Maintenance in genebanks, a case study: contaminations observed in the Nurnberg oats of 1831

The genetic identity and purity of the Nurnberg oats of 1831 stored at Freising, Braunschweig and Lint were studied by storage-protein electrophoresis. The seven oat lines showed two electrophoretic phenotypes with frequencies of five and two. All conceivable levels of contamination of the lines were found ranging from identity over contamination by the respective other Nurnberg phenotype and/or foreign phenotypes up to the replacement of a line by a foreign phenotype. In addition, at one of the storage sites the identification numbers are different. The case study shows vividly that genotype maintenance in genebanks demands the utmost care.