N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) maintains a living bluegrass seed collection, which includes cultivars bred in Russia and abroad and wild specimens gathered by collecting missions of the institute in Russia, the Soviet Union and foreign countries. There are also specimens of various bluegrass species and cultivars obtained from botanical gardens of Russia and other countries.

The core of the collection is composed of accessions of Kentucky bluegrass, an economically significant species, a valuable pasture and lawn plant. Wild Poa pratensis from Russia and neighboring countries is represented in the VIR catalogue by 825 seed accessions. The natural gene pool of Kentucky bluegrass is distinguished by significant polymorphism, genetically determined by a mixed system of sexual and asexual reproduction, polyploidy and aneuploidy of this species. The genetic diversity of Kentucky bluegrass, coupled with its geographical diversity, is the reason for ensuring wide representation of wild specimens of this species the in collection for the purposes of ex situ conservation. The VIR Kentucky bluegrass collection has been analyzed by gap analysis for representativeness of this species collected within the Russian Federation; the main stages of collecting activities were outlined, and regions for further expeditionary surveys identified. The diversity of wild bluegrass species collected in Russia and neighboring countries was assessed at 21 species.

Recently, the interest in forage crops with resistance to adverse environmental factors in changing climate conditions has grown significantly among researchers. Among these crops is wheatgrass, diploid specimens of which are included as the initial genetic material in breeding and genetic programs. The first and only one wild specimen of crested wheatgrass was collected in 1922 by V.E. Pisarev, a close associate of N.I. Vavilov, during the Mongolian expedition of the State Institute of Experimental Agronomy. Two more wheatgrass specimens collected by A.I. Ivanov, the Leading Researcher of the Department of Forage Crops of VIR, arrived in 1966.

It was only in 1986-1987 that the VIR collection was replenished with a rather large number of diploid wild-growing Mongolian specimens of crested wheatgrass, distinguished by traits valuable for breeding, such as short vegetation period, salt-, drought-, and winter hardiness, resistance to diseases and pests.

In the summer of 1986 and from the end of summer until the autumn of 1987, scientists from the Plant Resources Team of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Complex Biological Expedition (JSMKBE) examined the flora of several aimags of Mongolia: Selenge, Bulgan and Central aimags in 1986; Arkhangai, Bayankhongor, Bulgan, East Gobi, Selenge, Uvs, Arkhangai, Khentii, Central and South Gobi aimags in 1987.

The objective of the Plant Resources Team was to broaden the gene pool of crop wild relatives (CWR). Seed samples of mid- and late-ripening perennial wild forage grasses resistant to limiting environmental factors, were collected for replenishing plant collections of the USSR and Mongolia, study, and further use by breeding centers of both countries. During the expedition, the institute’s collection was replenished with samples of forage grasses, including 30 of crested wheatgrass, one of Mongolian wheatgrass, Michno's wheatgrass and Ericksson crested wheatgrass. The geographical coordinates and collection sites of the samples were recorded, and the ecological and a geographical classification of the Mongolian populations of crested wheatgrass was created.

In order to assess the forage resources for the snow sheep, a section of the upper reaches of the Ozernoye Gorlo River (southern Chukotka, the Anadyr River basin, the northern spurs of the Chuvansky Ridge) were surveyed in August 2021. The northern border of the population of the Yakutian snow sheep subspecies Ovis nivicola lydekkeri Kowarzik (1913) that lives in the Chuvansky Ridge system passes through this territory. As a result of the increased anthropogenic pressure, the snow sheep numbers in Chukotka decreased significantly at the turn of the 70s of the last century, which determined the inclusion of the sheep in the regional Red Book (issued in 2008 and 2022). The surveyed area was estimated to have low sheep numbers of about 7 heads/100 km². This area has a vegetation that is typical for the mountain systems of Northeast Asia. The height of mountain peaks varies from (900) 1200 to 1300 (1400) m above sea level. Forest communities in the river valley are extremely reduced. Cedar elfin patches widespread on the mountain slopes turn into shrub and lichen tundra higher up. The flora of the surveyed area has been found to include 127 species of vascular plants from 77 genera and 38 families. According to the literature sources and our observations, 116 species (66 genera, 30 families) belong to forage plants for the snow sheep, including 74 species known as the feed of these animals in Chukotka. According to the visual assessment of the availability and phytomass reserves of the identified forage plants, 24 main species and 24 secondary ones may have significant forage value for the snow sheep. Taking into account the moss and lichen resources in this area, it can be concluded that the feeding base of the snow sheep here is not a limiting factor for the existing and much larger numbers of these animals.

Conference Announcement.