Buckwheat Genebank - A Source of Slovenian Genetic Variability

The primary reason for collecting domestic samples of buckwheat in Slovenia is the abandonment of growing domestic populations and their replacement with foreign, imported species and populations, whose seed is available in sufficient quantity to growers. Another reason is the threat that domestic populations will cross with foreign imported material or with new Slovenian varieties. A third reason is that the collected material provides a lot of variability and the possibility of choice and use as a source of genes for breeding work. Breeding has often been accompanied with the collection of selected plant species that were required and used during the breeding process. More than 30 years ago, therefore, a buckwheat gene fund was created. Based on existing descriptions, the collected material can be roughly divided into two groups. Samples with small gray seeds mainly have white flowers, although individual plants with slightly pink flowers emerge in some populations. They are adapted to lowland and hilly soil and climatic conditions, as well positions without frequent or early autumn hoarfrosts and mist. The second group includes populations with slightly thicker dark - brown seeds; the basic color of the flowers is light to dark pink, although individual plants with slightly red flowers may emerge. They are suitable for higher altitude, mountainous locations with a 7 to 10 days shorter growth period. They are suitable for harvest at the end of September because, with good weather conditions, the leaves have already fallen off by then. In the case of grey populations, the leaves do not fall until the first autumn hoarfrosts. Samples from the gene bank have not only served as starting material for breeding work in the past (Slovenian buckwheat varieties) but also for investigation of the seed viability, of the seed content of polyphenols (tannins) in individual parts of seeds, genetic variability, identification of samples on the level of DNA and regeneration capacity under in vitro conditions. A characteristic of this collection is that it is no longer being supplemented by local populations because these are no longer to be found in the natural environment.