Annual Report

Crops Institute of the Chinese Acadeny of Agricultural Sciences,
Wuhanl'rovince, China, to develop asesame core collection. The
Institute holds more than 4110(1 accessions of sesare, over 90'1.1 of
which are of Chinese origin.
D~uring lit, first "Vear of the project, tile dCcT~ssionlS were
grouped according to agroecological and agrollnonic traits so tiat
aprovisional cre collre ctioln ofsome 81il, accessiniis (201', of all
accessi ilns) Call IT etShbiihetd and the diverSitv present in this
traction compared wit tha t if Il Whole colletion using isoz/vine
and molecular iarktrs. I this iiOlildtiln Will 0be used to define a
core of about 41001 accessions. As well asproviding Ivaluable
national resource, tie project Will pi'ovide- detailed infohrniation
oiltile distribution of variation within Iradiniiial s'Sale culti-
vars which can b'linked to that on the international sesame cot-
ICtioii Maintained in Ken)a and the Re'public of Korea.
Deveiopin gimproved
collecting strategies
lie ailmtI this pioject is to develop and implement appropriate
collecting striategics Si) that increased levels of genetic diversity
ialli best bI cited ail cillecteid, studiid and uSeld. ihe proiject
h1as Made signiticant priogress intil eveh ipmeint Of inethodIlo-
gies forccOgeographic SUivts and indicators forgenetic crosion
through Survey inissions Otvegetable crops to Pakistan, S'ria and
Iran (see p. 48).
Followim g initial 'surv'ys t S)yria and IMorocco in 1993, the
proiject tleam, ill light Of feedback froiii national programme COlii-
terparts, revised butI the firmas isei for cCOgeu grafphi: suvyys
and indicaors if genet ic irosioin, ail] ie structire i1 tir data ­
PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES - GENETIC DIVERSITY
due to changes in land use and introduc­
tion of commercial varieties. In sinle sit's,
however, tarmers continued to maintain..
and market local varieties and to us' traditiOndil
CUl~tiOiIl Methods, Ill these ,I­ I-I
eas substantial indigeoous knOwledge was
also maintained.
Lour siurvey and studv inMissills, were
fielded in Iran to sulrvey Summe1110'r veg­
etables, lte llaill ato"rs reVsponsible tor
genetic erosion include tile import otf in­
provtd seeds, low ectOlOnmic value Of nI­
tive vegelables compalLred with cash criops,
limited irrigation Water, deteriorating soil
fertility', poor seed production fron low­
(llitl tytpes, reptaceiuent b"yiiproved
cultivars, chan ges ill consul iiion habits,
lack of e\tension lintI clllges ill land use.
Ii ,yria, many" local varieties of
Abclusil i'csciit'l tits, onllml m1chinil,
Ilhalihs t 'iillr'is Cit111111 I iiiiltuS and
CLutmimi much- were identified anild collected
ili both tile nortleastern and cintral prov­
inces. Many traditional varieties could still
IVfound in I lonis province, where apar­
ticular region (LIi-Markal) was recognizedi
forits ancient tradition Of \ getale row­
ing. ()ne recoiilltndLtiOll Of tilte survey
teaini was a stluiy ti assss ways toi pro­
base files forcimpiling tile surve' dta. [he vegetalldl' IhCliiiis t Vide It'clliCal support ti farmiers thrrouigh
fromi'yria wert grown Omt fur mirpholoigical cliaractriation
and evaluatioun in 1994.115. Rxesearchers, froii the natilil
prigralniinit's who hiad participatLed ill tie inissions received train-
ing before ant during Ihecsplhmration missions anit are fully in-
vOIlIveill estadblishing idt, abases, conputeri Ang field dtla and
post-surveV evaLlatiin.
In [Pakistan, the survey t'amn found that genetic erosioin in
caulitflwer, radish and turnip was high in the districts surveyed
research and eXtnsiiOn sO thIt tl'y'could
coilinue th grow tiles' traditional variet­
:s. I olicyniakers siould be iiMade aware,
the tem c',ncluded, ot the importance (if
trengticnil, Itu'l)ds it e\clianog' Of h0­
c0' s'e. :.et0Weeil Il rsill tile nationa l
colnstrvatioih tl.m f'!nii.,:c , resources of
vegetable c:.,os inSyria.
Abbreviations - see pp. 105-106
I