Tropical crops offer a broad range of situations that allow illustration of diverse approaches fo... more Tropical crops offer a broad range of situations that allow illustration of diverse approaches for enhancing genepool utilization. The actors for genetic improvement can be very different among crops, e.g. between food crops, for which genetic improvement is largely a continuous and distributed process, and plantation crops where improvement is formally organized and targeted; annual grain crops and vegetatively propagated crops evolve at different paces, in time and in space; diploid crops allow recurrent processes while complex-genome crops go through critical steps in a discontinuous process. This presentation will use examples developed at AGAP (http://umr-agap.cirad.fr/en) on sorghum, rice, groundnut, banana and sugarcane to illustrate the pervasiveness of the various topics that this conference is considering. Current experience leads us to discuss a more inclusive vision of crop diversity, the frontier between breeding and prebreeding as well as the management of crop genetic resources.
The overall goal of the project “Global Information on Germplasm Accessions” is to improve access... more The overall goal of the project “Global Information on Germplasm Accessions” is to improve access by breeders and other users to the germplasm they need in gene banks around the world. The project covers all major food crops, with a focus on 22 crops: banana, barley, beans, breadfruit, cassava, chickpea, coconut, cowpea, faba bean, finger millet, grass pea, maize, major aroids, lentil, pearl millet, pigeon pea, potato, rice, sorghum, sweet potato, wheat, and yam, and a limited number of other crops of interest to the project collaborators.
Building a global accession level information system in support of the International Treaty on Pl... more Building a global accession level information system in support of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture– ways forward in the Americas. With the recent and rapid changes in informa- tion technology, the development of a Global Information System on Plant Genetic Resources, as established in Article 17 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, could proceed more quickly in particular for the genebank community. Existing genebank information systems and portals such as the CGIAR System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER) and the European Search Catalogue (EURISCO) could be used as essential building blocks of a global framework. However, when building such a large-scale infor- mation infrastructure to provide a global platform for the access and exchange of accession level information, a thorough and careful choice of strat- egy, methodology and technology is required. This article aims at demonstrating the feasibility of such project using the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as a model. It also aims at proposing practical solutions for genebanks in the Americas to join such global initiative.
The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do no... more The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, the European Union or any of its bodies, or any other party involved in this publication concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
DESCRIPTION Plant Gene Access is a project proposal developed by the ECPGR Secretariat, hosted by... more DESCRIPTION Plant Gene Access is a project proposal developed by the ECPGR Secretariat, hosted by Bioversity International, in collaboration with 33 partners and in November 2011 submitted to the Seventh Framework Programme INFRASTRUCTURES of the European Union. The authors listed were the selected Work Package Leaders. Project Summary ________________________________________ Plant genetic resources (PGR) provide the raw material for plant breeding and thus form the basis of adaptation to increasing and changing needs of food supply. In Europe, approximately 2 million samples of PGR are conserved in approximately 625 germplasm collections, representing about one third of the global resources of plants conserved ex situ. Specific categories of PGR are the wild relatives of crops plants and the genetic stocks including mutant collections and other scientific populations used for research and breeding purposes. All these ex situ conserved PGR represent an enormous value, which deserves...
The goal of agrobiodiversity conservation, unlike other forms of conservation, is not only the co... more The goal of agrobiodiversity conservation, unlike other forms of conservation, is not only the conservation of species and intra-specific genetic diversity related to agriculture, but also to promote its sustainable use in facilitating agricultural production. Although significant progress has been made in the conservation and management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) globally and in Europe, there remain two critical areas where progress has been limited: (a) the use of conserved agrobiodiversity by breeders and (b) the systematic conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR)diversity. Specifically for breeders and CWR / LR diversity conservationists, the status quo is no longer an option as human - induced climate change is threatening the maintenance of the very diversity breeders require to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change. Conventionally, breeders have used their own lines and stocks to generate novel crop varieties, but the...
