This article presents information on VIR’s active oat collection that has served as a source of initial material for oat breeding in the Russian Federation for the past decades. The genetic collection is described, including alleles of identified genes for various morphological, biological, and biochemical traits. The results of a field study of the active oat collection conducted by VIR’s experimental network in various ecogeographic zones of the country are highlighted, covering a wide range of valuable agronomic traits. In addition to describing the identified sources of such traits, this article provides an overview of a number of developed donors of semidwarfism and lodging resistance with various alleles of the semidwarfism gene, and donors with a neutral photoperiod. The results of fruitful collaboration with Russian breeding centers are summarized in the context of distributing source material for various trends in oat breeding, based on a comprehensive evaluation of the active oat collection. Thus, the active oat collection at VIR is comprehensively studied, safely preserved, and sustainably used for breeding purposes in the Russian Federation.

The Genetics Department was organized at VIR in 1925, and Georgy D. Karpechenko was invited by Nikolay I. Vavilov to become its head. N.I. Vavilov and G.D. Karpechenko identified priority objectives for applied genetics: monographic studies on the hereditary variability of cultivated plants, their individual traits and properties, as well as hybrids from crosses between genetically distant species. This overview covers the main achievements of the Genetics Department of VIR from its origin to the present time. The role of VIR’s geneticists in the development of crop genetic analysis methods is highlighted, the most significant results are summarized, and the research activities of the Department during various periods of its existence are discussed: the 1930‒1940s, its revival in the 1960s, and further development after 1980.

The research history of the Genetics Department mirrors the main areas of the Institute’s activities, and the trends in the development of applied plant genetics in Russia. Scientific priorities are as follows: 1) Comparative analysis of the genetic structure in cultivated cereal crop species for such characters as plant growth, type and rate of development, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors; development of genetic methods to obtain donors of genes valuable for breeding; 2) Comparative genetics studies of plant species from various taxonomic groups; identification of genetic and cytogenetic mechanisms of alien gene introgressions and development of the ways of their utilization for cultivated species improvement; 3) Studying of the mutagenesis, and allo- and autopolyploidy as the factors contributing to the emergence of new plant forms, and development of methods for their utilization in breeding practice; 4) Genetics of reproduction systems in cultivated cereals; 5) Establishment and maintenance of live genetic collections as a tool for genetic analysis and examination of species’ gene pools, and as a means to preserve the diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives. Currently, the priority goal of the Genetics Department, as it has been throughout its history, is to uncover the genetic potential of the diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives in the context of their key biological and agronomic traits. The basic approach to this task is the comparative genetic one, based on Vavilov’s concept of parallelism in hereditary variation, while the main research methodology involves the employment of phenotypic, hybridological, populational, cytogenetic, and molecular genetic analyses.

Dedicated to the 75th birthday of Olga A. Lyapunova, Russian scientist and PhD in Agricultural Sciences. The article covers the key stages of her biography and scientific work.