Conservation and use of global plant genetic resources for insect resistance

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 865 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Quisenberry ◽  
S. L. Clement

Insect and mite damage accounts for a significant level (30−70%) of total crop production losses. Conservation and use of plant genetic resources are required to endow crops with pest resistance, as well as to enhance crop yields and nutritional qualities. Advancements in molecular genetic technologies have the potential to facilitate the introgression of insect resistance genes from conserved and unadapted germplasm into cultivated crops. Long−term food security and the sustainability of agricultural productivity worldwide can be enhanced with the conservation and use of global plant genetic resources.

Author(s):  
S.V. Chernobai ◽  
V.K. Riabchun ◽  
T.B. Kapustina ◽  
V.S. Melnyk ◽  
O.E. Shchechenko

Goal. To build up a spring triticale genetic bank to provide breeding, scientific and educational institutions with initial material and to preserve the existing diversity. To update the database of accessions with a set of valuable economic and morphological features. Results and discussion. The methodology and results of the collection formation and evaluation of spring triticale accessions in the National Center for Plant Genetic Resources of Ukraine of Plant Production Institute nd. a V. Ya. Yuriev are presented. The formed collection includes 1,935 accessions from 27 countries: 42 varieties and 1,478 breeding lines from Ukraine, 92 varieties and 248 lines from foreign countries and also 75 genetic lines. The collection was formed by major valuable economic features (plant height, growing season length, spike threshing, yield, 1000-grain weight, disease resistance, technological properties, etc.). Accessions with the majority of morpho-biological and valuable economic features were selected. All the accessions in the collection are certificated. 1,762 accessions were packed for storage into the National Depository; 1,507 of them were packed for long-term storage. Conclusions. The gene pool of spring triticale from the collection of the Gene Bank of Plants of Ukraine is widely used for breeding. This allows conducting hybridization of genetically and ecologically remote forms with various expressions of features and obtaining whole new breeding material. Involvement of collection accessions in breeding allows generating new genetic sources of valuable economic features.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2165
Author(s):  
Theo van Hintum ◽  
Johannes M. M. Engels ◽  
Lorenzo Maggioni

Europe is very active in terms of conserving plant genetic resources, with hundreds of genebanks and thousands of dedicated people involved. However, the resulting infrastructure is, along with being very expensive, far from efficient and not very reliable. In this opinion paper, the authors describe how this situation arose, and why the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), the collaborative umbrella organization of the European countries involved, has not been able to improve this situation so far significantly. The principles of the decentralized virtual genebank (AEGIS) are described, and an analysis is made of the reasons for its lack of success. Possible changes for making AEGIS a success, or at least steps in the right direction, are proposed. These changes center around the creation of a system of certified genebanks with proper quality management, guaranteeing the long-term conservation of, and immediate access to the plant genetic resources conserved in it.


2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Dotlačil ◽  
Z. Stehno ◽  
I. Fáberová ◽  
A. Michalová

Activities on plant genetic resources in the Czech Republic are concentrated in the National Programme on Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources. Eleven institutions maintain 51,000 accessions, of which 17.3% belong to vegetatively propagated species. Research Institute of Crop Production (RICP) Prague has the responsibility for the coordination of the Programme; it holds more than half of all accessions in collections of genetic resources, runs the national information system and provides long-term storage for all seed-propagated species. All Czech collections are fully documented in passport data. Evaluation data (based on National descriptor lists for 29 crops) are available for 33% of the accessions. Much work is currently spent to the description and evaluation of collections, to facilitate their utilisation in breeding and agricultural practice. Also collecting missions on the Czech territory, conservation and monitoring of valuable resources maintained in situ contributeto the maintenance and evaluation of local resources. Landraces are considered a valuable part of the collections. Suitable ways of “on farm” conservation are investigated for selected accessions, to support their utilisation in agricultural practice and to enrich the existing diversity of crops and cultivars. Cultivars and landraces of neglected crops (buckwheat, millet, hulled wheat species) were successfully used to enrich the agro-biodiversity and for specific purposes of human nutrition. Close collaboration with producers (often organic farms) and processing industry has been established. Selected alternative crops and catch crops were studied as potential new crops.


