06/13/08 National Small Grains Collection, part 2

Seed from the National Small Grains Collection at Aberdeen is sought worldwide. Mike Bonman says when a request comes in they have 130 thousand accessions on file. BONMAN "When we take a sample out we bar code it in. We know how much seed we've taken out and we know what the current weight is, how much seed is left and when that starts to get low then we know its time to rejuvenate it and do a grow out." They send out two to five gram seed samples to researchers, usually from an original stock of 500 grams or about one pound. BONMAN "In one of our storage rooms back here we have more diversity in terms of the different genes available in that collection that would be available in any of the cultivated wheats in the US." And that, says Bonman, is the real value of the collection. Some of the land races in the grain collection are hundreds, even thousands of years old and far different, far more diverse than many of today's varieties. BONMAN "In case we have new problems arise we can go back and tap that diversity to improve our modern varieties." There are other collections centers in the US for other crops and two years ago this month an international global seed value inside a sandstone mountain on a Norwegian island 700 miles from the North Pole. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott