D7.1 Guidelines on acquisition, multiplication, and  distribution of underutilized plant species
Creators: name: Katsiotis, Andreas
name: Nikoloudakis, Nikolaos
name: Mattas, Konstadinos
name: Koukounaras, Athanasios
name: Bantis, Filippos
name: Eleni, Papoui
name: Laanisto, Lauri
name: Barilli, Eleonora
name: Lunas Casado, Pedro
name: Kasperczyk, Nadja
name: Solovyeva, Irina
name: Salvi, Silvio
name: Martinussen, Inger
name: Aykut Tonk, Fatma
name: İştipliler, Deniz
name: Tüzel, Yüksel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: Deliverable 7.1 scrutinizes the guidelines on available acquisition channels of plant germplasm, presents the multiplication methods of the acquired germplasm, and finally, list ways to distribute this material.  

Search and acquisition of plant germplasm for underutilized, obsolete, crop wild relatives, landraces, breeding lines and elite lines is facilitated by the existence of genebanks at the national level, genebanks under International consortia (i.e. CGIAR), research stations, universities and any other body that holds, maintains, multiplies and is willing to share this material. Distribution of the plant material is regulated under the Multilateral System of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, under the auspices of the FAO. The CGIAR maintains 11 genebanks world-wide conserving 736,210 accessions of cereals, grain legumes, forages, tree species, root and tuber crops, and bananas.  The EURISCO Web catalogue automatically receives data from the European NI. It provides information at the accession level of PGR conserved in European genebanks or other collections.  GRIN provides information about USDA national collections of animal, microbial, and plant genetic resources (germplasm) important for food and agricultural production. Thus, there are a number of available tools nowadays to search through the web for potential germplasm for any kind of project. In some cases, germplasm is well documented, characterized, and evaluated, while in other cases, most often, specific information on available germplasm is limited. Of course, the biggest source of information is the personal communication and trust among fellow scientists. Projects like BIOVALUE gives the opportunity for collaboration, information exchange, and capacity building among researchers and stakeholders, relating to the available germplasm.

Seed propagation is the means of maintaining and multiplying seed germplasm through specific procedures, that relate to the reproduction system of the crop (sexual or asexual/apomictic), and the evolution system of the flower (cross-pollination or self-pollination/male sterility or incompatibility). Also, differences exist between ways to multiply field crops (large scale and open field practices) versus vegetables (under controlled environment in greenhouses, tunnels, etc). The pilot crops for the current project contains both field crops (buckwheat, Lathyrus ssp, lentils) and vegetables (tomato, sow thistles, eggplant, Armenian cucumber). Thus, multiplication methods followed for each crop are described.

Distribution of germplasm is following specific guidelines that have been set by the International Treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. A large number of countries have signed the International Treaty, including all countries of the partners of the current project. Thus, for all Annex I crops (including Lathyrus ssp, eggplant, and lentils) SMTAs (Annex I) are signed, and for the rest of the plants (buckwheat, sow thistles, tomato, and Armenian cucumber) national regulations apply. Distribution of germplasm can be obtained in a number of ways, such as mail, courier delivery, in-person etc. In any case, provision needs to be considered to always ensure that the distributed seeds are healthy and disease-free.