The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-re... more The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-referenced observations, including all 20 currently known fruit trees species, was analyzed. Geo-referenced observations of fruit tree species occur in 11 Districts of Albania, but 54% of the observations are from Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra Districts. A grid of 25 x 25 km cells was used to asses' diversity and richness of species. To include all species at least once, 34 grid cells were selected. Spatial analysis of species richness clearly shows that Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra districts were areas of high diversity. In these districts was respectively observed the highest number of species (14; 13 and 12 species). For all grid cells selected the summarized results on diversity and estimators were: Richness (S) 20, Margalef index 3,043; Menhinick 0,881; Shannon 2,543; Simpson 0,889 and Brillouin index 2,462. Some species were very rare (Prunus mahaleb, Pyrus amygdaliformis, Prunus cerasu...
Motivation: Development of the first central point for crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace info... more Motivation: Development of the first central point for crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace information that includes: national inventories, national crop and CWR checklists, national and European conservation strategies, QTL summary data linking to other data resources, mapping and environmental layers. All these are advances on capacity to use, re-use and discover the data for research and breeding. To develop this system, it was necessary to use community-agreed standards and develop a comprehensive ontology component advancing the search, publication, integration of resources and user demands, still being consistent with machine readable and discovery systems. The system uses a document database, MongoDB, and a graph database, Neo4j, for the ontologies. The system is capable of producing and retrieving useful information, storing and retrieving many diverse data types, discovering relations which, without an ontology, would simply not be possible.
The Plant Genetic Resources Diversity Gateway (the PGR Diversity Gateway) (Fig. 1) was developed ... more The Plant Genetic Resources Diversity Gateway (the PGR Diversity Gateway) (Fig. 1) was developed during the PGR Secure project and aims to promote and facilitate the use of crop wild relatives and landraces in breeding and crop improvement by providing trait and quantitative trait locus (QTL) information of potential value to breeders and other users of germplasm. The system went online in July 2014 and accommodates different data types in one place, including nomen-clatural, biological, ecogeographical, conservation and trait data, as well as checklists, conservation strategies and a mapping service (Fig. 2). It paves the way for maintaining the wealth of data and information gathered during research activities , which otherwise often become lost within a few years of the end of the research. ! The objectives of the PGR Diversity Gateway are to: • Help institutions, national and international agencies, NGOs, training and research groups throughout the world to share data on crop wi...
The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-re... more The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-referenced observations, including all 21 currently known fruit trees species, was analyzed. Geo-referenced observations of fruit tree species occur in 11 Counties of Albania, but 54% of the observations are from Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra Counties. A grid of 25 × 25 km cells was used to asses' diversity and richness of species. To include all species at least once, 33 grid cells were selected. Spatial analysis of species richness clearly shows that Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra counties were areas of high diversity. In these counties the highest number of species (respectively 14; 13 and 12 species) was observed. For all grid cells selected the summarized results on diversity indices and richness estimators were: Richness (S) 21, Margalef index 3,20; Menhinick 0,93; Shannon 2,62; Simpson index of diversity 0,91; Brillouin index 2,54. Grid cells situated in Elbasan, Tirana and Berat countie...
Assessment of diversity of Albanian National Inventory is carried out using import statistics by ... more Assessment of diversity of Albanian National Inventory is carried out using import statistics by passport descriptors from Plant Genetic Resources database. Flora of Albania identified more than 3 250 species of plants, but only 2% of them are included in the National Inventory (NI) of Albania in EURISCO catalogue. Albanian National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources in EURISCO (2% of Albanian Flora) includes 33 genera, 62 species and 2111 accession, where 54% of them are collected genetic materials. Detailed analysis shows that collected genetic material is the principal source of diversity of Albanian NI in EURISCO. Principal component analysis and comparisons of diversity indices show the descriptors as TAXON, CROPNAME, COLLGEM, GEODATA, NOGEODATA, COLLDATE > Y.2000, COLLDATA < Y.2000, COLLDATE > Y.2000, COLLCODE-GB, SAMPSTAT-100, COLLSRC-10, COLLSRC-20 and COLLSRC-40 present higher range of diversity and were the principal source of variation that contribute more than...
