 Gramineae accessions from 131 species and 11 genera; 2,500 Cruciferae accessions from 19 species and 4 genera, 1,300 Leguminosae accessions from 5 species and 2 genera). According to European regeneration standards for forage and oil crop plant genetic resources, the reproduction of the genetic resources is conducted in isolation plots in the field or in greenhouse cabins. The seeds are maintained in cold storage chambers (at -5 °C as active collection, at -20 °C as base collection) and additionally at external sites as safety duplicates (since 2000 at IPK Gatersleben, since 2008 in Svalbard/Norway); periodically, germinates rates are determined.

 

For characterizations and evaluations, a subset of the collection is cultivated annually as individual plants or in rows. Of priority are characterization of new samples and evaluation of recent Gramineae collection material, mainly Lolium perenne L., for morphological and breeding traits. In co-operation with university institutes and the Julius Kuehn Institute (Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants), relevant quality traits and resistance of populations against some important diseases (e.g. Puccinia coronata, Rhynchosporium and ryegrass mosaic virus) were analyzed. The results are publicly available (via Internet or by request).

 

The passport data of the oil and fodder crops are available on-line via GBIS. In addition, the European Central Poa Database (EPDB) is being administered at Malchow. It has been developed in co-operation with the Information Centre for Biological Diversity at BLE (IBV) and was reengineered recently by IPK’s Bioinformatics group. It contains passport data of 5,629 accessions (40 Poa species) from 55 countries of origin, and is compiled from data obtained from 21 institutes in 19 countries; a descriptor list provides additional information.