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L MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS 65 ISSN 0253-6749 COLLECTING, CONSERVING AND UTILIZING PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES IN CYPRUS Athena Della .:: C E' '::-::-= --- 14 FEB 1997 ,.JU.. l TUKAI. /(!cSL.".!ZU 10:-; r rruri, . .. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT NICOSIA CYPRUS JANUARY 1997

E' 'v'f~ - news.ari.gov.cynews.ari.gov.cy/publications/mr65-della.pdf · In June 1987, ARI and the Western Aus tralia Department of Agriculture (WADA), collected wild forage legumes

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MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS 65 ISSN 0253-6749

COLLECTING, CONSERVING AND UTILIZING PLANT

GENETIC RESOURCES IN CYPRUS

Athena Della

.:: C E' 'v'f~" '::-::-= --­

14 FEB 1997 ,.JU.. l TUKAI. /(!cSL.".!ZU

10:-; r rruri, . -,-",---,~-- ..

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES

AND THE ENVIRONMENT

NICOSIA CYPRUS

JANUARY 1997

Editor - in Chie!

Dr. A.P. Mavrogenis, Agricultural Research Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.

All responsibility for the information in this publication remains with the author(s). The use of trade names does not imply endorsement of or discrimination against any product by the Agricultural Research Institute.

2

L

COLLECTING, CONSERVING AND UTILIZING PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES IN CYPRUS

Athena Della

SUMMARY

Plant genetic resources have been widely recognized to be of great importance for agricultural development. Cyprus, in cooperation with the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), launched its programme for collecting, conserv­ing, evaluating and utilizing its plant genetic resources. Local varieties of cereals and leguminous crops have been collected and conserved, and some of the collections have been evaluated and utilized in breeding programmes. Wild relatives and other wild plants have also been collected. Changes in agricultural practices and develop­mental activities have been detrimental to the genetic variability of crops and wild plants of the island. The crop germplasm collected and stored in the Cyprus Agricul­tural Research Institute's (CYPARI) Genebank is unique as most of the local varieties have disappeared from the fields and some of the crops have been replaced.

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INTRODUCTION 375 taxa as cultivated. From the native taxa 134 were recorded as endemics (Della, 1994;

The Mediterranean region is extremely Della and latrou, 1995). important as a center of origin and genetic In the 1930' s, 50 durum and two aesti­diversity of many groups of cultivated vum wheat varieties were cultivated in Cy­plants. The most important ones are cereals prus (Anonymous, 1937). The main (durum) and legumes. Other groups such as beet, flax, wheat varieties were Kyperounda, Psathas olive and vegetables are also of importance and Tripolitico. There were also three indig­in the region (Anonymous, 1979). enous barley varieties, Paphitico, Mavrok­

Cyprus, being an island at the crossroads ritharon and Hexastichon. In 1956, Kype­of three continents, with extremely irregular rounda occupied 54% of wheat land, Psathas outline, great variation in temperature and about 16%, B.x.I.P.I. (an introduced variety) rainfall as well as a long history and being a 15% and.Tripolitico 15% (Parisinos, 1956). country where there has been no glacial The main barley variety grown was the epoch, has developed a great diversity of Greek variety Athenais that had been intro­many species. Meikle (1977; 1985), described duced recently. It occupied 35% of barley more than 2000 native and cultivated plants. land, while Exadjio (or Skaliotiko) 32%,

Considering the new information, a total Mavrocritharon 22% and Paphitico 10%. In of 1760 taxa (sp.+ssp.+f.+hybrids) were re­ 1967, a high yielding soft wheat from CIM­corded in Cyprus as native or naturalised and MYT (Pitie 62) was released for cultivation

3

and, for some years was expanding at the ex­pense of durum wheat (Hadjichristodoulou, 1973). In 1980, Athenais was almost the only barley variety grown (Hadjichristodou­lou et al., 1980).

