Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Chris Smart (Director of Cornell AgriTech and NE9 Advisor), gave welcome to the group and provided brief overview of budget – spending is on track. Neha Kothari (National Program Leader over National Plant Germplasm System, (NPGS)) gave updates from the NPGS. NPGS budget overall has been steady but not keeping up with inflation; some targeted increases within NPGS to specific crops, including hemp. NPGS is exploring new initiatives to improve management and emphasized the need to highlight our work to stakeholders. Jessica Shade provided an overview of NIFA grant opportunities and encouraged participants to apply. Stakeholders provided updates on their individual research, with an emphasis on their utilization and need for diverse genetic resources. There is a need for pre-breeding material that incorporates desirable wild traits into a more accessible forms to accelerate breeding. Curators provided update on the status of the vegetable, hemp, and fruit collections associated with this project. Their highlights are provided in more detail below. Meeting emphasized value of in-person meetings. We will target the next meeting for July 2026. Also discussed a joint meeting with other RTACs (NC7, W6, and S9) before our next project renewal.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) in Geneva, NY maintains diversity collections of select vegetables (12,801 accessions), hemp (743 accessions), and fruit (6,521 accessions). Targeted acquisitions over the past year have filled gaps (phenotypic, genotypic, and geographic) within the collections, expanding the resources available to stakeholders. Funding from NE9 provides critical resources for management and distribution of these collections. NE9 supports major efforts in supplying germplasm to screen and map high-priority horticultural and agronomic traits, including disease and pest resistances, and traits contributing to profitability and nutrition. Many of these efforts are done in collaboration with scientists from SAESs. In , PGRU distributed 7,432 distinct units (seed lots, propagules, fruit, etc.) to requestors. The collections have been extensively used worldwide to develop new cultivars and for other research purposes, including disease resistance, fruit quality traits, genetic diversity, and population structure. PGRU scientists characterize germplasm for priority traits to make the material more readily accessible. Much of this characterization and evaluation is performed in collaboration with scientists from the Northeastern US, other regions in the USA, and abroad.

Over the past year, the USDA PGRU focused on its core goals of conserving genetic diversity, strengthening germplasm characterization, and increasing the accessibility of plant genetic resources. Expanded genomic and phenotypic efforts enhanced the scientific value of multiple collections, including whole-genome–scale genotyping of the USDA Physalis (tomatillo) collection, large-scale genotyping and phenotyping of hemp, skim-sequencing of cherry and grape accessions, disease resistance screening of grape accessions, and continued metabolic profiling of apple, grape, and cherry germplasm. We also improved efficiency within our programs, including a multi-year winter squash pollinator efficiency study to better inform pollinator management. An ARSx crowdsourced phenotyping initiative expanded national characterization capacity, producing more than 6,000 datapoints across diverse squash and tomato accessions. Targeted improvements to PGRU operations and infrastructure enhanced germplasm stewardship and resource availability to stakeholders. Squash seed collection and processing capacity was doubled, tomato seed processing protocols were streamlined to improve efficiency and quality, and plum cultivars were propagated for cold-hardiness evaluation and cryopreservation. Progress on high-tunnel greenhouse infrastructure expanded capacity for hemp breeding and characterization. Outreach, interdisciplinary collaborations reinforced stakeholder engagement and ensured NPGS priorities remain aligned with user needs.

 Activities:

