The Central Asian and Caucasus (CAC) regions are some of those most at risk in terms of genetic erosion of their endemic cropland races and wild relatives of crop plants. This is because after the collapse of the Soviet Union the farming systems in these regions have drastically changed. An intensification of cereal cropping without adequate inputs and without efficient crop husbandry is causing severe deterioration in soil fertility, including salinity. In addition new varieties are replacing traditional landraces. Land once used to grow animal fodder is being increasingly used to grow food crops, thereby placing increased pressure on rangeland species.
Despite the will of scientists and administrators, little progress has been made to arrest this process. Leguminous crop and forage species are those most at risk from the intensification of cropping and the current grazing taking place in these regions. There is also a strong concern for the viability status of germplasm from this region that exists in the poorly resourced local collections and that of the Vavilov Institute. This situation has been partially addressed by a Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) project that has assisted, with the help of ICARDA, in upgrading the seed stocks and database of some key food legumes and cereals.
The ICARDA mandate region has widely diverse environments and represents the world's largest available population of cereal and leguminous plants suited to arid and semi-arid Continental climates and Mediterranean mild to cold winter climates. The mandate has recently been extended to include the CAC countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. The germplasm base in European collections from these republics is slight, yet they are centres of diversity for a number of key cereal and grain legume species and their wild relatives.
A preceding ACIAR project funded an initiative by ICARDA and the West Australian based Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) to conserve and develop the CAC germplasm in a systematic manner for reciprocal benefit. The project engendered much goodwill, and the Centres have ongoing access to key regions of the world that are becoming increasingly sensitive to foreign exploitation of their germplasm. At the same time the project enabled a transfer of germplasm to less privileged countries unable to mount widespread collection tours in their own right or to adequately screen the incoming germplasm. This second project was designed to bring to a satisfactory conclusion this highly successful work.
The objectives of this second phase were to: 1) evaluate germplasm collected and acquired in Phase I for important agronomic traits such as tolerance to abiotic/biotic stresses and quality; 2) build upon and consolidate the capacity-building initiatives started in phase I; 3) extend the coverage of collection missions to include Georgia and Azerbaijan as well as strategic areas not covered in previous missions.
Scientists from ICARDA, CAC countries and Australia focused on characterisation and preliminary agronomic evaluation of material collected in the CAC regions during the earlier project, and of material from the same regions held in the Vavilov Institute and host country collections. Collection missions to Georgia and Azerbaijan were coupled with shorter strategic missions to countries where collections had already taken place. The scientists characterised genotypes and grew selected lines for seed, and this material was added to the regional collections in the developing countries and Australia via ICARDA. The project concentrated mainly on crop species and wild relatives and progenitors of crops, but also searched for important forage legumes, especially those suitable for hay crops.
The project has successfully initiated steps to collect, conserve, document and utilise the plant genetic resources (PGRs) from the CAC countries, positioning them to achieve long-term security of the agro-biodiversity in the region. Project scientists collected over 3000 unique accessions from all eight CAC countries by mounting 11 separate collection missions. They evaluated and/or characterised over 3300 CAC cereal and legume accessions under both field and laboratory conditions - at ICARDA and/or in the CAC.
This tremendous achievement has provided invaluable germplasm for long-term international plant improvement efforts. It illustrates the capacity of collaborative ACIAR projects to facilitate germplasm exchange, which is getting much more difficult as countries move to protect natural resources and intellectual property.
The project was also successful in facilitating the development of PGR capacity within CAC national programs. Since 1999, with the support of ACIAR and other agencies, the project has facilitated the development of a database system and its employment in CAC to capture information pertaining to current ex-situ collections of PGR in CAC countries. It has also supplied a significant amount of computer equipment to CAC national programs to facilitate the documentation, management and analysis of data associated with PGR, and supplied technical backup, funding and support to secure further funds to upgrade or build seed storage facilities in CAC. This will have a long term impact on the conservation and utilisation of PGR from the region for international benefit.
Links:
[1] http://www.cac-biodiversity.org
[2] http://www.aciar.gov.au/programarea/Crop Improvement and Management