2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and Cornell University. Additional details of this research can be found in the report for the parent project 1910-21000-016-00 D 'Conservation and Utilization of Germplasm of Selected Vegetable Crops.' The objective of this cooperative research project was to regenerate 62 accessions of the short-day Allium cepa collection maintained at the Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) of Geneva, NY. These accessions had sub-standard viability and low seed supply and had to be regenerated or they would be lost from the germplasm collection. Short-day onions could not be regenerated at Geneva, NY because of day length requirements to initiate bulbing. In September of 2004, the vegetable curator at Geneva, NY identified 30 short-day onion accessions that urgently required regeneration and sent them to New Mexico State University for regeneration. Seed of these onion accessions were shipped from Geneva, NY to Las Cruces, NM. The seeds from these accessions were sown in Metro Mix 510 in plastic flats. Twenty accessions failed to germinate any plants. In November of 2004, the vegetable curator at Geneva, NY identified 16 additional short-day onion accessions that urgently required regeneration and sent them to New Mexico State University for regeneration. There were six accessions that had been previously regenerated and one accession that was currently being regenerated. The seeds from these accessions were set aside and were not planted. The seeds from the remaining accessions were sown in Metro Mix 510 in plastic flats. Seeds from the remaining 9 accessions germinated. Plants from a total of 19 accessions were transplanted into a field to produce bulbs. Four accessions did not survive or did not produce bulbs. Bulbs from 15 accessions were harvested and placed in storage until September 2005. Bulbs from each separate accession were placed in a seed production field. Bulbs were arranged such that individual caging structures were constructed over the bulbs and allowed for seed production without cross contamination. In February, 2006, the vegetable curator at Geneva, NY sent bulbs of 16 additional accessions that had begun sprouting. These additional accessions were arranged such that individual caging structures could be constructed over the bulbs. Once accessions began to flower in April 2006, the plants were covered with a frame structure and netting. Honeybees and blue bottle flies were introduced to the cage structure once flowers started to open. The pollination vectors were allowed to pollinate the flowers for 6 weeks. After the pollinators were removed, the plants remained in the cages for seed set. Once open capsules were visible, umbels were harvested from each cage and were kept separate by accession. The umbels will be allowed to dry for 4 weeks. Once the umbels are completely dry, they will be crushed and the seed will be extracted and cleaned. We expect that seed from all accessions will be cleaned and delivered to PGRU within two months of the date of this report. In September of 2005, the vegetable curator at Geneva, NY identified 20 short-day onion accessions that urgently require regeneration and sent them to New Mexico State University for regeneration. Seed of these accessions were shipped from Geneva, NY to Las Cruces, NM and were sown in Metro Mix 510 in plastic flats. Plants were transplanted into a field in order to produce bulbs. Seeds of 11 accessions that had previously been increased were sown in the same field. These accessions did not produce enough seed in the first attempt to regenerate these accessions. Once the plants have matured, the bulbs will be harvested and stored until September, 2006. At this time, the bulbs will be prepared for seed production as described above. A total of 62 accessions are in the process of being regenerated and are either in the seed or bulb production phase. No publications were produced from this research during the report time period.