The Watkins Landrace Wheat Collection is a unique resource due to the historical nature of being collected in the 1930’s before widespread globalisation of trade, and before intensive selective breeding in wheat to develop high-yielding elite varieties, which resulted in a significant loss of genetic diversity, including resilience traits.
[5] The Watkins wheat collection is now being explored for potential genetic resistance to aphids and wheat bulb fly[4] eyespot resistance[3] tan spot, Stagonospora nodorum blotch (SNB) and Fusarium head blight.
Arthur Ernest Watkins (April 23rd 1898 - January 3rd 1967), was awarded a Diploma in Agriculture from the University of Cambridge in 1922.
[8] In 1924, he joined the Plant Breeding Institute, and in 1931 was appointed as a lecturer in Cytology at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Agriculture and was a member of the Genetical Society.
[9] Watkins also wrote multiple books and papers on a variety of topics, including The Origin of Cultivated Plants,[10] Heredity and Evolution,[11] and The Wheat Species; a Critique by A.E.