SEEDNet

- a window of biodiversity conservation

in South East European countries

III Meeting ECPGR Wheat Working Group

Pies’tany, Slovakia, 15-17 May 2012

Emilija Simeonovska,

Institute of Agriculture, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

Danela Murariu,

Suceava Genebank, Romania

What represents SEEDNet ?

(South East European Development

Network

on Plant Genetic Resources)

- established in 2004 by a number of

national institutions of South East Europe

Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania

Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Sarajevo, Bosnia

and Herzegovina - Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina

Society for Fruit Growing of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina -

Republika Srpska

Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, Sadovo, Bulgaria

Institute for Seed and Seedlings, Osijek, Croatia

Department for Agrobotany, Tápiószele, Hungary

University of Prishtina, Kosovo

Institute of Agriculture, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, Academy of Sciences of Moldova,

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

Biotechnical Faculty, Podgorica, Montenegro

National Genebank, Suceava, Romania

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management, Department of

Genetic Resources and GMO, Belgrade, Serbia

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Signatory partners to SEEDNet:

The main objective of SEEDNet:

-to strengthen the national efforts of the

partner countries in order to ensure long-

term conservation and sustainable

utilisation of the PGR within the region.

How SEEDNet works?

• Regional working groups

• Regional Steering Committee

• financially supported (within the period 2004-2010) by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).

• The Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences provided the secretariat and coordination for SEEDNet

• Cereals and Maize

• Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

• Vegetables

• Fruit crops and Vitis

• Fodder crops

• Industrial crops

• Documentation and Information

SEEDNet Regional Working

groups:

Cereals and Maize WG

• 13 WG members appointed by each of the

SEEDNet partner institutions

• WG’s mandate species and priority crops

• WG strategy

• regional projects on collecting, multiplication

and conservation of local landraces of maize

and cereals.

- 42 species in total:

• Aegilops sp. (10), Triticum sp. (7), Avena

sp.(9), Hordeum sp.(4), Secale sp. (3), Panicum

sp. (2); Sorghum sp. (2);

• Elymus fibrosus (Schrenk) Tzvelev

• Triticosecale

• Fagopyrum esculentum Moench

• Zea mays L.

• Oryza sativa L.

Mandate species list of Cereals and

Maize WG

-the preview of Aegilops species:

• Aegilops triunicialis L.

• Aegilops columnaris Zhuk.

• Aegilops squarrosa L.

• Aegilops bicornis (Forssk.) Jaub. & Spach

• Aegilops biuncialis Vis.

• Aegilops crassa Boiss.

• Aegilops geniculata Roth

• Aegilops neglecta Req. ex Bertol.

• Aegilops speltoides Tausch

• Aegilops tauschii Coss.

Mandate species list of Cereals and Maize WG

-the preview of Triticum species:

• Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum

• Triticum spelta L.

• Triticum monococcum L.

• Triticum turgidum L.

• Triticum durum Desf.

• Triticum compactum Host

• Triticum timopheevii (Zhuk.) Zhuk.

Mandate species list of Cereals and Maize WG

Activities covered by the Cereals and Maize WG

(2005-2011) • Annual meetings

Novi Sad, Serbia, 2005;

Banja Luka, Republic Srpska, 2006;

Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2007;

Skopje, Macedonia, 2008;

Budva, Montenegro, 2009;

Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2010;

Tirana, Albania, 2011

• Participation in international symposiums or conferences

1. Second European Workshop on National Plant Genetic Resources Programme, Luxembourg, (15-18 November 2006)

2. 19th EUCARPIA CONFERENCE Genetic resources section, Ljubljana ( June 2009)

3. 8th International Wheat Conference, St Petersburg (June, 2010)

Activities covered by the Cereals and Maize WG

(2005-2011)

• Training courses 1. “In situ & on farm conservation of plant genetic resources for food and

agriculture”

(September 2007, Suceava, Romania); 2. “Regeneration Guidelines for Maize Cultivars Conserved in Genebanks”

(Sarajevo, 22- 23 June, 2010)

3. “Regeneration Guidelines for wheat” (Sarajevo, 22- 23 June, 2010)

4. “Genebank management and operation” (September 2007,2008, Nordic

genebank, Sweden)

5. “Application of genetic and molecular markers in gene banks” (April, 2009,

Nordic Genebank, Sweden)

• Regional projects: 1. Survey mission in the Apuseni Mountains (2007);

2. Maize local landraces in South Eastern European countries (2008);

3. Collecting local landraces of maize and cereals (wheat, barley, rye,

oat, millet and buckwheat) in South Eastern Europe (2009 - 2010)

Romania, 2007:

WG regional project, six SEEDNet

members participated:

“In situ & on farm conservation of

plant genetic resources for food and

agriculture” (training course)

“Survey mission in the Apuseni Mountains”

Regional WG project 2009 - 2010 : “Collecting local landraces of maize and

cereals (wheat, barley, rye, oat, millet and buckwheat) in South Eastern Europe”

-12 SEEDNet partners participated

-collecting missions (each partner in his/her own country)

-in total 589 localities inventoried

The extent of the inventoried territory:

North, 4812797N

Tauli (Moldova) West

0132548E

Breginj

(Slovenia)

South, 402118N

Starje (Albania)

East

02858374E

Sipotenii

(Moldova)

Collecting sources

Landraces were mainly collected from:

Farm stores (63%) Fields (22 %)

Backyards, kitchen, home

gardens (6%) Green markets (5%)

Green markets are still a valuable source of old,

traditional varieties and landraces (photo made

at the green market Bit-pazar in Skopje,

Macedonia).

Project partner

Collected accessions by crops

ma

ize

wh

ea

t

barle

y

rye

oat

mille

t

bu

ck

wh

eat

oth

er

*

TO

TA

L

1. Macedonia 90 11 17 14 19 2 0 0 153

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 19

3. Montenegro 68 7 10 4 4 0 6 0 99

4. Romania 49 4 3 0 6 1 0 3 66

5. Republic of Srpska 7 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 13

6. Kosovo 49 0 3 0 8 0 0 0 60

7. Croatia 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56

8. Albania 34 9 2 0 3 0 0 1 49

9. Serbia 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15

10. Slovenia 66 3 1 3 5 1 2 0 81

11. Moldova 157 5 2 0 1 0 0 13 178

12. Bulgaria 34 4 0 19 3 4 0 14 78

Total: 637 47 43 40 52 8 9 31 867

Total number of the collected accessions during the

collecting missions in 2009 and 2010

Distribution of the collected accessions by crops

other*

31

4%buckwheat

9

1%

oat

52

6%

maize

637

73%

wheat

47

5%

barley

43

5%

rye

40

5%

millet

8

1%

maize

oat

wheat

barley

rye

other*

buckwheat

millet

SEEDNet achievements

• Seed and field gene banks established

in all partner countries

• Active national and regional PGR

networks

• 29 PGR training courses carried out

• 22 regional WG projects accomplished

• Permanent observer status in ECPGR

• Member of EUCARPIA

Future plans • Finding out the modalities for funding, strenghthening the

relationships between SEEDNet WG’s and ECPGR WG’s through joint projects, meetings, a.s.o.

• Making visible the results of WG projects at European level through active participation in international scientific events

• Multiplication of the accessions collected within SEEDNet projects and their preparation for long term storage.

• Morpho-physiological and genetical studies of local landraces collected within SEEDNet projects in order to avoid duplication and to improve efficiency in conservation work.

• Establishing common safety base collections of national gene bank colllections

www.seednet.geminova.net