Still, this data is characterized by a high non-orthogonality hampering their analysis. A promising approach to fill this information gap is to exploit historical information gathered routinely during seed regeneration cycles. However, the lack of phenotypic information forms a major obstacle for the educated choice of genebank accessions for research and breeding. Most of this variation is absent in breeding programs but may be useful for further crop plant improvement. Genebanks are a rich source of genetic variation. 4Global Crop Diversity Trust, Bonn, Germany.3Institute for Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Quedlinburg, Germany.2Department of Genebank, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany.1Department of Breeding Research, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany.Norman Philipp 1 Stephan Weise 2 Markus Oppermann 2 Andreas Börner 2 Andreas Graner 2 Jens Keilwagen 3 Benjamin Kilian 4 Yusheng Zhao 1 Jochen C.