Genetic variability of many crops and wild relatives has been the subject of explo­ration and collecting for many years. It is re­ported that Vavilov investigated the vegeta­tion of Cyprus in 1927 and made rich collections from different regions of the is­land (Scheiber, 1934). Flaksberger (1927), studying thirteen samples of Cyprus wheats, showed that Vroullos and Mavrovroullos were ligule less durums, a rare phenomenon for cereals. Crawford (1963) reported that a variety of barrel medic, Medicago truncatuia Gaertn., introduced to Australia from Cyprus in 1951, matured a fortnight earlier than commercial barrel medic. Crawford (1970) studying the range of variability within M. truncatula Gaertn., examined 206 lines de­rived from 15 Mediterranean countries and reported that the majority of the early flower­ing accessions originated from Cyprus. Ben­nett (1973) reported that a remarkable amount of genetic variation was evident in durum wheat varieties of Cyprus. Hadjichris­todoulou and Della (1976) showed that though a considerable portion of genetic var­iability in field crops grown in Cyprus had been lost, large amounts of adaptive genetic diversity were conserved in some varieties.

In 1975, Cyprus agreed to cooperate with the International Board for Plant Genetic Re­sources (IBPGR), now International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), through the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI). Cyprus participated in the FAO/IBPGR Mediterranean programme, since 1980 par­ticipates in the European Cooperative Pro­gramme for Plant Genetic Resources Net­works (ECP/GR) and since 1992 in the IPGRI, West Asia and North African Coun­tries Network (WANANET).

Cyprus also endorsed the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources in 1983 and in 1985 became a member of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources. Cyprus has also signed the Convention on Biological Diversity at the 1992 United Na­tions Conference on Environment and Devel­opment (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, and the establishment of the Interna­tional Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IP­

ORI) in 1993. At the Agricultural Research Institute a project was initiated in 1979 with IBPGR support for collecting, conserving and utilizing the genetic variability of local gennplasm. Activities of the project will be presented and discussed in this study.

COLLECTION

Several collecting missions were orga­nized. Gennplasm collected, the number of accessions, the year of collection, collecting organizations and institutions where dupli­cate collections have been sent are shown in Tables 1 and 2. Collecting missions of crops as well as of wild relatives and of other wild plants are briefly presented below.'

Cereals In 1978, (Della ei al. , 1980), 80 durum

wheat and 26 barley accessions were collect­ed from cereal growing areas (Table 1). Lo­cal and old varieties were collected (Table 3).

Faba beans In 1980, the local variety of faba beans,

which was the main variety grown (Della, 1982; 1985), was collected from different ar­eas of Cyprus (Della, 1980) (Table 1).

Food and forage legumes A multicrop collection mission, mainly

of grain and forage legumes, organized in May-June 1984, resulted in the collection of 166 accessions (Table 1). The sites of collec­tion are shown in Fig. 1. The leguminuous crops collected during 1984 were grown, in very small pieces of land in rotation with ce­reals. In the hilly areas, in a number of cases they were grown in carob, almond or olive plantations on slopes or terraces. Seed was collected between sea level and 740 m of al­titude. Phaseoius and Vigna, which were not collected during the 1984 mission, were col­lected in 1990 from locations in the District of Nicosia (Table l ).

Alfalfa Twenty nine accessions of alfalfa (Medi­

cago sativa L.) were obtained from 39 farm­ers from six villages (Potamia, Dhali, Yeri, Athienou, Prodhromi and Polis tis Chryso­chou) (Table 1).

