The World Saffron and Crocus collection: strategies for establishment, management, characterisation and utilisation

Abstract

123 Genet Resour Crop Evol (2011) 58:125-137 DOI 10.1007/s10722 -010-9601-5 currently consists of 220 accessions from 15 countries: 169 of these come from European cultivation countries, 18 from commercial areas in non EU countries, 26 from regions of minimal or relict production and/or from abandoned fields and 7 from commercial nurseries. The non-saffron Crocus collection currently comprises 352 accessions: 179 collected from the wild in 12 countries of natural distribution, 24 from donations of public and private institutions, 91 from commercial nurseries and 58 acquired from BGV-CU collection management. Here we provide a record of collections, activities concerns and current strategies for documentation, conservation, characterisation, and management of the collection as important tools for researchers with interest in these valuable genetic resources.

Production and Characterization of Tissue Cultures of Four Crocus Species from the Carpathian Basin

“…Corms of each species were collected in 2007 as part of a Crocus genebank collection program directed by the European Commission and called AGRI GEN RES 18 "CROCUSBANK" action (Fernández et al, 2011) that allowed the creation of a large collection of saffron crocus and its relatives. Two or three corms of the species involved in this study were further cultivated in the Botanical Garden of UD.…”

“…The genus Crocus includes a considerable number of wild-growing species, several of them being endangered, thus their conservation is important (Fernández et al, 2011). The species involved in our study were: (i) species taxonomically belonging to the "Verni" series: C. scepusiensis Borbás Ex Kulczyński endemic to Slovakia and Southern Poland, the Northern Carpathians, C. tommasinianus Herbert native to Hungary and the Balkans, C. vittatus Schlosser & Vukotinović native to Croatia and Hungary (C. heuffelianus Herbert, another member of this taxonomical series, has already been successfully cultured in vitro in our laboratory, see Demeter et al, 2010); (ii) the taxonomically distinct C. banaticus Gay, native to the Banat (Romania, Serbia), as well as Romanian and Ukrainian regions of the Carpathian Basin.…”

“…The genetic diversity of saffron is decreasing, partly because, being a triploid hybrid, it does not reproduce sexually (Fernández et al, 2011). Thus, tissue culture may offer a good method to preserve valued genotypes.…”

Latest advances in the extraction and determination of saffron apocarotenoids

“…The genus Crocus (family Iridaceae ; subfmamily Crocoideae ) consists of many species (∼85–100) that occur in the wild and are distributed in the Central and Southern Europe (mainly in the Balkan Peninsula), North Africa and western Asia . Many crocuses are currently used as ornamental plants in gardens and parks for their colorful flowers whereas Crocus sativus L. is the only species cultivated for edible purpose (, http://www.saffronomics.org/). The latter one is a triploid and genetically sterile plant that is propagated vegetatively by corms.…”

GIS and ex situ Plant Conservation

“…saffron) and their progenitors (e.g. plants in the genus Crocus) may also be considered as target plants for the ex situ conservation (Fernández et al, 2011).…”