Aim
To create a crop wild relative (CWR) conservation strategy for the Czech Republic: the first national CWR conservation strategy for Central and Eastern Europe.
Location
Czech Republic.
Methods
We generated a CWR checklist for the Czech Republic and then prioritized taxa, using widely adopted criteria modified with input from local experts, to create a national CWR inventory. For 204 priority CWR species, we collated 206,760 presence records. We carried out spatial analyses to identify patterns in species richness, gaps in existing conservation actions, complementary conservation networks and collecting strategies to increase representativeness of gene bank accessions. We considered both specific and genetic conservation, using geographic and ecogeographic proxies for the latter.
Results
Passive in situ conservation of CWR in the Czech Republic is comprehensive at present, with all but one priority CWR species being contained in protected areas. Active in situ CWR conservation could be focussed within 11 ca. 10‐km‐by‐10‐km grid cells containing 94% of priority species, or their overlapping protected areas. To augment the genetic coverage of the in situ conservation network, active CWR conservation is encouraged within 11 supplementary areas. Meanwhile, there are huge gaps in ex situ collections, with no known conserved material for 134 of the 204 priority species. Furthermore, existing accessions are generally unrepresentative of genetic diversity.
Main conclusions
In the Czech Republic, active in situ conservation of priority CWR should be instigated within the 22 recommended grid cell areas or their 14 overlapping protected areas. For ex situ conservation, strategic and targeted collection of germplasm would markedly increase the value of gene bank collections. Diversity of priority Czech CWR is concentrated in South Moravia, making this a particularly important CWR area for the country and for Europe.
Oleaster-leafed pear (Pyrus elaeagrifolia Pall. subsp. elaeagrifolia) fruits are used for food and dietary supplements in Turkey, and seedlings are used as rootstock for pear cultivars. Information on the effect of genotypes on oleaster-leafed pear fruit characteristics is needed in order to optimize production of quality food and dietary supplements. The characteristics of oleaster-leafed pear fruits relative to genetic background were evaluated from 16 wild grown oleaster-leafed pear genotypes at eastern Turkey. Genotype influenced ripening dates, fruit weight, fruit length/width ratio, fruit pedicel length, fruit flesh texture, fruit firmness, the number of seeds per fruit, soluble solid content, titratable acidity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity. Analysis of the data obtained from 16 oleaster-leafed pear genotypes demonstrated a highly significant influence of genotype on fruit characteristics. The genotypes G12, G13 and G9 had the highest fruit weight (19.22, 18.54 and 18.30 g) and G9 the highest total phenolic content (122 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g fresh fruit). The genotypes G3, G5, G11 and G13 had the slightly sandy fruit flesh texture and those genotypes may be good selections for processing and producing health oleaster-leafed pear products.
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