Aegilops spp, A joint mission (IBPGR and ARI) during

..­

4

r Table 1. Crops collected

Common Local No. of Year Collecting Organizations holding Scientific name name name accessions collected organizations collections

Triticum durum Desf. Hordeum vulgare L. Vicia faba L. var. major

durum wheat barley faba bean

Sitari Krithari Koukia

80 26

101

1978 1978 1980

IBPGR/ARl IBPGR/ARl ARl/IBPGR

ARl, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA, IHAR (Radzikow, Polland)

Cicer arietinum L. Lathyrus ochrus (L.) DC. Lathyrus sativus L. Lens culinaris Medik. Pisum sativum L.

chickpea ochrus vetch chickling vetch lentil field pea

Revithi Louvana Phavetta Phaki Pizelia

28 12 19 19 6

1984 1984 1984 1984 1984

ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA

ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA

Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd. bitter vetch Rovi 15 1984 ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA Vicia sativa L. Medicago sativa L.

common vetch alfalfa, lucerne

Vikos Midhiki, Triphilli

67 29

1984 1984

ARI/IBPGR/ICARDA ARI/DA, CYPRUS

ARI, GL Bari, ICARDA ARI

Phaseolus vulgaris L. haricot bean Phasolia 6 1990 ARI ARI Vigna unguiculata L. cowpea Louvia 8 1990 ARI ARI

Table 2. Wild relatives and other plants collected

No. of Year of Collecting Organizations holding Wild plants accessions collection organizations collections

Aegilops spp. Beta spp.

166 39

1983 1986

IBPGR/ARI IBPGR/ARI

Kyoto Japan, GL Bari Italy, NSGC USA, ARl (part) ARI, Hellenic Sugar Industry, Greece

Wild forages 41 1987 WADNARI WADA/ARI Aromatic and industrial plants 7 1987 ARI ARI, DA, Cyprus Wild forages 100 1988 IBPGR/ARI ARI Aegilops spp. 53 1989 ICARDNARI/IBPGR ARl,ICARDA Endemic and rare plants 200 1987-ongoing ARI ARI Grasses 73 1993 ARI ARI Miscellaneous 60 1986 ­ ongoing ARI ARI

May-July 1983 (Chapman and Della, 1983a, b) resulted in the collection of 166 acces­sions (Table 2) from different areas of Cy­prus (Fig. 2).

In 1989 (Table 2), 16 accessions were jointly collected by ICARDA/IBPGR with UNDP assistance from Kyrenia and Fama­gusta Districts, while 37 accessions were jointly collected by ICARDA/ARI/IBPGR in Nicosia, Famagusta, Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos Districts.

The distribution of Aegilops spp. in Cy­prus including data from the collections were presented by Della and Bari (1993).

Beta spp. During the Beta collecting mission a total

of 39 accessions were collected (Table 2) mainly of wild Beta vulgaris L. ssp. mariti­ma (L.) Arcang., mostly from coastal areas of Cyprus (Fig. 3).

Wild forages In June 1987, ARI and the Western Aus­

tralia Department of Agriculture (WADA), collected wild forage legumes (Table 2), mainly Medicago spp. and Trifolium spp. Forage genera such as Onobrychis, Hymeno­carpus, Hippocrepis, Coronilla, Scorpiurus, Lotus, Vida and Tetragonolopus were col­lected in May; 1988, in cooperation with the IBPGR collectors stationed at the ARI.

Aromatic and industrial plants Seed samples of aromatic and industrial

plants (Table 2), mainly of the Labiatae fam­ily, (Origanum dubium Boiss., Origanum majorana L. var. tenuifolium Weston, La­vandula angustifolia Mill., Mentha longifolia (L.) L. ssp. cyprica (H. Braun) R. Harley, Mentha pulegium L., Pimpinella anisum L. and Rhus coriaria (Anacardiaceae), were collected in September - October 1987.

Endemic and rare plants This project was started in 1987 and is

continuing. The aim is to collect seed for ex­situ conservation. A number of endemic and rare plants is already conserved at the CY­PARI Genebank (Table 2).

CONSERVATION - CYPARI GENEBANK

Until 1985 germplasm was stored under normal environmental conditions in paper

bags. Accessions were gradually grown for regeneration/multiplication in order to main­tain seed viability according to IBPGR stan­dards.

