Gmail.com (T.C.); [email protected] (K.A.); agroelectronics.nmk
Gmail.com (T.C.); [email protected] (K.A.); [email protected] (N.-M.K.) Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +30-210-529-4626 These authors contributed equally to this perform.Citation: Thanopoulos, R.; Chatzigeorgiou, T.; Argyropoulou, K.; Kostouros, N.-M.; Bebeli, P.J. State of Crop Landraces in Arcadia (Greece) and In-Situ Conservation Potential. Diversity 2021, 13, 558. https:// doi.org/10.3390/d13110558 Academic Editor: Michael Wink Received: 11 October 2021 Accepted: 28 October 2021 Published: 1 NovemberAbstract: Genetic erosion of landraces is growing worldwide, nonetheless you will discover nevertheless regions wealthy in landrace biodiversity, for instance islands and mountainous isolated areas. Defining the factors of landrace abandonment in these locations, as well as collecting and preserving landraces, is of outmost significance. Within this context, the Agricultural University of Athens organized missions in 53 villages of Arcadia, a prefecture rich in floral biodiversity and variable climatic circumstances and topography. The aim was to gather samples of the on-farm (in-situ) conserved annual crop landraces and record the place of perennial crop neighborhood varieties. Considering the fact that conventional understanding and practices have already been playing a vital role inside the survival of landraces and local varieties, facts was obtained via individual interviews with locals using semi-structured questionnaires. Although the amount of accessions collected from Arcadia has been lowered (141 samples) compared to earlier collections and genetic erosion is advancing dramatically for cereals and pulses, a Decanoyl-L-carnitine web important number of landraces is still cultivated by the locals. The reasons of landrace abandonment had been other sources of occupation than agriculture, for example public service jobs, mechanization, and commercialization of agriculture. Gastronomic and agro-tourism in conjunction with European Union trademarks and policies can support locals in landrace/local varieties in-situ conservation. Keywords: collecting mission; conservation; conservation varieties; diversity; ex-situ; genetic material; landraces; nearby varieties; farmers’ varieties; Peloponnese1. Introduction There are several references around the importance of landraces (known also as regional varieties, farmers’ varieties, or conservation varieties) for their direct traditional use by humans and their value as genetic sources. Based on Zeven et al. [1], the initial reference with regards to landraces was created in 1890s, when 20 years later the initial definitions on this topic have been published. Landraces are frequently defined as dynamic populations of a cultivated plant species with historical origin and distinct identity and are associated using a set of farming practices and expertise [2,3]. For centuries, crop landraces have been the genetic material made use of for agriculture and have played a basic part in the history of crops worldwide, with regards to crop PF-06873600 Purity & Documentation improvement and production [4]. Landraces have lengthy been recognized as a source of traits for regional adaptation, pressure tolerance, yield stability, and nutritional quality [5]. Benlioglu and Adak [6] highlighted that plant genetic sources are the biological basis of worldwide food security. Considering the fact that cultivars normally lack alleles that contribute to tolerance or resistance to biotic and abiotic pressure components, breeders use plant genetic resources (landraces and crop wild relatives) for the improvement of varieties [6]. Moreover, as pointed out by Azzez [2], even though landraces are.