The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) is a collaborative program... more The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) is a collaborative programme among most European countries aimed at facilitating the long-term conservation and the increased utilization of plant genetic resources in Europe. The Programme, which is entirely financed by the member countries, is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of National Coordinators nominated by the participating countries and a number of relevant international bodies. Bioversity International provides the Coordinating Secretariat. The Programme operates through nine networks in which activities are carried out through a number of permanent working groups or through ad hoc actions. The ECPGR networks deal with either groups of crops (cereals; forages; fruit; oil and protein crops; sugar, starch and fibre crops; vegetables) or general themes related to plant genetic resources (documentation and information; in situ and on-farm conservation; interregional cooperation). Members of the working groups and other scientists from participating countries carry out an agreed workplan with their own resources as inputs in kind to the Programme. The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Bioversity or the CGIAR concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the texts and taxonomic definitions in these proceedings reflect the views of the respective authors and not necessarily those of the compilers or their institutions. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
Data and information for plant genetic resources (PGR) is not readily available, due to many fact... more Data and information for plant genetic resources (PGR) is not readily available, due to many factors including: lack of institutional capacity, scarce data mobilization, outdated or inappropriate documentation and standards, limited free or easy tools, lack of long-term holistic management strategies, rare continuous data assessments, and barriers for sharing and publishing scientific data by institutions or individuals. The data generated globally are constantly increasing in size, complexity and heterogeneity. The availability of the data to users of germplasm, especially breeders, is increasingly unfit for purpose. While there are great advances being made for collecting and managing ex situ conservation data, there is currently no information system for in situ conservation and on farm management. There is an urgent need for a system with the capacity to store in situ conservation data, provide common and diverse methods, allow for linking, annotation and an easy way to query an...
This conference presents the culmination of the PGR Secure project (www.pgrsecure.org) – a collab... more This conference presents the culmination of the PGR Secure project (www.pgrsecure.org) – a collaborative project involving eleven partners funded under the EU Seventh Framework Programme, THEME KBBE.2010.1.1-03, 'Characterization of biodiversity resources for wild crop relatives to improve crops by breeding', Grant agreement no. 266394. It is jointly organized with the section on genetic resources of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA). This international conference showcases innovative and potential novel characterization techniques and conservation strategies to identify and safeguard crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) genetic diversity to increase potential options for crop improvement as a means of underpinning food security in the face of climate change. The conference brings together a wide range of biodiversity expertise from the international community to debate current and future enhanced conservation and utilization of CWR and...
Author's personal copy diversity is recognised. Sharing of benefits and raising awareness of the ... more Author's personal copy diversity is recognised. Sharing of benefits and raising awareness of the value of cereal landraces are the most effective ways to promote their conservation and to ensure their continued availability and sustainable use. (6) Evaluation of costs and economic benefits attributed to sustainable use of cereal landraces conserved in the GeneBanks requires comprehensive studies conducted on a case-by-case basis, that take into consideration species/crop resources, conservation conditions and quality and GeneBank location and functions.
The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do no... more The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, the European Union or any of its bodies, or any other party involved in this publication concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
The morphological characterisation and data analysis of germplasm accessions of wild PortugueseLa... more The morphological characterisation and data analysis of germplasm accessions of wild PortugueseLavandula luisieri(Rozeira) Rivas-Martínez from the southern Beira Interior region of central eastern Portugal are described. The study, based on seeds and cultivated plants, was conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2008 among populations selected from four sites (I, II, III and IV). Quantitative and qualitative phenotypic data relating to a set of 35 morphological traits were analysed using canonical discriminant analysis. Genetic similarity among accessions was assessed using amplified fragment length polymorphism molecular markers. The traits contributing most to the variability among studied populations were related to plant density, leaf colour, seed weight and various spike and flower characteristics. Plant populations from each of the four test sites were statistically distinct, exhibiting unique characteristics when compared with one another; however, populations from Sites II, III and IV s...
... Regardless of definitions, one thing is certain: genetic resources underpin plant breeding an... more ... Regardless of definitions, one thing is certain: genetic resources underpin plant breeding and agricultural production and are thus essential to food security, livelihoods, and the development aspirations of every country on Earth. ...