Each cereal accession is represented by a number of samples, progenies of single spikes. Approximately 7500 samples repre­sent 80 accessions of durum wheat and 3500 samples 26 accessions of barley. For moni­

. toring seed viability a bulk is maintained for . each accession consisting of a small amount of seed from each line. In order to maintain the original accession a spike from each line was collected during regeneration and all spikes of each accession were bulked togeth­er and multiplied. Upon completion of the CYPARI Genebank (0-4 °C, 50% R.H.) seed was gradually cleaned and transferred in her­metically sealed laminated foil bags. For monitoring seed viability, germination tests are carried out in October, before the next growing period.

EVALUATION / UTILIZATION

Barley Ten barley accessions from the 1978 col­

lection (Della et al., 1980) were studied at the University of Birmingham (Della, 1979). Each accession was represented by ten fami­lies, each family corresponding to a single spike. Each family was represented by three replicates. A total of 43 morphological and physiological characters were considered.

Statistical analysis showed highly signifi­cant differences among and within acces­sions in most of the quantitative characters under study, such as earliness, flag leaf length and width, spike length, awn length, plant height, grain length and width, grain yield, grain number/spike, etc. Variation was also scored among and within accessions as well as within families for a number of qual­itative characters.

In.principal component analysis 36 char­acters were used including all the quantita­tive characters as well as the qualitative characters in which more than one state was scored. The spread of individual entities along the first two components of variation, which represented 58% of the total variation, showed a great deal of variation within each accession and within many of the families. Accession ARIO0098 had the largest spread of its individual entities, while accession ARIO0092 had the narrowest.

6

L

I(

. Figure 1. Sites of collecting food and forage legumes during 1984.

Figure 2. Collecting sites of Aegilops spp. during 1983.

7

Table 3. Cerealvarieties collected in 1978and numberof collected accessions

Wheat Barley

Varieties No. of Varieties No. of Varieties No. of accessions accessions accessions

Kyperounda Psathas Tripolitis or Tripolitico Irakinos

. 14 3

24 3

Yiannis Yiannakis

Loizos Athenais

2 5

2 2

Exadjio Paphitiko

Mavro

14 3

1

Hamira 4 Kokkinositaro 1 Kountouri 1 Famira BXIPI Aspris Vrou1ias Mavrotheri

4 1 2 1 5

Kokkino Atherapitico Kambourico Mavrotziperounda Unknown

3 1 1 1 3

Cyprus black Unknown

1 4

Variety Exadjio was represented by six accessions collected from different areas of Cyprus. Comparison between accessions showed that although they had much varia­tion in common, nevertheless the range of variation was different,suggesting a geo­graphical differentiation within this variety.

Another interesting observation derived from the study was the variation within the families themselves. Plants, although proge­nies 'of a single spike, showed a high degree of segregation.

Durum Wheat Characterization/preliminary evaluation

was also completed for about 1431 geno­types (progenies of single spikes) represent­ing 14 accessions of Kyperounda local dur­urn wheat collected in 1978 (Della et al., 1980). The lines were grown in the field dur­ing 1984-85 with improved variety Karpasia as check at every 20 lines: Lines were char­acterized/preliminarily evaluated with re­spect to 13 descriptors, according to the IBPOR Revised Descriptors for Wheat (Anonymous, 1981). Data were recorded on five spikes from each line. Spikes from all accessions (one from each line), were prop­erly mounted and maintained as Herbarium specimens.

With the exception of growth class, in which all Cyprus wheats were classified in stage 3 (Spring), a considerable amount of variation was observed regarding all other characters studied'. Spikes were recorded as

intermediate, dense or very' dense, most of them having conspicuous awns, some of them short awns. The seed colour was either white or red. The glume colour was very variable, with all three stages present, (white, red to brown, purple to black). On the glumes, hairs were absent or the pres­ence was low, with the exception of a few lines in which presence was very high. Seeds were either of intermediate or large size, vit­reous, partly vitreous or, in a few cases, non vitreous. For some characters variation also was recorded within the lines. Variation was also present in the quantitative characters un­der study (Table 4).

