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THE STATUS OF TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH ANIMAL BREEDS AND PLANT VARIETIES AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY

CHAPTER ELEVEN: REVIEW OF RELEVANT RESEARCH

11.1 Scots Bere was included in a large diallel cross carried out at the Scottish Plant Breeding Station as part of a project that aimed to investigate the genetic control of traits important in Scottish barley. A major target of the then current breeding programmes was to provide new cultivars, adapted to Scotland, with high diastatic power in the malt (Allison et al, 1979). The development of a successful cultivar would allow the replacement of imports from Canada with locally grown crops (Table 11.1). A number of difficulties were encountered such as the high susceptibility of exotic cultivars to powdery mildew, six-rowed cultivars with tall weak straw and so judged to be unsuitable parents, an association of low yield and high diastatic power and a problem in recovering high yielding lines from 2-row by 6-row crosses. It was seen as a necessity that the outcome of the programme would be commercially attractive cultivars. At that time the National Seed Development Organisation (NSDO) located in Cambridge marketed cultivars bred in the publicly - funded programmes. NSDO guidance was that new cultivars with wide adaptation were preferred to locally adapted material.

11.2 The lines included in the diallel experiment did not result in the development of cultivars but lines from a second cycle of crossing between the two-row cultivars Akka and Maris Mink i.e. Tweed ((Akka x Maris Mink) x Maris Mink) entered National List Trials in 1983 (Ellis, 1986).

11.3 Samples of Scots Bere were used in a composite cross population approach to the development of new cultivars. A collection of grain samples was made from the sites available and they have been deposited in the BBSRC Cereal Collection held at the John Innes Centre. At the same time a collection of Scots Common was also made but as this traditional variety did not show acid soil tolerance the samples were not used in breeding but were simply deposited in the BBSRC cereal collection. The difference in low soil pH tolerance between Scots Bere and Scots Common is in agreement with the way in which these landraces were used in Scottish agriculture and was reflected in the effort devoted to their improvement at the SPBS. Work on the use of Scots Bere germplasm ceased when the SPBS barley work moved to Dundee and was replaced by a programme in winter barley that was short lived because of the difficulty of breeding in isolation from adequate selection resources.

Table 11.1 Cultivars used in the diallel cross grown at SPBS, Pentlandfield in 1970 and 1971. Olli and Pirkka were regarded as the best source of high diastase, Ymer was grown widely in Scotland but was in the process of replacement by Golden Promise.

11.4 The Scottish Plant Breeding Station carried out a programme of oat breeding (Cameron and Phillips, 1974) part of which aimed to produce lines tolerant of highly alkaline soils of the Machair of the Western Isles. This involved the use of a site with alkaline soil (pH 8) at Archerfield in East Lothian as well as testing lines at sites in Inverness and Argyll (Simmonds, 1970). The Machair areas are a particularly important example of an environment in which traditional agriculture and wild species coexist. Cropping is significant factor in maintaining the local biodiversity and experiments with composite crosses were initiated in collaboration with local crop advisers in Tiree (1967) and Benbecula (1970). The work was completed and the material gifted to the adviser on Tiree for exploitation in 1974 (Cameron and Phillips, 1975).

Contemporary Genetics

11.5 The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) has developed a programme of genetic research based on genotyping spring barley cultivars with a wide range of DNA - based markers. In particular, a recent programme funded under the BBSRC GAIT initiative used forty-eight SSRs to scan 800 cultivars (winter and spring). This large data matrix is being used to identify linkage disequilibrium (non-random associations between genetic loci) and using the information on the patterns of diversity to find associations with varying agronomic traits. A recent appointment to Biomathematic and Statistics Scotland is investigating the statistical aspects particular to the diversity patterns found in barley (relating this work to the explosion of interest in mapping of genetically complex human diseases by similar means). This data allows the investigation of genetic diversity over time or in response to selection in breeding programmes, as illustrated in Figure 12.1 below.

Biodiversity in tree species

11.6 As a signatory to the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity, the UK has a commitment to the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. The devices to achieve this include the National and Local Biodiversity Action Plans, and a range of grant schemes to encourage land management practices that promote biodiversity. Efficient use of these resources depends on an understanding of the diversity present and knowledge of how this diversity interacts with other ecosystem components. A recent project aimed to integrate genetic and biochemical diversity with taxonomic diversity and ecological function, in order to assess how biodiversity interacts at different levels. Previous work in this area has focused on Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris), a high conservation priority species. The data collected during this project suggested that a large degree of genetic homogeneity characterized the European Scots pine, which can be related to a common origin of these populations after the last glaciation from a single population, with no evidence for multiple origins of Scots pine in Scotland.

More recently, joint funding has been secured by the Scottish Crop Research Institute, the Macaulay Institute and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh to examine the species diversity, genetics and ecology of high conservation priority sub-arctic willow communities. Such a project will provide a conceptual understanding of the relationships of biodiversity at three different levels:-

i. species diversity of willows,

ii. genetic diversity of willows,

iii. species and genetic diversity of associated communities.

This will provide the baseline scientific background to develop informed conservation management and species recovery programmes.

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