• Completed year two of a pollinator efficiency study in three winter squash varieties, comparing fly, honeybee, and bumble bee pollination to inform squash pollinator management.
• Completed year one of an ARSx crowdsourced phenotyping project, expanding capacity to characterize USDA collections across multiple sites; 25 squash and 25 tomato accessions generated 6,000+ datapoints nationwide.
• Generated whole-genome–scale genotyping data for the entire USDA Physalis (tomatillo) collection.
• Increased squash seed collection and processing capacity twofold through targeted equipment investments, improving seed quality.
• Streamlined tomato seed collection protocols, resulting in faster processing and higher seed quality.
• Conducted genotyping and phenotyping of most of the NPGS Hemp Germplasm Collection; ongoing 2025 work produced 1,000+ long-read, low-pass genomes.
• Continued development of a stakeholder-driven, low-cost mid-coverage genotyping platform (DArT-Tag) to support germplasm conservation, trait mapping, and pre-breeding efforts.
• Scheduled the first Hemp Crop Germplasm Committee meeting for February 2026.
• Advanced development of two large high-tunnel greenhouses to support hemp breeding and characterization.
• 1200 accessions of grape screened for powdery and downy mildew resistances with 35 resistance markers being screened through NIFA-SCRI funding.
• WGS genotyping of 250 accessions of cherry using the SkimSeq platform.
• WGS genotyping of 480 accessions of grapevine using the SkimSeq platform.
• Fruit quality metabolic evaluations continued for 600 apple, grape, and cherry accessions.
• Propagation of 140 plum cultivars for maintenance from Davis, CA to Geneva for cold hardy evaluation and cryopreservation.
• Collaborated with archeologists to evaluate and identify preserve fruit specimens found at Mount Vernon in Virginia.
• Participated in numerous public outreach events highlighting the mission, and the value of seed and gene banks.

Milestones for 2026:

• Regenerate seed for 150 vegetable accessions.
• Backup up 100 vegetable and hemp accessions at NLGRP.
• Rescue 50 jeopardized vegetable accession in greenhouse regeneration.
• Continue to refine regeneration protocols of seed crops.
• Improve soil and assess onion bulb production.
• Develop parents for hemp MAGIC populations with collaborators.
• Regenerate 25 hemp accessions in controlled-environment conditions.
• Upload 10,000 phenotypic data points to describe hemp germplasm collection.
• Acquired over 20 novel hemp genetic resources.
• Backup of clonal accessions and test viability of cryo-treated buds.
• Evaluate apple nursery for rootstock compatibility.
• Retrain vines to enable mechanical foliar management.
• Re-evaluate apple cultivars for fruit quality.
• Complete evaluation of 480 accessions for grape juice metabolites.
• Complete disease phenotypes of powdery and downy mildews in grapevine.

Carey, S.B., Bentz, P.C., Lovell, J.T., Akozbek, L.M., Myers, Z.A., Korani, W., Havill, J.S., Padgitt-Cobb, L., Lynch, R.C., Allsing, N., 2025. An X-linked sex determination mechanism in cannabis and hop. bioRxiv 2024–12.

Lukach, M.E., Yeti̇şi̇r, H., Kanchana-Udomkan, C., Stansell, Z., Sheehan, M.J., Jannink, J.-L., 2025. A Unified Crop Ontology for Standardizing Phenotypic Data Collection in Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.]. HortScience 60, 1655–1664.

MacWilliams, J., Padimi, V., Carter, O., Brownstein, K., Stansell, Z., Gordon, T., Nachappa, P., 2025. Assessing the adaptive role of cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA) in aphid defense in Cannabis sativa. J Cannabis Res 7, 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42238-025-00291-x

Schwartz, J.A., Vignale, L., Gordon, T., Stansell, Z., Smart, L.B., Smart, C.D., 2025. Screening of Cannabis sativa germplasm for susceptibility to Septoria leaf spot. Plant Disease PDIS-07-25-1367-RE. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-25-1367-RE

Sehgal A, Deys K, Szewc-McFadden A, Duplais C, Gutierrez B, Meakem V, Galarneau E, Londo J, Turner B, Cadle-Davidson L, Zhong GY, Gouker F, and Kirubakaran S. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry Effect of Grapevine Rootstock and Foliar Biostimulants in Regulating Scion Physiology, Secondary Metabolites, and Root Architectural Adaptation to Drought Stress. https://ssrn.com/abstract=5125249

Vignale, L., Schwartz, J.A., Stansell, Z., Gordon, T., Smart, C.D., Smart, L.B., 2025. Screening diverse Cannabis sativa germplasm for resistance to Golovinomyces ambrosiae. Plant Disease.

Whitt L, Bennett JS, Collum TD, Evans B, Raines D, Gutierrez B, Janisiewicz WJ, Jurick WM, Gottschalk C (2025) Genome-wide associations within diverse wild apple germplasm for postharvest blue mold resistance to Penicillium expansum. Postharvest Biology and Technology 225:113513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2025.113513