Reliability of germination testing of ex situ conserved seeds: a genebank case study on outsourced analyses

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo van Hintum ◽  
Rob van Treuren

Germination tests are performed on a routine basis to determine the viability of genebank accessions. The results determine which accessions have to be rejuvenated. The reliability of the germination test results used by the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands was determined by the retesting of 641 random samples anonymously, in the same year and by the same testing agency as the original tests. Results showed alarmingly low reliabilities, with error levels much higher than expected based on sampling effects. The result of a germination test of a random sample with a germination of 80% was shown to have a 95% confidence interval from 63 to 97%. The errors differed strongly over crops and testing years, and were larger for crop wild relatives than for crop species.

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
Marcelo B. Medeiros ◽  
José F. M. Valls ◽  
Aluana G. Abreu ◽  
Gustavo Heiden ◽  
Suelma Ribeiro-Silva ◽  
...  

This study presents the status of ex situ and in situ conservation for the crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet in Brazil, and the subsequent germplasm collection expeditions. This research is part of a global initiative entitled “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Species of the primary, secondary, and tertiary gene pools with occurrences reported in Brazil were included: Oryza alta Swallen, O. grandiglumis (Döll) Prod., O. latifolia Desv., O. glumaepatula Steud., Eleusine tristachya (Lam.) Lam., E. indica (L.) Gaertn., Solanum commersonii Dunal, S. chacoense Bitter, Ipomoea grandifolia (Dammer) O’Donell, I. ramosissima (Poir.) Choisy, I. tiliacea (Willd.) Choisy, I. triloba L., and I. cynanchifolia Meisn. The status of the ex situ and in situ conservation of each taxon was assessed using the gap analysis methodology, and the results were used to plan 16 germplasm collection expeditions. Seeds of the collected material were evaluated for viability, and the protocols for seed germination and cryopreservation were tested. The final conservation score, resulting from the gap analysis and including the average of the ex situ and in situ scores, resulted in a classification of medium priority of conservation for all the species, with the exception of I. grandifolia (high priority). The total accessions collected (174) almost doubled the total accessions of these crop wild relatives incorporated in Embrapa’s ex situ conservation system prior to 2015. In addition, accessions for practically absent species were collected for the ex situ conservation system, such as Ipomoea species, Eleusine indica, and Solanum chacoense. The methods used for dormancy breaking and low temperature conservation for the Oryza, Eleusine, and Ipomoea species were promising for the incorporation of accessions in the respective gene banks. The results show the importance of efforts to collect and conserve ex situ crop wild relatives in Brazil based on previous gap analysis. The complementarity with the in situ strategy also appears to be very promising in the country.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dickson Ng'uni ◽  
Graybill Munkombwe ◽  
Godfrey Mwila ◽  
Hannes Gaisberger ◽  
Joana Magos Brehm ◽  
...  

AbstractCrop wild relatives (CWR) are valuable gene pools for crop improvement and offer unique potential and opportunity for enhancing food security and adaptation to climate change. However, current actions towards conservation of plant genetic resources in Zambia do not adequately cover CWR occurring in the country. The article describes the process leading to the development of a national strategic action plan (NSAP) for the conservation and sustainable use of priority CWR in Zambia. Based on 59 prioritized crops, a partial checklist of 459 CWR taxa was generated from the national flora checklist of 6305 taxa. The generated CWR taxa were prioritized based on the socio-economic value of the related crop, their utilization potential in crop improvement, relative distribution and threat status to produce 30 prioritized CWR taxa. Occurrence data were compiled for all CWR inventory taxa and used in spatial analyses to establish species distribution, species richness, gaps in in situ conservation and genebank collections, and to identify priority sites for in situ conservation and ex situ collecting. Consistent with the national developmental agenda, along with the contribution of national stakeholders, spatial analyses of occurrence data of priority CWR taxa are valuable input for the development of the NSAP for the conservation and sustainable use of the priority CWR.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1446
Author(s):  
Lorraine Rodriguez-Bonilla ◽  
Karen A. Williams ◽  
Fabian Rodríguez Bonilla ◽  
Daniel Matusinec ◽  
Andrew Maule ◽  
...  

Knowledge of the genetic diversity in populations of crop wild relatives (CWR) can inform effective strategies for their conservation and facilitate utilization to solve agricultural challenges. Two crop wild relatives of the cultivated cranberry are widely distributed in the US. We studied 21 populations of Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton and 24 populations of Vaccinium oxycoccos L. across much of their native ranges in the US using 32 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. We observed high levels of heterozygosity for both species across populations with private alleles ranging from 0 to 26. For V. macrocarpon, we found a total of 613 alleles and high levels of heterozygosity (HO = 0.99, HT = 0.75). We also observed high numbers of alleles (881) and levels of heterozygosity (HO = 0.71, HT = 0.80) in V. oxycoccos (4x). Our genetic analyses confirmed the field identification of a native population of V. macrocarpon on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in the state of Washington, far outside the previously reported range for the species. Our results will help to inform efforts of the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) to conserve the most diverse and unique wild cranberry populations through ex situ preservation of germplasm and in situ conservation in designated sites on National Forests.