Author(s):  
Jane Muthoni ◽  
Hussein Shimelis ◽  
Rob Melis

Plant genetic resources (PGRs) play an important role in agriculture, environment protection, cultural property and trade; they need to be conserved. There are two fundamental approaches for the conservation of PGRs: in situ and ex situ. In situ conservation is the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings. Ex situ preservation is the storage of seeds or plant materials under artificial conditions to maintain their long term viability and availability for use. Genebanks employ seed storage, field collections of living plants and in vitro storage (tissue culture or cryopreservation) for ex situ preservation of PGR. Storage of orthodox seeds, which are tolerant to low moisture content and low temperatures at appropriate temperature and humidity, is the most convenient ex situ conservation method. Plants that produce recalcitrant seeds or non-viable seeds are conserved in field genebanks as well as in-vitro in slow growth media for short-to-medium term and cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen at -1960C for long-term periods. Cryopreservation is very expensive and needs trained personnel; this could explain why this method is rarely used for conservation of plant genetic resources in most developing countries. Potato tubers are bulky and highly perishable; the crop is generally conserved as clones either in field genebanks (with annual replanting), in-vitro conservation in slow growth media for short-to-medium term and cryopreservation for long term. Field genebanks are expensive to maintain and the crop is exposed to many dangers; hence, cryopreservation is the only feasible method for long term conservation. However, given the high cost of cryopreservation, long-term conservation of potato genetic resources is poorly developed in most resource-poor countries leading to high rates of genetic erosion. This paper looks into the various methods that that can be applied to conserve potato genetic resources and the status of conservation of potatoes in major genebanks and some countries.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Thaler ◽  
Josef Eitzinger ◽  
Gerhard Kubu

<p>Weather-related risks can affect crop growth and yield potentials directly (e.g. heat, frost, drought) and indirectly (e.g. through biotic factors such as pests). Due to climate change, severe shifts of cropping risks may occur, where farmers need to adapt effectively and in time to increase the resilience of existing cropping systems. For example, since the early 21st century, Europe has experienced a series of exceptionally dry and warmer than usual weather conditions (2003, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018) which led to severe droughts with devastating impacts in agriculture on crop yields and pasture productivity.</p><p>Austria has experienced above-average warming in the period since 1880. While the global average surface temperature has increased by almost 1°C, the warming in Austria during this period was nearly 2°C. Higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and more severe and frequent extreme weather events will significantly affect weather-sensitive sectors, especially agriculture. Therefore, the development of sound adaptation and mitigation strategies towards a "climate-intelligent agriculture" is crucial to improve the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change and increased climate variability. Within the project AGROFORECAST a set of weather-related risk indicators and tailored recommendations for optimizing crop management options are developed and tested for various forecast or prediction lead times (short term management: 10 days - 6 months; long term strategic planning: climate scenarios) to better inform farmers of upcoming weather and climate challenges.</p><p>Here we present trends of various types of long-term weather-related impacts on Austrian crop production under past (1980-2020) and future periods (2035-2065). For that purpose, agro-climatic risk indicators and crop production indicators are determined in selected case study regions with the help of models. We use for the past period Austrian gridded weather data set (INCA) as well as different regionalized climate scenarios of the Austrian Climate Change Projections ÖKS15. The calculation of the agro-climatic indicators is carried out by the existing AGRICLIM model and the GIS-based ARIS software, which was developed for estimating the impact of adverse weather conditions on crops. The crop growth model AQUACROP is used for analysing soil-crop water balance parameters, crop yields and future crop water demand.</p><p>Depending on the climatic region, a more or less clear shift in the various agro-climatic indices can be expected towards 2050, e.g. the number of "heat-stress-days" for winter wheat increases significantly in eastern Austria. Furthermore, a decreasing trend in maize yield is simulated, whereas a mean increase in yield of spring barley and winter wheat can be expected under selected scenarios. Other agro-climatic risk indicators analysed include pest algorithms, risks from frost occurrence, overwintering conditions, climatic crop growing conditions, field workability and others, which can add additional impacts on crop yield variability, not considered by crop models.</p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 667-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne A. Labate ◽  
Larry D. Robertson ◽  
Angela M. Baldo ◽  
Thomas Björkman

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Plenck) and cauliflower (B. oleracea var. botrytis DC) are closely related botanical varieties. The underlying genetic bases of their phenotypic differences from each other are not well understood. A molecular genetic marker enabling B. oleracea germplasm curators and breeders to predict phenotype from seeds or seedlings would be a valuable tool. Mutant alleles at flower developmental pathway loci BoAP1-a, Bo-CAL-a, and glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway locus BoGSL-ELONG have been reported to be associated with a cauliflower phenotype. We surveyed mutant alleles at these three loci in a genetically diverse sample of broccoli and cauliflower accessions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) and the University of Warwick, Genetic Resources Unit of Warwick HRI (HRI). Phenotypic and genotypic data were collected for multiple plants per accession during two field seasons. Simple genetic models assuming dominance or codominance of alleles were analyzed. Goodness-of-fit tests rejected the null model that the mutant genotype was associated with a cauliflower phenotype. A correlation analysis showed that BoAP1-a and BoCAL-a alleles or loci were significantly correlated with phenotype but the fraction of variation explained was low, 4.4% to 6.3%. Adding BoGSL-ELONG to the analysis improved predictive power using the linear regression procedure, Maximum R-square Improvement (max R2). In the best three-variable model, only 24.8% of observed phenotypic variation was explained. Because tested genetic models did not hold robustly for the surveyed accessions, it is likely that there are multiple genetic mechanisms that influence whether the phenotype is broccoli or cauliflower. Our results in commercial cultivars indicate that other genetic mechanisms are more important in determining the horticultural type than are BoAP1-a and BoCAL-a.


