Maintenance of A Pea Gene Bank

Objectives of the project include: 1) To maintain and characterise the 3565 accessions within the pea collection. To manage the collection by dealing with new introductions and their characterisation (30-50 per year) and the regeneration of older accessions and stocks in need of multiplication. 2) To maintain and update associated passport and characterisation databases associated with the collection including stock management, passport and characterisation files. Also includes the revision of existing data and the collation of new information/data as it becomes available. 3) To develop and facilitate access to the collection via the development of web based documentation, searchable databases. 4) To promote and enhance awareness of the collection by exploiting new media technologies such as videos and QR code labeling and through growing demonstrations of reference material from the collection for researchers and breeders to observe at first hand the variation within the collection. 5) To further develop resources linked to the recent molecular marker diversity analysis coupled with targeted characterisation of germplasm based on priority traits as identified by researchers and industry.