Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The meeting was called to order at the UGA-Griffin Research and Education Garden building at 1:05 p.m. by acting Chair Kevin Kenworthy. Due to weather and flight delays, Chair Mari Marutani was delayed by one day. Tom Zimmerman took the minutes as acting Secretary for Fred Allen who was on foreign travel. Each person in attendance introduced themselves and indicated the institution they were from. Dr. Gerald Arkin, the administrative advisor for S-009 and liaison to the Southern Directors, welcomed those in attendance to the UGA Griffin campus. He emphasized that the S-009 plant germplasm program has been in existence since 1949 and that it has made important contributions to plant germplasm in the southern region as well as the rest of the country. The minutes from the 2012 meeting were approved (Paul Raymer/Brian Baldwin). Since both the Chair and Secretary were not present, a motion to extend their term for another year was unanimously approved (Kevin Kenworthy/Tom Zimmerman). Dr. Peter Bretting, Office of National Programs, gave an overview of what had taken place this past year. There was a loss of two members from the NGRL Database Management Unit in Beltsville due to untimely deaths. The sequestration resulted in a 7.8% reduction in funding for FY2013. There was hope expressed that the cuts would be restored and $600,000 added to the 2014 budget. The 30 Crop Germplasm Committees are working toward standardization of crop vulnerability statements. The National Genetic Resources Advisory Council (NGRAC), which consists of private and public members, met for the first time in 14 years. Regarding international germplasm issues, Tom Stalker asked if national and international issues were to be dealt with in the future. There seemed to be a problem with ICRISAT in that it wont send peanut material to curators or allow gene bank to gene bank exchange, but only sends material to researchers. Peter will investigate this international exchange issue. Dr. Gerald Arkin spoke on the National Plant Germplasm Coordinating Committee (NPGCC) that meets yearly with representation germplasm collection and plant breeders. He mentioned concern with regard to duplication of activities between NPGCC and NGRAC, but explained that they each deal with similar issues but at different levels. Dr. Gary Pederson informed the group that the S-009 project was renewed for five years, through 2018. It was not possible to renew for ten years as had been done with the previous S-009 project due to NIFA guidelines. Gary provided a summary of the PGRCU activities for the year. Total plant accessions at the Griffin location, 92,180 with 81,022 (87.9%) available for distribution and 89,061 accessions backed up in Colorado. Some significant distributions include: 1,496 cowpea; 6,232 peppers; 526 sweet potato in tissue culture; 1,637 sesame; 1,818 warm season grasses; and 17,165 sorghum. There are 67,806 accessions in -18C storage (74.6% of collection). Regenerations occurred at the Griffin location as well as through cooperation with others in Puerto Rico, St Croix, Florida, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Georgia and New Mexico. A new 4 C cold room (20 x 30) was constructed and the previous 4 C cold room converted to -18 C expanding the total -18 C space from 1,061 sq ft to 1,897 sq ft. A field day, with outreach to Master Gardeners, was set for August 21. During the discussion of his report, Tom Stalker inquired about the policy for acquiring new genetic peanut material. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm and reconvened July 31 at 8:35 a.m. Due to heavy rains the scheduled tour was delayed until after the business meeting and state reports. Tom Stalker asked what the primary mission of the unit was. Gary stated that the primary mission is plant germplasm maintenance and preservation, followed by germplasm regeneration, then germplasm distribution and finally germplasm characterization. The federal budget was greatly discussed and the impact of sequestrations effect on the Griffin unit. A major impact has been the loss of temporary employees. Due to the loss of temporary employees, distributions now take up to eight weeks to complete. The federal budget at PGRCU has less flexibility than that of other germplasm units, because there is only one ARS Unit at this location. The fiscal year begins October 1 but often budgets are not available until March. The following summarizes the points made during the discussion: 1) Contact the Area director about using Research Support Agreements for personnel; 2) Approach seed companies/commodity groups about funding (i.e. Sorghum Check Off program); 3) Continue working with universities for regeneration; 4) Don't plant anything for 1 year or plant less