Genotypic Assessment of the Latvian Rye (Secale Cereale L.) Collection

Rye (Secale cereale L.) is an important grain crop in Latvia, where it is mainly used for baking rye bread, which is a popular staple. However, the area under rye cultivation in Latvia is small, and the majority of varieties planted are foreign. In 1937, almost 290 000 ha of rye were planted, while in 2011, only 28 000 ha were planted, or ~5% of the area planted with cereals. The Latvian rye genetic resources collection contains nine accessions, including old and new cultivars, landraces and one repatriated accession, which was previously held in the N. I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry collection. A set of descriptors has been developed for rye, and field evaluations of the Latvian rye collection have been started. A set of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers has been utilised for genetic fingerprinting of the collection. The initial genetic results indicate that the Latvian rye collection contains a high degree of genetic diversity. Analyses are continuing in order to more fully characterise the collection both phenotypically and genetically.