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In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare cornfield and a 10-ha field of organic kale are monocultures. Monoculture of crops has allowed farmers to increase efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting, mainly by facilitating the use of machinery in these operations, but monocultures can also increase the risk of diseases or pest outbreaks. This practice is particularly common in industrialized nations worldwide. Diversity can be added both in time, as with a crop rotation or sequence, or in space, with a polyculture or intercropping.
A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality, taste, etc. of crops. Another is to forestall loss of genetic diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to conserve biodiversity ex situ. Many plants that were used centuries ago by humans are used less frequently now; seed banks offer a way to preserve that historical and cultural value. Collections of seeds stored at constant low temperature and low moisture are guarded against loss of genetic resources that are otherwise maintained in situ or in field collections. These alternative "living" collections can be damaged by natural disasters, outbreaks of disease, or war. Seed banks are considered seed libraries, containing valuable information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress, and can be used to create genetically modified versions of existing seeds. The work of seed banks often span decades and even centuries. Most seed banks are publicly funded and seeds are usually available for research that benefits the public.
Ex situ conservation is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety or breed, of plant or animal outside its natural habitat. For example, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, an artificial environment which is similar to the natural habitat of the respective animal and within the care of humans, such as a zoological park or wildlife sanctuary. The degree to which humans control or modify the natural dynamics of the managed population varies widely, and this may include alteration of living environments, reproductive patterns, access to resources, and protection from predation and mortality.
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolation from other populations of the species. Landraces are distinct from cultivars and from standard breeds.
Agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity is a subset of general biodiversity pertaining to agriculture. It can be defined as "the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels that sustain the ecosystem structures, functions and processes in and around production systems, and that provide food and non-food agricultural products.” It is managed by farmers, pastoralists, fishers and forest dwellers, agrobiodiversity provides stability, adaptability and resilience and constitutes a key element of the livelihood strategies of rural communities throughout the world. Agrobiodiversity is central to sustainable food systems and sustainable diets. The use of agricultural biodiversity can contribute to food security, nutrition security, and livelihood security, and it is critical for climate adaptation and climate mitigation.
Germplasm refers to genetic resources such as seeds, tissues, and DNA sequences that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, conservation efforts, agriculture, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of seed collections stored in seed banks, trees growing in nurseries, animal breeding lines maintained in animal breeding programs or gene banks. Germplasm collections can range from collections of wild species to elite, domesticated breeding lines that have undergone extensive human selection. Germplasm collection is important for the maintenance of biological diversity, food security, and conservation efforts.
The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is an international nonprofit organization with a secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Its mission is to conserve and make available the world's crop diversity for food security.
Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, known by its acronym PROTA, is a retired NGO and interdisciplinary documentation programme active between 2000 and 2013. PROTA produced a large database and various publications about Africa's useful plants.
Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food- and nutrition security, working with partners in low-income countries in different regions where agricultural biodiversity can contribute to improved nutrition, resilience, productivity and climate change adaptation.
A Vavilov center or center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties. They are also considered centers of diversity. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov.
Neglected and underutilized crops are domesticated plant species used for food, medicine, trading, or cultural practices. They are significant within their local communities but are not widely commodified or studied as part of mainstream agriculture. Such crops may be in declining production. They are considered underutilized in scientific inquiry for their perceived potential to contribute to knowledge regarding nutrition, food security, genetic resistance, or sustainability. Other terms to describe such crops include minor, orphan, underused, local, traditional, alternative, minor, niche, or underdeveloped.
John Gregory Hawkes OBE FLS was a British botanist, Mason Professor of Botany at the University of Birmingham.
The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a network of institutions and agencies led by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the effort to conserve and facilitate the use of the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants and their wild relatives.
The Seed Savers' Network (SSN) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation, based in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Since 1986, SSN has organised gardeners and farmers to collect, multiply and redistribute garden seeds in Australia and also within peasant organisations worldwide.
The National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources: Polish Genebank (NCPGR) is a research unit in the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute – National Research Institute. NCPGR is the coordinator and implementer of the National Crop Plant Genetic Resources Protection Programme. The Programme aims to protect the biodiversity of crop plants endangered by genetic erosion in Poland, and is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture. The main tasks include collection of crop and wild plant populations and varieties threatened by genetic erosion, description and evaluation of collected materials, and preservation of their viability and genetic purity. The Programme is an implementation of provisions laid down in international treaties ratified by Poland:
Plant genetic resources describe the variability within plants that comes from human and natural selection over millennia. Their intrinsic value mainly concerns agricultural crops.
MusaNet is a global network of scientists and other stakeholders working on banana genetic resources. Founded in 2011 and coordinated by Bioversity International, it has over 100 individual members representing various banana research institutes and organizations.
Stephen Kresovich is a plant geneticist and the Coker Endowed Chair of Genetics in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Clemson University and professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Since 2019 he has served as director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement.
Genetic resources means genetic material of actual or potential value where genetic material means any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity... Genetic resources thus refer to the part of genetic diversity that has or could have practical use, such as in plant breeding. The term was introduced by Otto Frankel and Erna Bennett for a technical conference on the exploration, utilization and conservation of plant genetic resources, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Biological Program (IBP), held in Rome, Italy, 18–26 September 1967.
Michael Thomas Jackson OBE.. Plant taxonomist, appointed as an OBE in the New Year's Honours List (2012) for services to international food science.
References
- 1 2 "Trevor Williams, plant geneticist - obituary". 30 April 2015.
- ↑ Jackson, M.T.; Anishetty, N Murthi (2015). "John Trevor Williams" (PDF). Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources. 28 (1): 161–162.
- 1 2 "Williams, J.Trevor (fl. 1977)". International Plant Name Index.
- ↑ Jackson, Mike (8 April 2015). "J Trevor Williams, genetic resources champion, passes away at 76". Mike Jackson.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jackson, M T (2015). "J Trevor Williams (1938–2015): IBPGR director and genetic conservation pioneer". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 62 (6): 809–813. doi: 10.1007/s10722-015-0282-y .
- ↑ "J. T. Williams's research while affiliated with International Monetary Fund and other places". Researchgate.
- ↑ "Dr Trevor Williams". Bangoriad. 2017. Bangor University: 23. 5 December 2016 – via ISSUU.
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