Techniques and key issues in collecting crop wild relatives.

Abstract

• From the collectors’ point of view there are two major research constraints that have impacted our ability to make sufficient high-quality, genetically diverse Crop Wild Relative (CWR) collections over the last two decades First, in contrast to the relatively uniform and well-documented flowering and fruiting of crops, populations of CWR typically retain important traits that have not been narrowed by crop breeding; Secondly, the detailed knowledge about relative importance, distribution, identification, collecting and handling techniques for CWR remained patchy and fragmented prior to the development of online tools including the prioritised Harlan and de Wet CWR Inventory, digitised specimen data and a range of catalogues and botanical databases. The main focus of this chapter is the collecting of seed, which has been shown to provide the most cost-effective ex situ response to the erosion of genetic diversity at species level, for taxa producing orthodox seed, that is, that tolerate conventional dry and cold storage conditions according to FAO & Millennium Seed Bank Programme standards.