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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Aberdeen, Idaho » Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393746
Research Project: Potato Genetic Improvement for Enhanced Tuber Quality and Greater Productivity and Sustainability in Western U.S. Production

Location: Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research

Title: Conservation of African sweetpotato landraces – lesson from the Conservation of Global Vegetatively Propagated Genetic Resources Collections

Author
item Anglin, Noelle
item ELLIS, DAVID - International Potato Center
item LOW, JAN - International Potato Center
item ANDRADE, MARIA - International Potato Center
item QUAIN, MARIAN - Csir-Crops Research Institute
item GBOKU, MATTHEW - Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute
item MANRIQUE, NORMA - International Potato Center
item AZEVEDO, VANIA - International Potato Center
item CAREY, TED - International Potato Center
item MAKUNDE, GODWILL - International Potato Center
item SANBA, JEBEH - Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute
item GATIMU, ROSEMARY - International Potato Center
item GUARINO, LUIGI - Global Crop Diversity Trust

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The African continent is thought to be a secondary site of diversity for sweetpotato yet relatively few of the diverse and genetically unique farmer maintained sweetpotato landraces are securely conserved ex situ. The objective of this study was to collect, document, genotype, and secure long-term sweetpotato landraces from Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone under the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) to assure virus-free plantlets can return to contributing countries. Collected landraces from different countries were established in vitro and shipped to the in trust sweetpotato collection at the CIP-genebank in Peru. The target was to ship 50 landraces per country in March 2020. However, shipment of the in vitro landraces was delayed by a year due to the COVID pandemic shut down of international shipments and a significant amount of material was lost in vitro. Despite this, three shipments have been made with a fourth and final shipment scheduled for mid-2022. Genetic analysis (DArTseq) confirmed the unique nature of the material which clustered by country collected and as new pool when compared to the CIP´s global sweetpotato collection. Although the project had letters of commitment from all countries to transfer the material under the ITPGRFA with the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA), to date, only Ghana and Sierra Leone have signed the SMTA. Lessons learned are that international collection projects of vegetatively-propagated materials should plan multiple shipments and contingency plans for maintaining material for a minimum of two years after collection. Additionally, a signed SMTA should be a prerequisite prior to shipping any materials. In the end, the project has been a success with novel sweetpotato genetic resources now securely conserved and available under the ITPGRFA for use in breeding, research, and training.