Wild Relatives in Focus as NordGen head for meeting in Denmark

2018.10.21

An important part of NordGen's work is the wild relatives - and that's not the story of some crazy grandpa. Crop wild relatives are important plants, for example when developing new crop varieties. This week, NordGen is in Helsingør to discuss a Nordic project concerning crop wild relatives. We also participate in a workshop and consortium in the European project Farmer's Pride. This project focuses on the conservation of local varieties taking place on farms and in natural areas of Europe.

  The Sea Kale seen in the picture above is a clear example of a crop wild relative. It's a plant living in the wild but related to a crop we grow, carrying useful properties. The Sea Kale thrive, as the name implies, in beach areas and can prove to be useful in plant breeding when developing crops that are drought- and salt tolerant.

"What we search for among the crop wild relatives are properties that can be used in the cultivated varieties. It could be drought resistance or resistance towards pests or diseases. Many of the properties may prove important for adapting our crop to climate change", said Anna Palmé, Senior Scientist at NordGen.

Nordic project

To inventory the crop wild relatives is a great task. In 2015, a Nordic project on crop wild relatives was commenced, financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Early in 2019 it will be finalised. But already now a

and subspecies describe the crop wild relatives in the Nordic countries. From these, 114 species has been selected to a prioritised list. These are the plants most important for breeding crops that we use for food and forage. "We've also made a so called ex situ gap analysis. That is, we've investigated which of these plants that are preserved in gene banks as NordGen and the gene banks for threatened species in Norway and Finland. Unfortunately, the result was that the plants were not conserved here, ex situ, to a sufficient extent", Anna Palmé said.

Recommendation for natural areas

Within the project, network meetings and conferences have been arranged to inform on why we need to care about the crop wild relatives and how we can preserve them. "We have tried to analyse where we can find important crop wild relatives within already existing natural areas. This could enable us to give recommendations regarding where to start working if we want to protect these plants", Anna Palmé said. There are many benefits with collaborating in the Nordic countries with these kinds of projects. We have the same climate, the same natural areas and species in almost all five countries. All the Nordic countries have been part of the project, which has been coordinated by NordGen.

Meeting in Helsingør

Today, the participants of the Nordic project for crop wild relatives meet for the last time before the final report is to be published in Februari 2019. "We are to discuss what the report should contain, but also talk about how we should continue with insights given in the project" said Anna Palmé. The results of the project and links to the activities in the other Nordic countries can be found on 

European network

During the rest of the week, NordGen will stay in Helsingør to participate in a meeting on the European project 

. Some 60 participants from all parts of Europe will arrive in Denmark to discuss the preservation of land varieties on farms and crop wild relatives in natural areas. NordGen is one of the participants in the project.

"The project is still in its early phase byt the aim is to inventory land varieties and crop wild relatives that are preserved on farms and in natural areas. The projects will also inventory which network that already exists today and form a large European network for these issues" said Ulrika Carlson-Nilsson, Senior Scientist at NordGen.