Tropical crops offer a broad range of situations that allow illustration of diverse approaches fo... more Tropical crops offer a broad range of situations that allow illustration of diverse approaches for enhancing genepool utilization. The actors for genetic improvement can be very different among crops, e.g. between food crops, for which genetic improvement is largely a continuous and distributed process, and plantation crops where improvement is formally organized and targeted; annual grain crops and vegetatively propagated crops evolve at different paces, in time and in space; diploid crops allow recurrent processes while complex-genome crops go through critical steps in a discontinuous process. This presentation will use examples developed at AGAP (http://umr-agap.cirad.fr/en) on sorghum, rice, groundnut, banana and sugarcane to illustrate the pervasiveness of the various topics that this conference is considering. Current experience leads us to discuss a more inclusive vision of crop diversity, the frontier between breeding and prebreeding as well as the management of crop genetic resources.
The overall goal of the project “Global Information on Germplasm Accessions” is to improve access... more The overall goal of the project “Global Information on Germplasm Accessions” is to improve access by breeders and other users to the germplasm they need in gene banks around the world. The project covers all major food crops, with a focus on 22 crops: banana, barley, beans, breadfruit, cassava, chickpea, coconut, cowpea, faba bean, finger millet, grass pea, maize, major aroids, lentil, pearl millet, pigeon pea, potato, rice, sorghum, sweet potato, wheat, and yam, and a limited number of other crops of interest to the project collaborators.
Building a global accession level information system in support of the International Treaty on Pl... more Building a global accession level information system in support of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture– ways forward in the Americas. With the recent and rapid changes in informa- tion technology, the development of a Global Information System on Plant Genetic Resources, as established in Article 17 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, could proceed more quickly in particular for the genebank community. Existing genebank information systems and portals such as the CGIAR System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER) and the European Search Catalogue (EURISCO) could be used as essential building blocks of a global framework. However, when building such a large-scale infor- mation infrastructure to provide a global platform for the access and exchange of accession level information, a thorough and careful choice of strat- egy, methodology and technology is required. This article aims at demonstrating the feasibility of such project using the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as a model. It also aims at proposing practical solutions for genebanks in the Americas to join such global initiative.
The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do no... more The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, the European Union or any of its bodies, or any other party involved in this publication concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
DESCRIPTION Plant Gene Access is a project proposal developed by the ECPGR Secretariat, hosted by... more DESCRIPTION Plant Gene Access is a project proposal developed by the ECPGR Secretariat, hosted by Bioversity International, in collaboration with 33 partners and in November 2011 submitted to the Seventh Framework Programme INFRASTRUCTURES of the European Union. The authors listed were the selected Work Package Leaders. Project Summary ________________________________________ Plant genetic resources (PGR) provide the raw material for plant breeding and thus form the basis of adaptation to increasing and changing needs of food supply. In Europe, approximately 2 million samples of PGR are conserved in approximately 625 germplasm collections, representing about one third of the global resources of plants conserved ex situ. Specific categories of PGR are the wild relatives of crops plants and the genetic stocks including mutant collections and other scientific populations used for research and breeding purposes. All these ex situ conserved PGR represent an enormous value, which deserves...
The goal of agrobiodiversity conservation, unlike other forms of conservation, is not only the co... more The goal of agrobiodiversity conservation, unlike other forms of conservation, is not only the conservation of species and intra-specific genetic diversity related to agriculture, but also to promote its sustainable use in facilitating agricultural production. Although significant progress has been made in the conservation and management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) globally and in Europe, there remain two critical areas where progress has been limited: (a) the use of conserved agrobiodiversity by breeders and (b) the systematic conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR)diversity. Specifically for breeders and CWR / LR diversity conservationists, the status quo is no longer an option as human - induced climate change is threatening the maintenance of the very diversity breeders require to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change. Conventionally, breeders have used their own lines and stocks to generate novel crop varieties, but the...