Broad beans One hundred and one accessions of broad

beans collected in 1980 (Della, 1980) were grown during 1980/81 at Athalassa under ir­rigation and during 1981/82 at Laxia under rainfed conditions for characterization/ preliminary evaluation. In total, 38 descrip­tors were studied. The results of this study as well as collecting data and the variations present were reported by Della (1986;1988). Selected Cyprus germplasm from the Atha­lassa and Laxia nurseries was tested in yield trials from 1981 to 1987 under both irrigated and dryland conditions. There were signifi­cant differences among the accessions in the agronomic traits studied, such as grain yield, 1000-grain weight, time to flowering, plant height and protein content. A high-yielding, early-flowering and large-seeded population

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-~/--~---- Ill-=;'­

Table 4. Characteristics and variation of Cyprus landrace Kyperounda

-

Number of spikelets Number of seeds Plant height Days to flowering Lodging % /spike /spikelet

ACCNO N Mean Min Max Mean Min Max Mean Min Max Mean Min Max Mean Min Max

ARIOOO02 54 107 80.0 130 121 110 125 31.3 0 70.0 18.9 15.4 22.6 5.00 3.00 7.40 ARIOO028 89 107 87.0 120 124 118 128 46.9 0 80.0 17.4 12.8 20.8 4.72 3.40 6.60 ARIOO030 101 103 80.0 120 124 117 127 50.9 10.0 80.0 18.0 13.8 22.6 4.33 2.80 5.80 ARIOO036 94 95.3 70.0 110 123 111 128 37.1 0 70.0 18.0 14.2 20.6 4.42 2.40 6.40 ARIOO038 150 101 70.0 120 123 109 128 60.8 10.0 80.0 16.0 8.80 20.6 4.25 1.60 6.40 ARIOO039 135 105 70.0 140 124 111 131 36.9 0 70.0 17.5 11.4 22.0 4.55 2.40 6.80 ARIOO055 30 90.5 75.0 110 122 110 128 37.3 0 70.0 15.6 11.6 19.2 4.29 3.40 6.40 ARIO0057 . 45 91.8 70.0 110 124 117 126 55.0 25.0 70.0 16.1 13.4 20.0 4.42 3.40 6.00 ARIOO059 72 92.0 75.0 110 125 118 127 41.5 10.0 70.0 15.8 11.0 23.8 4.47 3.20 6.00 ARlOO060 128 91.6 65.0 110 124 109 131 28.8 0 70.0 17.1 11.8 21.4 4.43 2.00 6.20 ARIOO062 124 90.8 70.0 115 124 109 128 23.2 0 70.0 17.0 11.0 21.2 4.30 1.40 6.00 ARIOO069 114 . 98.0 65.0 125 122 109 128 23.4 0 60.0 16.6 11.6 20.8 4.46 1.60 6.40 ARIOO074 145 92.0 70.0 110 124 110 128 21.8 0 60.0 17.0 8.80 21.2 4.20 1.00 6.20 ARIOOO99 150 92.0 70.0 115 126 111 131 9.0 0 50.0 17.5 12.0 21.4 4.30 1.80 6.20 All the ACCNO 1431 96.9 65.0 140 124 109 131 34.2 0 80.0 17.1 8.80 23.8 4.41 1.00 7.40

Table 5. Area (in ha) under nine leguminous crops

. Year Vicia faba

Phaseolus spp.

