Adapting agriculture to climate change: a synopsis of coordinated national crop wild relative seed collecting programs across five continents

Authors: EASTWOOD, R - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; TAMBAM, B - Global Crop Diversity Trust; ABOAGYE, L - Council For Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR); AKPAROZ, Z - Council For Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR); ALADELE, S - International Centre For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology (ICGEB); ALLEN, R - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; AMRI, A - International Center For Agricultural Research In The Dry Areas (ICARDA); Anglin, Noelle; ARAYA, R - Ihsm-Uma-csic, Estación Experimental “la Mayora”; ARRIETA-ESPINOZA, G - Universidad De Costa Rica

Submitted to: Plants
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/29/2022
Publication Date: 7/13/2022
Citation: Eastwood, R.J., Tambam, B.B., Aboagye, L.M., Akparoz, Z.I., Aladele, S.E., Allen, R., Amri, A., Anglin, N.L., Araya, R., Arrieta-Espinoza, G. 2022. Adapting agriculture to climate change: a synopsis of coordinated national crop wild relative seed collecting programs across five continents. Plants. 11(14). Article 1840. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11141840.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11141840

Interpretive Summary: An international, large scale crop wild relative collecting mission occurred between 2013 to 2018. A total of 25 countries along with numerous scientists were involved in obtaining collecting permits from the target countries and collecting material that was not well represented in any crop germplasm collection. All collected samples were deposited in national and international genebanks along with being made available through the multilateral system (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Further, these new accessions were safety duplicated at secondary sites to help ensure no loss of newly acquired plant material. A total of 4,587 seed samples from over 355 crop wild relatives were collected in this five year period. Of the crops collected in this project, potato and eggplant had the most samples collected. This germplasm will be of value to researchers for breeding by harnessing the immense genetic variability found in crop wild relatives and shuttling those traits of importance into cultivated crops.

Technical Abstract: The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR). Between 2013-2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy ofNikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25national collecting programs and present key results. A total of 4,587 unique seed samples from at least 355 CWR taxa were collected, conserved ex situ, safely duplicated in national and international genebanks, and made available through the Multilateral System of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. CWR collections were made for all 28 targeted crops. Potato and eggplant were the most collected genepools, although the greatest number of primary genepool collections were made in rice. Overall, Bambara groundnut, grass pea and wheat were the genepools for which targets were best achieved. Several of the newly collected samples have already been used in pre-breeding programs to help adapt crops to future challenges.