The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-re... more The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-referenced observations, including all 20 currently known fruit trees species, was analyzed. Geo-referenced observations of fruit tree species occur in 11 Districts of Albania, but 54% of the observations are from Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra Districts. A grid of 25 x 25 km cells was used to asses' diversity and richness of species. To include all species at least once, 34 grid cells were selected. Spatial analysis of species richness clearly shows that Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra districts were areas of high diversity. In these districts was respectively observed the highest number of species (14; 13 and 12 species). For all grid cells selected the summarized results on diversity and estimators were: Richness (S) 20, Margalef index 3,043; Menhinick 0,881; Shannon 2,543; Simpson 0,889 and Brillouin index 2,462. Some species were very rare (Prunus mahaleb, Pyrus amygdaliformis, Prunus cerasu...
Motivation: Development of the first central point for crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace info... more Motivation: Development of the first central point for crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace information that includes: national inventories, national crop and CWR checklists, national and European conservation strategies, QTL summary data linking to other data resources, mapping and environmental layers. All these are advances on capacity to use, re-use and discover the data for research and breeding. To develop this system, it was necessary to use community-agreed standards and develop a comprehensive ontology component advancing the search, publication, integration of resources and user demands, still being consistent with machine readable and discovery systems. The system uses a document database, MongoDB, and a graph database, Neo4j, for the ontologies. The system is capable of producing and retrieving useful information, storing and retrieving many diverse data types, discovering relations which, without an ontology, would simply not be possible.
The Plant Genetic Resources Diversity Gateway (the PGR Diversity Gateway) (Fig. 1) was developed ... more The Plant Genetic Resources Diversity Gateway (the PGR Diversity Gateway) (Fig. 1) was developed during the PGR Secure project and aims to promote and facilitate the use of crop wild relatives and landraces in breeding and crop improvement by providing trait and quantitative trait locus (QTL) information of potential value to breeders and other users of germplasm. The system went online in July 2014 and accommodates different data types in one place, including nomen-clatural, biological, ecogeographical, conservation and trait data, as well as checklists, conservation strategies and a mapping service (Fig. 2). It paves the way for maintaining the wealth of data and information gathered during research activities , which otherwise often become lost within a few years of the end of the research. ! The objectives of the PGR Diversity Gateway are to: • Help institutions, national and international agencies, NGOs, training and research groups throughout the world to share data on crop wi...
The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-re... more The geographic distribution of some fruit trees species in Albania using a database of 515 geo-referenced observations, including all 21 currently known fruit trees species, was analyzed. Geo-referenced observations of fruit tree species occur in 11 Counties of Albania, but 54% of the observations are from Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra Counties. A grid of 25 × 25 km cells was used to asses' diversity and richness of species. To include all species at least once, 33 grid cells were selected. Spatial analysis of species richness clearly shows that Elbasan, Tirana and Dibra counties were areas of high diversity. In these counties the highest number of species (respectively 14; 13 and 12 species) was observed. For all grid cells selected the summarized results on diversity indices and richness estimators were: Richness (S) 21, Margalef index 3,20; Menhinick 0,93; Shannon 2,62; Simpson index of diversity 0,91; Brillouin index 2,54. Grid cells situated in Elbasan, Tirana and Berat countie...
Assessment of diversity of Albanian National Inventory is carried out using import statistics by ... more Assessment of diversity of Albanian National Inventory is carried out using import statistics by passport descriptors from Plant Genetic Resources database. Flora of Albania identified more than 3 250 species of plants, but only 2% of them are included in the National Inventory (NI) of Albania in EURISCO catalogue. Albanian National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources in EURISCO (2% of Albanian Flora) includes 33 genera, 62 species and 2111 accession, where 54% of them are collected genetic materials. Detailed analysis shows that collected genetic material is the principal source of diversity of Albanian NI in EURISCO. Principal component analysis and comparisons of diversity indices show the descriptors as TAXON, CROPNAME, COLLGEM, GEODATA, NOGEODATA, COLLDATE > Y.2000, COLLDATA < Y.2000, COLLDATE > Y.2000, COLLCODE-GB, SAMPSTAT-100, COLLSRC-10, COLLSRC-20 and COLLSRC-40 present higher range of diversity and were the principal source of variation that contribute more than...
