Reasons and Processes Leading to the Erosion of Crop Genetic Diversity in Mountainous Regions of Georgia

Abstract

Agriculture has a long history in Georgia; it has led to a great variety of ancient crops. However, this diversity is under threat for many reasons. First, introduced crops have caused a loss of traditional cultivars, because the introduced crops are preferred due to their higher yield. Moreover, agricultural machines such as forage and grain combine harvesters imported to Georgia are constructed for widely distributed, imported crops and cannot be used to harvest local cultivars. Until recently, genetic erosion of ancient crop varieties was not a problem in the mountain areas of Georgia, which until the 1990s constituted a depository of local crop varieties of wheat, barley, rye, oat, common millet, traditional legumes, vegetables, herbs, and spice plants with specific varieties adapted to mountain conditions. These mountain areas worked as a depository because local mountain communities preserved their traditional ways of life and socioeconomic structures. Their traditional agricultural equipment, used on a large scale until the 1990s, still allows them to maintain areas under cultivation (with grain or other crops) on steep slopes and at high elevations where modern tractors cannot be used. Moreover, some old landraces of wheat and barley are still being used to prepare bread and beer for religious rituals. Currently, many endemic and native representatives of crop plants are in danger of extinction. International nature conservation institutions and Georgian scientific and nongovernmental organizations have developed plans to preserve the genetic resources of local cultivars.

Plant and fungal use in Tusheti, Khevsureti, and Pshavi, Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Caucasus

“…These served as a repository of ancient crops until the 1990s. Recently, the most prevalent cause for genetic erosion of traditional crop varieties is the outmigration in mountain regions as reaction to the harsh economic conditions and lack of modern infrastructure [3,[53][54][55]. The shift from traditional cultivars to modern high-yielding crops, which took place in the lowlands much earlier, began in mountain villages towards the end of Soviet occupation.…”

Wine, Beer, Snuff, Medicine, and Loss of Diversity - Ethnobotanical travels in the Georgian Caucasus

“…These show a high level of adaptation to local climatic conditions and often-high disease resistance. Early research documented this great variety (Dekaprelevich & Menabde 1929, Ketskhoveli 1928, 1957, Ketskhoveli et al 1960, Menabde 1938, 1948, but a rapid loss of local cultivars of cereals, legumes, and flax began in the 1950s with Stalinist agricultural reform (Akhalkatsi 2009, Akhalkatsi et al 2010, 2012. Despite the long cultural history, recent studies on cultivated plants are rather scarce (e.g., Pistrick et al 2009, Zhizhizlashvili et al 1980.…”

Diversity and Genetic Erosion of Ancient Crops and Wild Relatives of Agricultural Cultivars for Food: Implications for Nature Conservation in Georgia (Caucasus)

“…The fundamental work on domestication and origin of wheat and barley in this region was done by the famous Georgian botanist V. Menabde (1938Menabde ( , 1948. The agricultural evidence was reported by several other Georgian authors (Ketskhoveli, 1957;Khomizurashvili, 1973;Akhalkatsi et al, 2010). We have studied domestication of wild grapevine (Vitis vinifera subsp.…”