Vigna unguiculata

Cicer arietinum

Lens culinaris

Lathyrus ochrus

Vicia sativa

Vicia envilia

Lathyrus sativus

1960 2946 1607 1339 683 1205 335 2678 8034 1071 1965 2645 1071 482 683 670 201 3615 4017 1219 1970 2276 670 469 402 469 201 8034 3214 1473 1975* 1339 803 937 536 268 134 3080 1071 268 1980 1607 536 422 1071 201 40 2008. 214 100 1985 1741 783 402 161 54 60 2142 67 40 1990 760 1080 275 180 20 115 420 18 17 1991 675 1100 275 115 8 100 270 12 12 1992 650 980 260 120 5 110 350 10 11 1993 600 800 270 100 3 130 420 8 11

* Since 1975 data are from Government controlled area. Source:Anonymous, 1991.

Figure 3. Collecting sitesof Beta spp. during 1986.

of the Local cultivar was released to the fanners (Della, 1990).

DISCUSSION

Improved cultural practices, mechaniza­tion, introduction and release of high­yielding improved varieties, as well as the pressure on the environment, exposes Cyprus germplasm to the danger of genetic erosion or even extinction.

The awareness of the genetic resources programme to give priority to the conserva­tion of the remaining genetic variability in cereals, grain and forage legumes is highly justified. The crop germplasm that has been collected and stored in the genebank is prob­ably unique. Most of it has disappeared from fanners' fields. Introduced high-yielding, uniform varieties were released during the recent years, which in most cases have re­placed almost completely the local germ­plasm. Relics of old cereal varieties can only be found in hilly areas, where the improved varieties cannot be competitive and mechani­zation cannot be practised.

The attempt to find better varieties for cultivation is not recent. Symeonides (1927),

reported that introduced cereal varieties were tested. New, high-yielding improved durum wheat varieties were released during the re­cent years, such as Capeiti in 1973 (Hadjich­ristodoulou, 1973), Aronas in 1977 (Had­jichristodoulou et a!., 1977), Mesaoria in 1981 (Hadjichristodoulou et al., 1982), Kar­pasia, in 1983 (Hadjichristodoulou and Kari, 1984), Macedonia in 1994 (Josephides, 1994). New barley varieties (Sanokrithi 79 and Kantara) were also released for cultiva­tion (Hadjichristodoulou, 1979; Hadjichris­todoulou et al., 1980).

Papayiannis (1987), from a survey of 253 fanners from six major cereal producing zones during 1987, reported that the new high-yielding durum wheat varieties occu­pied 86% of wheat land, while the old varie­ties Kyperounda, Tripolitico and Famira, 2, 4 and. 8%, respectively. The old varieties were almost exlusively grown in the semi­mountain vine areas of Paphos. Athenais and Kantara were grown on 98% of barley land (78 and 20%, respectively), while the re­maining 2% of the land was occupied by 48 Alger and Morocco 628, also introduced va­rieties grown for hay production. .

Until 1981, the subsidy (per ton) of dur­

10

urn wheat was higher than that for barley. Since 1982, the barley subsidy was progres­sively increased (higher than the subsidy on durum wheat) due to changes in the interna­tional wheat and barley price ratio and the unproportional change in the prices set for local production. Cereal producers being sensitive to market forces and having re­ceived the price messages, started substitut­ing barley for wheat (Papayiannis, 1987). This has been detrimental to wheat cultiva­tion.

Local varieties of pulses are still the main varieties grown. However, improved chick­pea varieties (Hadjichristodoulou, 1984; 1987), cowpea varieties (Hadjichristodoulou, 1991a, b) and common bean varieties (Had­jichristodoulou, 1992), were released. Select­ed Local broad beans were also released for cultivation (Della, 1990).

Cultivation of lentil, chickpea and ochrus vetch (Lathyrus ochrus) is minimal (Table 5). The main reasons for this are the shortage and high cost of labour and the lower prices of imported pulses.

