Project Number: 1910-21000-019-01
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 01, 2003
End Date: Aug 31, 2008

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to regenerate accessions of the short-day Allium cepa collection maintained at the Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) of Geneva, NY. These accessions will be regenerated because of either reduction of viability below acceptable standards and/or low seed supply due to seed distributions. These accessions must be regenerated so that the short-day onion germplasm collection may be distributed. Short-day onions cannot be regenerated at Geneva, NY because of short day length requirements to initiate bulbing. Short day onions require a day length of shorter than 13 hours to initiate bulbing and flowering whereas in Geneva during the growing season the day length is longer than this because of the latitude of Geneva.

Approach:
The vegetable curator at Geneva, NY will identify the short-day onions that require regeneration on a priority basis. The accessions that are in most need of regeneration each year will be prepared and sent to New Mexico State University for regeneration. At New Mexico State University, the accessions will be seeded in seedling flats. Once plants have reached a large enough size, they will be transplanted to a field for bulb production. Plants will be grown over the winter. Once the plants have matured the following summer, bulbs will be collected from each accession and will be stored at ambient conditions for 3-4 months. Once bulbs begin to break dormancy, they will be set in a seed production field. The following spring, a 10' x 10' cage will be placed over the bulbs from each accession. Once the bulbs have flowered, blowflies will be introduced into each cage for flower pollination. After one month, the mature seed for each accession will be harvested, dried, and cleaned. The seed produced from the regeneration will be transferred to PGRU. At PGRU, the seed will be dried and germination tests conducted. Then seed stock inventory status will be updated on GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network).