Towards the conservation of crop wild relative diversity in North Africa: checklist, prioritisation and inventory

Abstract

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are wild species that are more or less genetically related to crops that can be used to introgress useful genes for improvement of productivity, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and quality of cultivated crops. They are important in crop improvement to achieve food security for an increasing population and to overcome the challenges caused by climate change and the new virulence of major diseases and pests. These genetic resources are increasingly threatened in their natural habitats through over-exploitation and land reclamation and degradation. Therefore, their efficient and effective conservation would be taxonomically and genetically valuable and will contribute to maintaining and promoting the sustainability of crop diversity, facilitating agricultural production and supporting the increasing demand for food, feed and natural resources. A checklist of 5780 Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) taxa from North Africa was obtained using the CWR Catalogue for Europe and the Mediterranean (PGR Forum). Of which consists 76% of the flora of North Africa. The checklist contains 5588 (*97%) native taxa and 192 introduced. Families with higher taxa richness are Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Poaceae. These three families constitute more than 33% of the total taxa included in the checklist. About 9% (502) CWR taxa identified as a priority for conservation in North Africa using four criteria, the economic value of the crop, the relatedness degree of wild relatives to their crop, threat status using IUCN red list assessment, and finally the centre of origin and/or diversity of the crop. Of these, 112 taxa were assigned high, 268 medium and 122 low priorities for effective conservation. Those assessed as threatened using IUCN Red list and national assessment represent approximately 2% (119 taxa) of the CWR in the region. However, 21 taxa are assessed as critically endangered (CR), 53 as endangered (EN), and 45 as vulnerable (VU). Wild relatives of some globally important crops are present, with those related to wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. durum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) among the highest priority crops for the North Africa region.

Capturing genetic variation in crop wild relatives: An evolutionary approach

“…Greater utilization of genetic resources from crop progenitors and related wild species (i.e., crop wild relatives—CWRs) is urgently called for to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability (Dempewolf et al., 2014; Kell, Heywood, & Maxted, 2005; Kell et al., 2015; Lala, Amri, & Maxted, 2018; Vincent et al., 2013). As compared to their domesticates, CWRs typically harbour higher levels of genetic variation in key agronomically and horticulturally valuable traits (Fielder et al., 2015).…”

“…in the wild (Aguirre-Gutierrez, van Treuren, Hoekstra, & van Hintum, 2017;Dempewolf et al, 2014;Jarvis, Lane, & Hijmans, 2008). In response to this situation, various national and global initiatives have been formulated which aim to systematically increase the field collection and in situ conservation of priority CWRs (Rubio Teso, Iriondo, Parra, & Torres, 2013;Singh et al, 2014;Fielder et al, 2015;Lala et al, 2018). Underpinning both these actions, however, is the need to first identify where high levels of genetic variation may be distributed intraspecifically in CWRs.…”

Date Seeds (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Valorization for Boilers in the Mediterranean Climate

“…To achieve this objective, their energetic qualities are described and parameters such as higher heating value, lower heating value, moisture, elemental composition or ash content are evaluated [24].The date is the fruit obtained from the species Phoenix dactylifera L., popularly called the finger palm, see Figure 1. The production of dates is one of the most important agricultural activities in the arid regions of East Asia and North Asia [25]. They can also be found in southern Europe, the African continent, Asia, Australia, South America and the USA, especially in southern California, Arizona, and Texas [26].…”

Main Challenges and Actions Needed to Improve Conservation and Sustainable Use of Our Crop Wild Relatives

“…A number of other global priority lists, typically developed in the context of specific projects, are less comprehensive, have less well defined or complex criteria, and have not been used as widely as the list by Vincent et al [29]. Two African regional checklists [31,32] and several national checklists and inventories have also been developed and are available on the CWR global portal [33].…”