Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) are a key asset for agrobiodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security overall. CRWs might contain genes for useful traits such as nutritional quality, resistance to pests and diseases, resource efficiency, and adaptability to extreme weather conditions. Their inherent genetic diversity together with the associated diversity of microbiota is a vast resource for developing more productive, nutritious, and resilient crop varieties and for diversifying farming systems. Despite their value, a wide range of CWRs are threatened and face pressures, e.g., from intensive agriculture, urbanization, pollution, and the effects of climate change. At the same time, their conservation and deployment in breeding remain still scarce. As a consequence, knowledge is lacking about the diversity that exists and precisely how that diversity may be used for crop improvement and in farming.
We welcome submissions on the following research themes but not limited to:
- characterization and novel strategies for the conservation of CWR collections
- alien introgression breeding for the important traits in crops
- unravel the genetic basis of valuable traits from CWR
- advanced/genomic strategies to facilitate the use of CWR in breeding
- strategies to improve genebank operations for efficient conservation and collection
Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) are a key asset for agrobiodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security overall. CRWs might contain genes for useful traits such as nutritional quality, resistance to pests and diseases, resource efficiency, and adaptability to extreme weather conditions. Their inherent genetic diversity together with the associated diversity of microbiota is a vast resource for developing more productive, nutritious, and resilient crop varieties and for diversifying farming systems. Despite their value, a wide range of CWRs are threatened and face pressures, e.g., from intensive agriculture, urbanization, pollution, and the effects of climate change. At the same time, their conservation and deployment in breeding remain still scarce. As a consequence, knowledge is lacking about the diversity that exists and precisely how that diversity may be used for crop improvement and in farming.
We welcome submissions on the following research themes but not limited to:
- characterization and novel strategies for the conservation of CWR collections
- alien introgression breeding for the important traits in crops
- unravel the genetic basis of valuable traits from CWR
- advanced/genomic strategies to facilitate the use of CWR in breeding
- strategies to improve genebank operations for efficient conservation and collection