in a year; 5) Use Master Gardener volunteers; 6) Charge for accessions; and 7) Acquire donations, but have them routed through the state for use. State oral reports were given from each state and territory including: Florida, Georgia, Guam, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and US Virgin Islands. In the Florida report, the maize group released 8,000 new lines for functional genomics research. During the North Carolina report, a multistate project is being conducted to create 6,400 recombinant inbred lines plus 3,000 mutant peanuts. Discussion centered on the possible handling of this peanut material. Curators and CGC determine acceptance but concern was expressed on space availability in Griffin if given this material. During the business meeting, discussion of the next TAC S-009 meeting focused on conflicts with ASHS or NAPB meetings. The dates of July 22-23, 2014 were chosen for the next S-009 meeting in Griffin, GA. Tom Zimmerman brought up the issuing of certificates of appreciation to the retiring members of the S-009 committee. When put to a vote, the measure failed. Following the adjournment of the S-009 meeting at 10:06 a.m., a tour of the facilities was conducted between light showers of rain.

The complete accomplishments section for the 2013 S-009 annual report is located at the S-009 website (www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=9514). That report contains all the annual accomplishments for 2013, while this report serves as the termination report for 2003  2013. The accomplishments will be summarized for the entire project period in this report. At the start of this time period for S-009 in 2003, there were a total of 82,584 accessions of 246 genera and 1,427 species maintained in the Griffin plant genetic resources collection. Ten years later the collection has grown to 92,180 accessions of 261 genera and 1,553 species with 98.4% maintained as seeds and 1.6% maintained as clones. These accessions originated in about 180 different countries. In 2003, a total of 69,470 accessions (84.1% of entire collection) were available for distribution, while 13,114 accessions were unavailable. Ten years later, 81,022 accessions (87.9% of entire collection) were available for distribution, while 11,158 accessions were unavailable. As the size of the collection has grown in the past 10 years, the number of available accessions has increased by over 11,500 accessions and the number of unavailable accessions has decreased by almost 2,000 accessions. A total of 8,330 new accessions were acquired during the last 10 years. These accessions were obtained through plant exploration trips in the U.S. and other countries, germplasm exchanges with other genebanks, private donations, retirements of plant breeders, or closure of plant breeding programs. Plant collection trips were conducted by Unit scientists for wild and cultivated peanuts, switchgrass, naturalized Sorghum halepense, and warm-season grasses. Accessions acquired included 3,913 sorghum, 1,148 sorghum genetic stocks, 1,063 warm-season grasses, 807 chili peppers, 345 watermelon, 280 peanut, 249 vigna, 163 legumes, 159 annual clover, 108 sweetpotato, and 95 other crops. Large collections of annual clovers (Norman Taylor, University of Kentucky) and subtropical/tropical legumes (Albert Kretschmer, University of Florida) from retired university breeding programs were obtained and are being incorporated into the Griffin collection. Security backups are an integral component of any plant genetic resources conservation program. In 2003, samples of 72,357 accessions (87.5% of entire collection) were also maintained at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (previously National Seed Storage Laboratory), Ft. Collins, CO, to provide a security backup of the Griffin collection. Standard and critical backups have been conducted extensively during the past 10 years. Collections, such as the sweetpotato tissue culture collection, that were only backed up locally are now also backed up at Ft. Collins. Presently, 89,061 accessions (96.6% of entire collection) is maintained at NCGRP in Ft. Collins. Since the start of this time period in 2003, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built in Svalbard, Norway. A total of 9,679 accessions (11% of entire collection) are now backed up at both NCGRP and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Regeneration of accessions is critical in maintaining viable, available accessions. Accessions were selected for regeneration based on low seed viability, low seed numbers, original seed only, age of seed, and demand by the user community. Regeneration plans for each crop in the Griffin collection have recently been updated to determine efforts needed to maintain viable seed of accessions for users. During 