Botanica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juozas Labokas ◽  
Birutė Karpavičienė

AbstractTwenty six seed (genetic) sites were established for long-term in-situ conservation of medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP) genetic resources in Lithuania over the period 2006–2017. The sites vary in size from 0.4 to 38.0 ha with an average of 7.2 ha. Most of the sites (73%) occur in the existing protected areas. They represent 10 of 22 physical geographical areas of Lithuania and accommodate 120 priority MAP species, which is about 89% of the national priority list. Prioritization of MAP species was based on the monographs of European Pharmacopoeia, European Medicines Agency, World Health Organization as well as German Phytotherapeutic Monographs and other regional and national medicinal plant references. A concept was followed of the dual function and perception of food as medicine, and, vice versa, an approach based on a co-evolutionary relationship between human food and medicine. It was established that only 46 priority species, or 34% of the national priority list, were represented by five and more populations, which is considered as minimum for long-term in-situ conservation. The future conservation planning efforts should focus on at least 15 unrepresented species, 49 species represented at 1–2 sites each and 25 species represented at 3–4 sites each. The MAP site network should expand by covering preferably the remaining 12 physical geographical areas of the country.


2004 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Lawson

A key controversy in negotiating the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the likely long-term effectiveness of the agreement, is the way in which the intellectual property provisions are interpreted and applied to the key genetic resources forming the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system of International Agricultural Research Centres' (IARC) collections. This paper reviews the intellectual property provisions in the treaty and examines the likely consequences from patenting under the Patents Act 1990 over materials derived from these collections. The consequence is argued to be significant and, over time, these practices are likely to deplete the usefulness of these collections and undermine the relevance of the treaty. The paper concludes that Australia's interests might best be served by arguing that access to these collections, and the other materials under the treaty, be subject to a non-exclusive, royalty free licence for any use of the derived materials to develop useful new plant varieties.


1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kar-Ling Tao ◽  
J. Trevor Williams ◽  
Dick H. van Sloten

Plant genetic resources are vital in safeguarding and increasing crop production and enhancing human nutrition, particularly in a Man-dominated world. Crop genetic resources are currently under threat of loss for various reasons. Conservation as seed is the most common and practicable method of preserving plant genetic resources. The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), in cooperation with gene-banks around the world, has created a global network of base-collections. In order to minimize losses of stock in the gene-banks, standards were developed in 1985 and base-collections were assessed against them.


2004 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad S. Qureshi ◽  
M. N. Asghar ◽  
S. Ahmad ◽  
I. Masih

In the Indus Basin of Pakistan, multi-strainer shallow tubewells often called 'skimming wells' are used to extract groundwater from thin fresh lenses underlain by saline groundwater. Most of these wells face problems such as deteriorating water quality and reduction in discharge due to inadequate design and poor operational and management strategies. This paper evaluates the current practices of farmers in the Chaj doab area of Pakistani Punjab and suggests improvements in design and operation of skimming wells to ensure long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the area. The effect of existing design and operation of skimming wells on pumped groundwater quality was evaluated using MODFLOW. To study the long-term effects of skimmed groundwater use on crop production and soil salinity development, the soil water flow and solute transport model SWAP was applied. The results revealed that farmers could reduce the number of strainers from 16 to 6 without reducing the anticipated discharges. For the conditions considered, the maximum discharge of skimming wells should be 4–8 L/s and they should not be operated for more than 2–4 h per day. Increasing discharge rate or daily operational hours can disturb the interface between fresh and saline groundwater resulting in reduced quality pumped groundwater. Weekly operational schedules together with recommended discharge rate and operational hours will be the best strategy to use skimmed groundwater for achieving optimal crop yields while maintaining root-zone salinity within acceptable limits. To avoid aquifer degradation, skimming wells should be used for supplemental irrigation rather than full irrigation of crops. Due to low discharge rates, skimming wells cannot be used to irrigate crops through surface irrigation methods. Therefore, pressurised irrigation methods should be used. The results also suggest that continuation of present irrigation practices could lead to serious problems of land and aquifer degradation. Therefore, farmers need to adjust their irrigation and leaching requirements annually considering crop evapotranspiration, precipitation, and salinity status of soils.


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