Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Accomplishments – NCRPIS:

The Plant Introduction Research Unit and the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station (NCRPIS) accomplishments as per the objectives delineated in the five-year project plan which include short-term outcomes, outputs, activities and milestones.

Obj 1: Cooperate and participate as a key element in the NPGS (National Plant Germplasm System), a coordinated national acquisition and management program of plant germplasm valued for agricultural, horticultural, environmental, medicinal and industrial uses in the NCR and throughout the U.S. and the world.

The NPGS is network of more than 20 sites across the United States maintaining and curating more than 600,000 accessions of more than 20,000 species of plants. The NCRPIS is one of four Plant Introduction (PI) stations within this system, managing a wide range of plant genera and a large staff with a broad array of capabilities and expertise.

NCRPIS staff serve in many NPGS-wide roles including membership in two Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) committees: Leading bi-weekly meetings of the GRIN advisory committee which coordinates changes to GRIN requested by curators and other NPGS staff; and key membership of the GRIN Development team which troubleshoots database issues and implements changes recommended by the advisory committee. Other examples of NPGS leadership include involvement in the Plant Germplasm Operating Committee which leads overall germplasm management discussion for the NPGS. Several staff serve on subcommittees for this group including those working with acquisitions and distributions and the proper handling of genetically engineered accessions.

The NCRPIS staff are well regarded for their expertise in seed cold-storage, querying the database for various information, and seed and plant imaging. Frequently, this expertise is utilized by other sites.

Obj 2: Collect and maintain plant genetic resources of dedicated crops and their crop wild relatives; evaluate and enhance this germplasm.

During the past year, the NCRPIS received over 300 new accessions including samples of expired PVP accessions (melon and corn), medicinal, herbaceous and woody landscape accessions. In addition, a recombinant inbred line population of Camelina was donated which will help researchers identify genes that control flowering time and cold response in this species under development in double and relay-cropping systems in the upper Midwest. Maize populations were received from the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize program and inbred lines were donated by Illinois Foundation Seed Inc after they closed their field corn breeding program. As part of our participation in efforts to preserve ash germplasm in the face of the devastation caused by the emerald ash borer, ash populations were sampled in the southwestern US and four accessions collected in New England were donated to the collection. Much of this germplasm is already available to users.

About 400 accessions were grown for seed increase across all taxa, including perennials that are often maintained for more than one year to produce enough seed. This is well below historical averages at the NCRPIS, a result of continued flat USDA budgets coupled with annual increases in salaries, cost of goods, etc. which primarily affected the number of temporary labor positions that could be filled. In addition, there were three vacant technician positions for much of the year and one vacant assistant farm management post to help manage field and processing work. A portion of the NC7 salary money not being spent on permanent positions was used to fund temporary labor during 2024 allowing some field operations to proceed.

Obj 3: Characterize and evaluate plant germplasm using a combination of traditional, phenomic, and molecular techniques and utilize modern plant genetic techniques to help manage plant germplasm.

About 11,000 observations and 2,516 images were loaded to the GRIN-Global (GG) database across all crops. Data continue to be recorded, but several open technical positions have created a backlog in the loading of that information to the GRIN database. Once this publicly available information is in the database, it allows researchers across the North Central Region (NCR) and the rest of the U.S. to make more informed selections of germplasm useful for their programs. Although the recent vacancies in technical support have affected the number of evaluation plantings that can be attempted, the multi-year Brassica rapa flowering type evaluation was completed in 2024. This is an important achievement and as resources allow germplasm evaluations for all crops will be conducted.

Obj 4: Conduct research, and develop an institutional infrastructure needed to attain the preceding objectives efficiently and effectively, including seed and plant health testing, viability monitoring, pollinator efficacy, and advancements in software applications development and computerized management systems to improve functionality and efficiency, to store and transfer knowledge, and to enhance our understanding of the interrelationships of germplasm with changing abiotic and biotic environments.

NCRPIS maintains infrastructure to test viability of incoming seeds, regeneration lots and stored distribution lots. The viability data signal when accessions need to be regenerated. 6% of the collection was tested in the past year. The threshold germination rate for regeneration varies widely by genus and species; however, 543 accessions tested under 50% viability during the past year, signaling a need for many regenerations. Additionally, field scouting for disease symptoms and pathology testing of field increase plots and/or of distribution lots is often necessary to allow shipment of accession samples outside of Iowa as well as to ensure the health of regeneration plots in the field and to reduce the occurrence of seed-borne pathogens.

Two software highlights are reported here: A change in the software program used to coordinate label production between GRIN and existing printers (field labels, viability testing labels, storage jar labels, order packets, etc) resulted in the need to re-design all labels. The labels are key to using bar codes to track accession identity during all processes ensuring users are getting what they ask for. Collaboration among NCRPIS groups resulted in fully functional new labels and ultimately more local control over design. Additionally, existing plant breeding software has been incorporated by most station projects to record field images using an android device with a high-quality internal camera. The images are labeled in real time with PI number, date and time, making processing very straight forward, sorting easy, and providing more efficient selections of images to load to GRIN.

Obj 5: Within the NCR, throughout the U.S., and internationally, encourage the use of a broad diversity of germplasm to reduce crop genetic vulnerability. Provide viable plant genetic resources, information and expertise that foster cultivar improvement of established crops, the development of new crops and new uses for existing crops, thus contributing to a sustainable, biobased economy.

The NCRPIS collection holds 55,647active accessions (55,187 in 2024) and 80% of the accessions are available. In 2025 to date, 17,762 items have been distributed in 608 orders, compared with 33,847 items distributed in all of 2024. To date in 2025, 5263 items were used for the internal PGR management needs of viability and pathogen testing, back up orders shipped to Ft Collins and regenerations in addition to the external distribution orders. 273 (45%) of the YTD 2025 orders were made by researchers in the 12 NCR states providing germplasm for research projects.

Curators, the research leader, and other staff attend meetings and stakeholder engagement events to receive feedback and to provide information about available germplasm through talks, posters and small group discussions. These are important contact points with the NCR and other user groups.

Obj 6: Educate students, scientists and the general public regarding plant germplasm issues.

The NCRPIS routinely provides tours for many different groups as part of fulfilling our education mandate. We have a close relationship with ISU, hosting class tours, providing invited seminar speakers (Plant Breeding Seminar Series, Agronomy) and employing and mentoring undergraduate students. The students provide support for all projects thereby training them in many aspects of germplasm management, agronomy, and plant biology. During the summer, curators and other staff give presentations about a wide range of project topics at the NCRPIS for the students, usually once a week for six or seven weeks, providing a more comprehensive exposure to careers in plant germplasm and project management. In addition, during summer 2025 a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin is participating in an internship program funded by her major professor. She is spending five single week periods at the NCRPIS working with the different programs to learn more about germplasm management including the training to organize and load observation data for a key Wisconsin vegetable crop to the GRIN database. This internship experience can serve as a blueprint for future experiential learning opportunities at the NCRPIS.