2003  2013, a total of 34, 616 accessions were regenerated by Unit members or cooperators in Griffin and Byron, GA; various other states; St. Croix; and Puerto Rico. These regenerations provided live viable seed for distribution to users as well as seed for germination testing and security backups. Cleaning and processing seed are essential steps in adding new seed to the collection. Six new work stations for seed cleaning were installed during this time period to improve seed cleaning operations by better dust control, more work space, and ability to have more personnel involved in these operations. Germination testing was initiated in 2002 at the Griffin location. In 2003, only 17.1% of the Griffin collection had germination data while in 2013 at least one inventory has been tested for over 84.4% of all accessions. Germination testing followed standard procedures developed by the Association of Official Seed Analysts for major crop species and/or the Handbook of Seed Technology for Genebanks - Volume II: Compendium of Specific Germination Information and Test Recommendations. When standardized germination protocols did not exist for a particular species, the crop curator, cooperators at NCGRP, S-009 scientists, and curators or crop experts for other minor crops and crop wild relatives were consulted for alternative germination techniques. The germination assays provided seed viability information to curators for establishing regeneration priorities. Germination tests were conducted using 100 seeds for accessions with adequate seed numbers and followed a sliding scale decreasing to 10 seeds on accessions with minimal seed numbers. Seed of each accession maintained in the collection are preserved in appropriate cold storage to maximize long-term seed viability and reduce the frequency of regeneration. In 2003, most seed in the Griffin collection was stored at 4 C. Storing seed at -18 C rather than 4 C will result in fewer seed regenerations required, better maintenance of genetic variability, reduced chance of mixtures, and cost savings. Currently, original seed and seed of species rarely requested is maintained solely at -18 C. All other accessions are maintained as split samples in 4 and -18 C. The bulk of the seed from each accession are maintained at -18 C, while a small distribution sample to handle expected requests for several years is maintained at 4 C. When the sample at 4 C is depleted by distributions, seed is moved from the -18 C sample to replenish the distribution sample. Currently, 19% of the accessions are maintained solely at -18 C and almost 75% of accessions in the total collection have at least one inventory (i.e. regeneration sample) in -18 C. Samples will continue to be split for newly regenerated and acquired accessions. Construction of a new 4 C cold room has been completed which will enable an existing 4 C cold room to be converted to -18 C. This will result in a total of 1,355 sq. ft. of 4 C cold storage space and 1,897 sq. ft. of -18 C freezer storage space at the Griffin location. Adequate space will then be available to maintain bulk seed of the entire collection in -18 C. These cold rooms will handle future expansion of an additional 18,900 samples in 4 C and 21,760 samples in -18 C depending on sample seed size. Phenotypic crop descriptors are routinely utilized on GRIN to provide first-hand information on plant germplasm accessions. Individual descriptors are taken on accessions during seed regeneration. Descriptors vary for each crop but often include traits related to morphology (such as leaf size, seed size, fruit shape, midrib or seed color), phenology (maturity, dormancy), production (seed yield, foliage yield), and growth (plant height, plant habit, seed shattering). Each year, accessions regenerated have a limited number of standard descriptors, specific to each crop, recorded and entered into GRIN. Additional biochemical characterization was conducted on numerous crops including seed oil content and fatty acid composition on entire U.S. sesame, castor, okra, watermelon, and Neonotonia wightii collections and capsaincinoids in chili pepper accessions. In peanut, variation for oil content and fatty acid composition from selected subspecies, botanical varieties, and wild species was evaluated. Additional data was added to GRIN from studies by university and federal cooperators on sorghum (association panel, photoperiod sensitivity, greenbug resistance, nutritional traits, ergot and downy mildew resistance), sweet sorghum (brix, sucrose concentration), peanut (core selection), chili pepper (root rot and root know nematode resistance), cowpea (antioxidant activity, iron deficiency, low phosphorus), watermelon (root knot nematode and gummy stem blight resistance), sweetpotato (quality and storage traits), and