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Legumes are bee-pollinated, but to a different extent. The importance of the plant–pollinator interplay (PPI), in flowering crops such as legumes lies in a combination of the importance of pollination for the production service and breeding strategies, plus the increasing urgency in mitigating the decline of pollinators through the development and implementation of conservation measures. To realize the full potential of the PPI, a multidisciplinary approach is required. This article assembles an international team of genebank managers, geneticists, plant breeders, experts on environmental governance and agro-ecology, and comprises several sections. The contributions in these sections outline both the state of the art of knowledge in the field and the novel aspects under development, and encompass a range of reviews, opinions and perspectives. The first three sections explore the role of PPI in legume breeding strategies. PPI based approaches to crop improvement can make it possible to adapt and re-design breeding strategies to meet both goals of: (1) optimal productivity, based on an efficient use of pollinators, and (2) biodiversity conservation. The next section deals with entomological aspects and focuses on the protection of the “pest control service” and pollinators in legume crops. The final section addresses general approaches to encourage the synergy between food production and pollination services at farmer field level. Two basic approaches are proposed: (a) Farming with Alternative Pollinators and (b) Crop Design System.

Pear is one of the oldest fruit tree crops and the third most important temperate fruit species. Its domestication took place independently in the Far East (China) and in the Caucasus region. While the origin of Eastern Asian cultivars is clear, that of European cultivars is still in doubt. Italy has a wealth of local varieties and genetic resources safeguarded by several public and private collections to face the erosion caused by the introduction of improved varieties in specialized orchards. The objectives of the present study were: (i) to characterize the existing germplasm through nuclear (SSR) and (ii) to clarify the genetic divergence between local and cultivated populations through chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) markers in order to provide insights into phylogenetic relationships of Pyrus spp. For this reason, 95 entries from five different germplasm collections, including nine European, Mediterranean and Eastern Asian species, were analyzed, and the intergenic accD-psaI sequences were compared to the worldwide distributed dataset encompassing a total of 298 sequences from 26 different Pyrus species. The nine nuclear SSRs were able to identify a total of 179 alleles, with a loci polymorphism P = 0.89. Most of the variation (97%) was found within groups. Five accessions from different sources were confirmed to be the same. Eight out of 20 accessions of unknown origin were identified, and six synonyms were detected. Locus NH030a was found to be monomorphic in all the cultivated accessions and in reference species interfertile with P. communis, leading to hypothesize selection pressures for adaptation to cultivation. The cpDNA sequences of the 95 accessions were represented by 14 haplotypes, six of which (derived from P. communis, P. cossonii and P. ussuriensis) are recorded here for the first time and may suggest the ancient origin of some local varieties. The network analysis of the 298 cpDNA sequences allowed two different haplogroups, Eastern and Western Eurasia, to be defined, supporting recent views of a clear division between Occidental and Oriental species. By combining the results from nuclear and uniparental markers, it was possible to better define many unknown accessions.

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