Author(s):  
Nolipher Khaki Mponya ◽  
Tembo Chanyenga ◽  
Joana Magos Brehm ◽  
Nigel Maxted

Abstract The study analysed the conservation gaps of the priority crop wild relatives (CWR) taxa for Malawi in order to contribute to the development of a harmonized conservation strategy that helps secure the priority CWR under in situ and ex situ. We used taxa distribution modelling, complementarity analysis and ecogeographic land characterization map to analyse spatial diversity and distribution of 123 priority taxa across different adaptive scenarios. We identified areas of observed and predicted richness, the minimum number of protected areas (PAs) that conserve the broadest ecogeographic diversity in situ and the minimum number of grid cells that capture highest diversity outside PAs to recommend the establishment of genetic reserves. We then analysed the representativeness of the conserved ecogeographic diversity of target taxa in ex situ collections to identify ex situ conservation gaps and advise for priority areas for ex situ collections. For the 123 taxa, 70.7% of the total diversity occurs in 36 PAs with 66.8% of the diversity captured in only 10 complementary PAs. Outside PAs, the broadest diversity was conserved in three grid cells of size 5 × 5 km. Fifty-three of 123 taxa have ex situ collections with only three taxa having ex situ collections at the Malawi Plant Genetic Resources Centre. The findings of this study will guide formulation of conservation actions for the priority taxa as well as lobbying for active conservation of the same under in situ and ex situ.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Necla Tas ◽  
George West ◽  
Gun Kircalioglu ◽  
S. Boyraz Topaloglu ◽  
Jade Phillips ◽  
...  

AbstractCrop wild relatives (CWR) are wild plant taxa relatively closely related to crops that can contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, such as biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Turkey has a rich flora of approximately 11,000 higher plant taxa, has two Vavilov centres of crop diversity (i.e. the Mediterranean and the Near East), is recognized as the cradle of agriculture providing the northern boundary of the Fertile Crescent, and has recently been identified as the country with the highest concentration of CWR diversity. The objective of this paper is to present the results of a gap analysis of CWR genetic diversity in Turkey using existing data sources of 458 of the 764 priority CWR taxa with available georeferenced data. In total, 27,597 presence points were obtained from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Aegean Agricultural Research Institute in Menemen and Field Crops Central Research Institute, Ankara. Geographic Information System (GIS) software was used to identify taxon richness, sampling bias, future ex situ population collection and location where existing protected sites could form the basis of national network of in situ genetic reserves. CWR taxon richness was located along the Aegean Coast, Syrian border and southern Mediterranean coast. Current ex situ representation of CWR taxa is inadequate and further collection across the entire country is required. The highest priority in situ reserve location is found in Izmir, Sanliurfa and Antalya province, which reflects overall CWR richness.


VAVILOVIA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-30
Author(s):  
L. Yu. Shipilina

Background. Preservation of crop wild relatives (CWR) as natural suppliers of genetic source material (GSM) is the foundation of food security. In situ conservation is considered the highest priority method. By preserving species in their natural communities, we safeguard all the genetic diversity that can be used as sources of valuable economic traits. The criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) are unable to assess the significance of crop wild relatives at the regional level. With this in view, we have used the vulnerability status categories developed at VIR. Materials and methods. Crop wild relatives of Vologda Province were the target of the study. Research material was selected in VIR’s herbarium collection (WIR, LE), along with literary data and the results of the plant exploration surveys by VIR’s scientists. The species listed in the Red Books of Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod Provinces, the Red Book of Karelia, and the list of rare and endangered plants (2015) of Vologda Province were analyzed. For the first time, plants were tested specifically to determine the species’ vulnerability degree. On the basis of such testing, CWR requiring special conservation measures were identified. Results and conclusions. Sixty-six CWR species that require in situ conservation occur in Vologda Province. The collected materials helped to develop databases of locations for the taxa studied. In total, we identified nine species with the vulnerability status of Category I (Corylus avellana L., Onobrychis arenaria (Kit.) Ser., Phleum phleoides (L.) Karst., Thymus talijevii Klok. Et Shost., Bistorta vivipara (L.) S.F. Gray, Gypsophila fastigiata L., Koeleria glauca (Spreng.) DC., Leymus arenarius (L.) Hochst., and Scorzonera glabra Rupr.). Maps of the species with the first vulnerability status category were made. Category II was assigned to 19 species; Category III, to 38 species. The species requiring special conservation efforts were identified: relicts (11 spp.) and endemics (1 sp.). Twenty-eight species are in the list of rare and endangered plants (2015) of Vologda Province. Nizhnesukhonsky floristic area stands out for its rich CWR diversity. In addition to in situ conservation within protected areas of various ranks, the species included into Categories I and II should be conserved ex situ in botanical gardens and genetic collections held by research institutes in the northwest of Russia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aremi R. Contreras-Toledo ◽  
Moisés Cortés-Cruz ◽  
Denise E. Costich ◽  
Ma. de Lourdes Rico-Arce ◽  
Joana Magos Brehm ◽  
...  

AbstractCrop wild relatives (CWR) are valuable resources for crop breeding due to their close genetic relationship to the cultivated plants and their wide genetic variation, allowing the introgression of desirable traits into the crops, such as resistance to plant pests and diseases or adaptability to climate change. Mexico is a centre of agrobiodiversity, including CWR, but climate change, and other factors, are contributing to the loss of important Mexican CWR genetic diversity. The in situ and ex situ conservation status of Mexican priority CWR were assessed through a gap analysis as part of a national CWR conservation strategy for Mexico, to ensure the long-term preservation and improve the availability of these genetic resources. A set of 310 priority CWR taxa, previously identified as part of the national CWR inventory for Mexico, were analysed. Species distribution modelling and ecogeographic diversity analyses were used to detect gaps in in situ and ex situ conservation at taxon and ecogeographic levels. Priority target sites were identified throughout the country for complementary in situ and ex situ conservation of these taxa. The results obtained allow us to make recommendations for immediate conservation actions, thus helping to mitigate the threats to Mexican agrobiodiversity and enhance both national and global food security.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document