annual clover (isoflavone, iron deficiency, powdery mildew resistance). Images have been added to GRIN for 20% of accessions in the Griffin collection of numerous crops including pepper, sorghum, cowpea, and watermelon. From 2003 to 2013, a total of 310,698 accessions were distributed upon request in thousands of orders to researchers and educations. These accessions were distributed to requesters from all 50 states and 86 foreign countries. The majority of the accessions were utilized by researchers and educators in the Southern U.S. with 163,752 accessions distributed. Information is provided in GRIN for users to select the optimal genetic resources for their research or education needs. These users range from home school educators to university graduate and postdoc programs; from large multinational companies to local seed companies; from organic production to high yield production; and from basic and applied genetic research to theoretical genomic research. Distribution of plant genetic resources has traditionally been made to crop scientists and plant breeders for use in selection programs to develop improved cultivars. However, only about half of the distribution orders are for traditional plant breeding, while the other half of the distribution orders were for a wide range of nontraditional uses. These nontraditional uses included educational displays, archaeobotanical studies of agricultural origin, phytoremediation, gourmet food studies, paper pulp studies, medicinal use, botanical paintings, fish control research, ornamentals, and many other uses. The Griffin germplasm collection meets the needs of many diverse research and education programs.

Publications Publications for 2003  2011 are listed in each annual report in NIMSS. Publications published in 2012  2013 are listed in this report. Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit Austin, D., Jarret, R.L. 2013. Roots as a source of food. In: Eshel, A. and Beeckman, T., editors. Plant Roots: The Hidden Half. 4th Edition. CRC Press. Chapter 30. Barkley, N.L., Isleib, T., Culbreath, A. 2013. Why preserve and evaluate genetic resources in peanut? Meeting Abstract. Advances in Arachis through Genomics and Biotechnology. No. 11. Barkley, N.L., Isleib, T.G., Wang, M.L., Pittman, R.N. 2013. Genotypic effect of ahFAD2 on fatty acid seed profiles in six segregating peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) populations. BioMed Central (BMC) Genetics. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/14/62. Barkley, N.L., Wang, M.L. 2013. Oleic Acid: Natural variation and potential enhancement in oilseed crops. In: Silva, L, editor. Oleic Acid: Dietary Sources, Functions, and Health Benefits. Hauppauge, NY:Nova Publishers. p.29-44. Barkley, N.L., Wang, M.L. 2012. The United States Arachis germplasm collection: a valuable genetic resource for mining useful traits to improve peanut quality and production. International Conference on Legume Genomics and Genetics. Hyderabad, India 10/2/2012-10/7/2012. Barkley, N.L., Wang, M.L. 2013. Revealing gene function and genetic diversity in plants and animals via TILLING and EcoTILLING.In: Neri, C. of Advances in Genome Science Changing Views on Living Organisms. Volume 1. Oak Park, IL: Bentham Science Publishers. p.316-351. Chamberlin, K.D., Barkley, N.L., Tillman, B. 2013. Comparing three methods used to determine the oleic/linoleic acid ratio in a single peanut seed [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Peanut Research and Education Society Proceedings, July 10-12, 2012, Raleigh, NC. 44:26. Chen, C., Wang, M.L., Barkley, N.L., Dang, P.M., Holbrook Jr, C.C., Liu, L. 2013. Genetic variation of purified U.S. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) mini-core collection.Meeting Abstract.Advances in Arachis through Genomics and Biotechnoloty. No. 13. Chen, C.Y., Wang, M.L., Barkley, N.L., Tonnis, B.D. 2013. Effect of GxE interaction on oil content and fatty acid composition of cultivated peanuts. American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstracts. Paper No. 48. He, G.H., Barkley, N.L., Zhao, Y.L., Yuan, M. 2013. Use of EST-SSR loci flanking regions for phylogenetic analysis of genus Arachis. American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstracts. Paper No. 93. Isleib, T., Barkley, N.L. 2013. Contributions of plant introductions to the ancestry of current U.S. peanut cultivars. American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstracts. Paper No. 58. Jarret, R.L., Levy, I.J., Potter, T.L., Cermak, S.C. 2013. Seed oil and fatty acid composition in Capsicum spp. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 30(2):102-108. Jarret, R.L., Levy, I.J., Potter, T.L., Cermak, S.C., Merrick, L.C. 2013. Seed oil content and fatty acid composition in a genebank collection of Cucurbita moschata Duchesne and C. argyrosperma C. Huber. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization. 11:149-157. Liu, J., Wang, M.L., Tonnis, B.D., Habteselassie, M., Liao, X., Huang, Q. 2012. Fungal pretreatment of switchgrass for improved saccharification and simultaneous enzyme production. Bioresource Technology. 135:39-45. Morris, J.B., Grusak, M.A., Wang, M.L., Tonnis, B.D. 2013. Mineral, flavonoid, and fatty acid concentrations in ten diverse Lablab purpureus (L.) sweet accessions. In:Kuang, H., editor. Phytochemicals: Occurence in Nature, Health Effects and Antioxidant Properties. New York, NY, Nova Publishers. p. 219-224. Morris, J.B., Wang, M.L., Grusak, M.A., Tonnis, B.D. 2013. Fatty acid, flavonol, and mineral composition variability among seven Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) verdc. accessions. Agriculture 2013. 3(1):157-169. Morris, J.B., Wang, M.L., Tonnis, B.D. 2013. Variability of phenotype, anthocyanin indexes, and flavonoids in accessions from a close relative of soybean, Neontonia wightii (Wright & Arn. J.A. Lackey) in the U.S. germplasm collection for potential use as a health forage. In: El-Shemy, Hany A., editor. Soybean Bio-Active Compounds. Rijeka,Croatia:Intech. p.375-386. Morris, J.B., Antonious, G. 2013. Glucose, stem dry weight variation, principal component and cluster analysis for some agronomic traits among 16 regenerated Crotalaria juncea accessions for potential cellulosic ethanol. Journal of Environmental Science and Health. 48(3):214-218. Wang, J., Wang, M.L., Spiertz, J., Liu, Z., Han, L., Xie, G. 2013. Genetic variation in yield and chemical composition of wide range of sorghum accessions grown in north-west China. Research on Crops (an International Journal). 14(1):95-105. Wang, M.L., Chen, C.Y., Tonnis, B.D., Barkley, N.L., Pinnow, D.L., Pittman, R.N., Davis, J., Holbrook Jr, C.C., Stalker, H., Pederson, G.A. 2013. Oil, fatty acid, flavonoid, and resveratrol content variability in FAD2A functional SNP genotypes in the U.S. peanut mini-core collection. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 61:2875-2882. Wang, M.L., Chen, Z., Barkley, N.L., Morris, J.B., Pederson, G.A. 2013. Genetic and chemical evaluation of the U.S. castor germplasm collection for biodiesel production (abstract). Plant and Animal Genome Conference. Poster No.1043. Xin, Z., Wang, M.L., Chopra, S., Wang, P. 2013. Gene Mutagensis Systems and Resources for the Saccharinae. In: Patterson, A.H., editor. Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models. New York, NY:Springer Publishing Company. 11:p. 169-185. Florida Cherry, R., H. Lu, A. Wright, P. Roberts, and Y. Luo. 2012. Effect of silicon on resistance of St. Augustinegrass to Southern Chinch Bugs (Hemiptera: Blissidae) and plant disease. J. Entomol. Sci. 47(1): 17-26. Cannon, E.K., Birkett, S.M., Braun, B.L., Kodavali, S., Jennewein, D.M., Yilmaz, A., Antonescu, V., Antonescu, C., Harper, L.C., Gardiner, J.M., Schaeffer, M.L., Campbell, D.A., Andorf, C.M., Andorf, D., Lisch, D., Koch, K.E., McCarty, D.R., Quackenbush, J., Grotewold, E., Lushbough, C.M., Sen, T.Z., Lawrence, C.J. (2012). POPcorn: An online resource providing access to distributed and diverse maize project data. Int. J. Plant Genomics 2011,923035. Guan, J.C., Koch, K.E., Suzuki, M., Wu, S., Latshaw, S., Petruff, T., Goulet, C., Klee, H.J., and McCarty, D.R. (2012). Diverse roles of strigolactone signaling in maize architecture and the uncoupling of a branching-specific subnetwork. Plant Physiol 160, 1303-1317. Hunter, C.T., Hill Kirienko, D.R., Sylvester, A.W., Peter, G.F., McCarty, D.R., Koch, K.E. (2012). Cellulose Synthase-Like D1 is integral to normal cell division, expansion, and leaf development in maize. Plant Physiol. 158, 708-724. Kennedy, C., T. Hasing, N. Peres and V.M. Whitaker. 2013. Evaluation of Strawberry Species and Cultivars for Powdery Mildew Resistance in Open Field and High Tunnel Production Systems in Florida. HortScience (accepted). Kimball, J., M. Zuleta, K. Kenworthy, V. Lehman and S. Milla-Lewis. 2012. Assessment of genetic diversity in Zoysia species using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Crop Science 52: 360-370. doi:10.2135/cropsci2011.05.0252. Kimball, J., M. Zuleta, M. Martin, K. Kenworthy, A. Chandra and S. Milla-Lewis. 2012. Assessment of molecular variation within 'Raleigh' St. Augustinegrass using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Hortscience 47: 839-844. Koch, K.E., Suzuki, M., Hunter, C.T., and McCarty, D.R. UniformMu: Release of 8,000 new lines for functional genomics research in maize. MaizeGDB (www.maizegdb.org/documentation/uniformmu/) Lu, H., and R. Cherry. 