The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) is a collaborative program... more The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) is a collaborative programme among most European countries aimed at facilitating the long-term conservation and the increased utilization of plant genetic resources in Europe. The Programme, which is entirely financed by the member countries, is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of National Coordinators nominated by the participating countries and a number of relevant international bodies. Bioversity International provides the Coordinating Secretariat. The Programme operates through nine networks in which activities are carried out through a number of permanent working groups or through ad hoc actions. The ECPGR networks deal with either groups of crops (cereals; forages; fruit; oil and protein crops; sugar, starch and fibre crops; vegetables) or general themes related to plant genetic resources (documentation and information; in situ and on-farm conservation; interregional cooperation). Members of the working groups and other scientists from participating countries carry out an agreed workplan with their own resources as inputs in kind to the Programme. The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Bioversity or the CGIAR concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the texts and taxonomic definitions in these proceedings reflect the views of the respective authors and not necessarily those of the compilers or their institutions. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
Data and information for plant genetic resources (PGR) is not readily available, due to many fact... more Data and information for plant genetic resources (PGR) is not readily available, due to many factors including: lack of institutional capacity, scarce data mobilization, outdated or inappropriate documentation and standards, limited free or easy tools, lack of long-term holistic management strategies, rare continuous data assessments, and barriers for sharing and publishing scientific data by institutions or individuals. The data generated globally are constantly increasing in size, complexity and heterogeneity. The availability of the data to users of germplasm, especially breeders, is increasingly unfit for purpose. While there are great advances being made for collecting and managing ex situ conservation data, there is currently no information system for in situ conservation and on farm management. There is an urgent need for a system with the capacity to store in situ conservation data, provide common and diverse methods, allow for linking, annotation and an easy way to query an...
This conference presents the culmination of the PGR Secure project (www.pgrsecure.org) – a collab... more This conference presents the culmination of the PGR Secure project (www.pgrsecure.org) – a collaborative project involving eleven partners funded under the EU Seventh Framework Programme, THEME KBBE.2010.1.1-03, 'Characterization of biodiversity resources for wild crop relatives to improve crops by breeding', Grant agreement no. 266394. It is jointly organized with the section on genetic resources of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA). This international conference showcases innovative and potential novel characterization techniques and conservation strategies to identify and safeguard crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) genetic diversity to increase potential options for crop improvement as a means of underpinning food security in the face of climate change. The conference brings together a wide range of biodiversity expertise from the international community to debate current and future enhanced conservation and utilization of CWR and...
Author's personal copy diversity is recognised. Sharing of benefits and raising awareness of the ... more Author's personal copy diversity is recognised. Sharing of benefits and raising awareness of the value of cereal landraces are the most effective ways to promote their conservation and to ensure their continued availability and sustainable use. (6) Evaluation of costs and economic benefits attributed to sustainable use of cereal landraces conserved in the GeneBanks requires comprehensive studies conducted on a case-by-case basis, that take into consideration species/crop resources, conservation conditions and quality and GeneBank location and functions.
The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do no... more The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, the European Union or any of its bodies, or any other party involved in this publication concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information.
The morphological characterisation and data analysis of germplasm accessions of wild PortugueseLa... more The morphological characterisation and data analysis of germplasm accessions of wild PortugueseLavandula luisieri(Rozeira) Rivas-Martínez from the southern Beira Interior region of central eastern Portugal are described. The study, based on seeds and cultivated plants, was conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2008 among populations selected from four sites (I, II, III and IV). Quantitative and qualitative phenotypic data relating to a set of 35 morphological traits were analysed using canonical discriminant analysis. Genetic similarity among accessions was assessed using amplified fragment length polymorphism molecular markers. The traits contributing most to the variability among studied populations were related to plant density, leaf colour, seed weight and various spike and flower characteristics. Plant populations from each of the four test sites were statistically distinct, exhibiting unique characteristics when compared with one another; however, populations from Sites II, III and IV s...
... Regardless of definitions, one thing is certain: genetic resources underpin plant breeding an... more ... Regardless of definitions, one thing is certain: genetic resources underpin plant breeding and agricultural production and are thus essential to food security, livelihoods, and the development aspirations of every country on Earth. ...
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