The Analysis of Italian Plant Agrobiodiversity Databases Reveals That Hilly and Sub-Mountain Areas Are Hotspots of Herbaceous Landraces

Abstract

Landraces are an agri-food and historical-cultural heritage but are undergoing losses worldwide. Italy is taking action to counteract this problem by following European guidelines. One of the most important measures is the Agrobiodiversity National Register (ANR), but 12 Italian regions currently appear without any landraces and around 80% of the landraces listed are trees, with less detailed data on herbaceous species. The aim of this study is to investigate the situation for Italian herbaceous landraces preserved on farms (in situ) by merging and analyzing data contained in the main databases on plant agrobiodiversity in Italy. Data were georeferenced, organized by botanic families and Italian regions, and analyzed by GIS and R. A total of 1615 herbaceous landraces were found (versus the 416 recorded in the ANR). Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae together comprise 70% of all herbaceous landraces and are mostly preserved/grown in areas between 150 and 800 m a.s.l. Some hilly and sub-mountain areas of the Apennines and the Alps are hotspots of herbaceous landraces due to anthropic and environmental factors. The results of this research will be useful to enrich the ANR and trigger actions of characterization, conservation, and promotion of these plant resources.

Plant agrobiodiversity conservation and use in intensive farming systems: N-Italy as a case study.

“…Our nding that mountain areas possess a high crop diversity con rms the results of previous studies in northern Italy that showed mountain areas as refugia of crop landraces (see e.g. Giupponi et al 2021). Nevertheless, several entities were unexpectedly recorded in particularly diverse plains, too, such as in the provinces of Cremona, Mantova and Venezia.…”

“…Currently, only few inventories of landraces are available for individual administrative regions and provinces of northern Italy (see e.g., Rossi et al 2019 andGiupponi et al 2020 for Lombardy region; Guzzon et al 2019 for Pavia province), while little is known about other provinces, and the overall picture for the whole area is unclear. Recently, a landrace inventory, based on bibliographical data, was published by Giupponi et al (2021), covering the entire country. This inventory showed that some northern Italian regions (e.g.…”

State of Crop Landraces in Arcadia (Greece) and In-Situ Conservation Potential

“…Joshi and Witcombe [126] also highlighted that in high altitude, landraces are widely cultivated in Nepal. Giupponi et al [13] analyzing the distribution of landraces to both altitude and latitude, showing that hilly and sub-mountainous areas are niches of landrace biodiversity. These references are in line with what was found in the present study and highlight the importance of mountainous areas as hotspots of landrace biodiversity.…”

“…According to Bennett [10], wheat landraces in Greece have reduced from 80% to less than 10% during a 30-year period from 1930s to 1960s, while 97% of Greece's durum wheat landraces have been replaced by improved cultivars [11]. Landraces as genetically diverse populations can adapt to environmental and climatic changes and their wealthy gene pool can contribute to plant breeding programs [12,13]. Furthermore, they form a diverse source of food for humans and feed for animals [14].…”

Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds in ‘Rossa di Tropea’ Onion by Means of Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (HS/SPME GC–MS) and Sensory Analysis

“…In recent years, globalization and international trade have led to market saturation, particularly for agricultural food products, with a flattening of varieties and diversity due to the demanding global scale intensive productions [1]. Nevertheless, the recently growing consumers' awareness of typical and local products represents a promising opportunity for relaunching and developing niche agricultural sectors [2], particularly in countries such as Italy, characterized by wide biodiversity in terms of landscapes, production areas, and local varieties/landraces [3]. The differentiation of local products includes several variables, such as quality, taste extolling, freshness, "rural" practices, and area of production, leading to recovering and requalification of old cultivations that previously could not face the global market [4,5].…”