2012. New sources of Southern Chinch Bug (Hemiptera : Blissidae) resistance in St. Augustinegrass varieties. J. Entomol. Sci. 47(4):291-296. Milla-Lewis, Susana R., M. Carolina Zuleta, George A. Van Esbroeck, Kenneth H. Quesenberry, and Kevin E. Kenworthy. 2013. Cytological and Molecular Characterization of Genetic Diversity in Stenotaphrum. Crop Sci. 53:296308. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2012.04.0234. Quesenberry, K.H., K. E. Kenworthy, W.T. Crow, P.F. Harmon, H. Lu, and S. Milla-Lewis. 2013. Lance nematode effects on rooting of two St. Augustinegrass cultivars. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal. 12:357-361. Rockwood, D. 2012. History and Status of Eucalyptus Improvement in Florida. International Journal of Forestry Research. Volume 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/607879. Verlaan, M.G., S.F. Hutton, R.M. Ibrahem, R. Kormelink, R.G.F. Visser, J.W. Scott, J.D. Edwards, and Y. Bai. 2013. The Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Resistance Genes Ty-1 and Ty-3 are Allelic and Code for DFDGD-class RNA-dependent RNA Polymerases. PLoS Genet 9(3): e1003399. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003399. Scully, B., R. Nagata, R. Cherry, G. Nuessly, L. Trenholm, K. Kenworthy. 2012. Registration of 'Ultimate' zoysiagrass. Journal of Plant Registrations 6: 71-74. doi:10.3198/jpr2011.04.0196crc. Scully, B., R. Nagata, G. Nuessly, R. Beiriger, K. Kenworthy and J. Unruh. 2012. Registration of 'Hammock' centipedegrass. Journal of Plant Registrations 6: 246-251. doi:10.3198/jpr2012.02.0082crc. Georgia Meru G & C McGregor (2013) Genetic mapping of seed traits correlated with seed oil percentage in watermelon. HortScience in press Prothro J, Abdel-Haleem H, Bachlava E, White V, Knapp, S & CE McGregor (2013) Quantitative trait loci associated with sex expression in an inter-subspecific watermelon population. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 138(2):125130. McGregor CE (2012) Citrullus lanatus germplasm of Southern Africa. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 60(4): 403  413. Prothro J, Sandlin K, Abdel-Haleem H, Bachlava E, White V, Knapp, S & CE McGregor (2012) Mapping of seed traits in Citrullus lanatus. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 137(6): 452457. Prothro J, Sandlin K, Gill R, Bachlava E, White V, Knapp, S & CE McGregor (2012) Mapping of the egusi seed trait locus (eg) and quantitative trait loci associated with seed oil percentage in watermelon. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 137(5): 311315. Sandlin K, Prothro J, Heesacker A, Khalilian N, Okashah R, Xiang W, Bachlava E, Caldwell D, Seymour D, White V, Chan E, Tolla G, White C, Safran D, Graham E, Knapp, S & CE McGregor (2012) Comparative mapping within Citrullus lanatus. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 125 (8): 1603-1618. Candole BL, Waters V, McGregor CE & PJ Conner (2012) The disease reactions of heirloom bell pepper California Wonder to Phytophthora capsici. Agricultural Sciences 3: 417-424. McGregor CE, Waters V, Nambeesan S, MacLean D, Candole BL & P Conner (2011) Genotypic and phenotypic variation among pepper accessions resistant to Phytophthora capsici. HortScience 46: 12351240. Karen Harris-Shultz, Paul Raymer, Brian E. Scheffler, and Renée S. Arias. 2013. Development and characterization of seashore paspalum SSR markers and identification of markers potentially associated with salt tolerance. Crop Sci. In press. Braman, S.K., P .L. Raymer, M. Harrison-Dunn and S. Nair. 2013. Antibiosis among selected Paspalum Taxa to the Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). J. Entomol. Sci. in press. Louisiana LaBonte, D.R., C.A. Clark, T.P. Smith, and A.Q.Villordon. 2012. 'Orleans' Sweetpotato. HortScience 47:1817-1818 Mississippi Zheljazkov, Valtcho, Brady A. Vick , Brian S. Baldwin , Normie Buehring, Tess Astatkie, and Billy Johnson. 2012. Effect of planting date, nitrogen rate, and hybrid on sunflower. J. Plant Nut. 35:14, 2198-2210 National Winter Canola Variety Trail. 2013. Report of Progress. Kansas State Uni. Agric. Expt. Stat. and Coop. Ext. Ser. Contribution No. North Carolina Andres, R.J., D.T. Bowman, K.S. Lawrence, G. Myers, P.W. Chee, E. Lubbers, V. Kuraparthy (2013) Effect of leaf shape on boll rot incidence in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). International Journal of Plant Breeding and Genetics 7:132-138. Balota, M., S. McGrath, T.G. Isleib and S. Tallury. 2012. Transpiration response to vapor pressure deficit in field grown peanut. Peanut Sci. 39:53-61. Balota, M., T.G. Isleib and S. Tallury. 2012. Variability for drought related traits of virginia-type peanut cultivars and advanced breeding lines. Crop Sci. 52:2702- 2713. Balota, M.R. R.W. Mozingo, T.A. Coffelt, T.G. Isleib, B.R. Beahm, H.G. Pittman, F.S. Bryant, P.A. Copeland, C.J. 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