As regards forage legumes, the cultiva­tion of bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) and of chickling vetch (Lathyrus sativus) is also minimal (Table 5) and local germplasm has almost disappeared. Vicia sativa is still grown on a large scale. However, detrimen­tal to the local germplasm was the drought during 1991 which destroyed the crop and resulted in the importation of seed of a for­eign variety, for sowing in the 1991/92 growing season.

Wild species have not been affected as much. Genetic erosion, however, continues. The threat stems mainly from the heavy and continuous developmental activities as well as from tourism.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish to stress the significant support of the IBPGR for the collection, conservation, training and purchasing of equipment. Thanks are due to Mr Gr. Papageorghiou, to Mrs Nitsa Parouti and Mrs Chrysoulla Kalli, for skilled technical assistance.

REFERENCES

Anonymous. 1937. Cereal Crops. The Cyprus Ag­ricultural Journal 32:4-11.

Anonymous. 1979. lBPGR Mediterranean Pro­gram. Plant Genetic Resources Newslet­ter 38:23.

Anonymous. 1981. Revised Descriptors for Wheat. AGP:lBPGR/81/51. 12p.

Anonymous. 1994. Time series data on crops 1960-94. Agricultural Reseach Intitute, Nicosia. 184p.

Bennett, Ema. 1973. Wheats of the Mediterrane­an Basin. In Survey of Crop Genetic Re­sources in their Centres of Diversity, (O.H. Frankel ed) pp. 1-8. FAa, Rome.

Crawford, EJ. 1963. Early Cyprus barrel medic. Department of Agriculture, South Austra­lia. Leaflet No. 3725 3p. (Reprinted from Journal ofAgriculture, 1963).

Crawford, EJ.. 1970. Variability in a large Medi­terranean collection of introduced lines of Medicago truncatula Gaertn. Proceedings of the XI International Grassland Con­gress 188-192.

Della, Athena. 1979. Variation in Barleys Collect­ed in Cyprus. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Birmingham, U.K.

Della, Athena. 1980. Broad bean collecting in Cy­prus. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 44:17-19.

Della, Athena. 1982. Vicia faba L. in Cyprus. Pro­ceedings of the International Faba bean Conference, Cairo 7-11 March 1981. ICARDA,Aleppo, Syria. pp. 83-88.

Della, Athena. 1985. A review of the present stat­us and future prospects of Vicia faba L. in Cyprus. FABIS Newsletter 11:1-5.

Della, Athena. 1986. Collection of local broad­beans at the CYPARI Genebank: Pass­port, characterization and preliminary evaluation information. Miscellaneous Reports 27, Agricultural Research Insti­tute, Nicosia. 47p.

Della, Athena. 1988. Characteristics and variation of Cyprus faba bean germplasm. FABIS Newsletter 21:9-12.

Della, Athena. 1990. Selected local faba beans (Vicia faba L. var. major) for Cultiva­tion. Technical Bulletin 115, Agricultural Research Institute, Nicosia. lOp.

Della, Athena. 1994. On the Cultivated Flora of Cyprus. Additions. Miscellaneous Re­ports 63, Agricultural Research Institute, Nicosia. 8p.

Della, Athena, Rena Martins Farias, and C. Jose­phides. 1980. Barley & Durum Wheat in Cyprus. Plant Genetic Resources News­letter 43:2-6.

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Della, Athena and A Bari. 1993. Distribution of Aegilops species in Cyprus. In Biodiver­sity and Wheat Improvement (AB. Dama­nia ed). pp. 385-395. John Wiley and Sons.

Della, Athena, and Gr. Iatrou. 1995. New Plant Records from Cyprus. Kew Bulletin 50: 387-396.

Flaksberger, C. 1927.. Report on' the Liguleless Durum Wheats of the Island of Cyprus. The Cyprus Agricultural Journal 22:71-74.

Hadjichristodoulou, A. 1973. Capeiti, a new dur­urn wheat variety for Cyprus. Technical Bulletin 10, Agricultural Research Insti­tute, Nicosia. 11p.

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