Are Our Germplasm Collections Museum Items?

Abstract

Programmes of plant conservation often have a substantial cost, which is met by international or national agencies and indirectly by the general public. To justify this expenditure the products of conservation must have some use to the public. Therefore, the answer to the question in the paper's title is, Yes, unless a clear link is made between conservation and utilisation for the benefit of mankind. The need for this link is established in this paper using models of conservation. The conserved temperate food legume species and potential targets are reviewed, as are the methods of utilisation and the constraints to further exploitation. Conserved germ plasm of faba bean, chickpea and lentil has formed the basis of improvement programmes in the Mediterranean region. They provide case studies illustrating the linkage between legume conservation and utilisation.

10.5937/ratpov51-5072 = Significance of genetic resources of cool season annual legumes: II: Neglected and underutilised crops

“…However, it has also been stressed that their ex situ preservation and in situ conservation are very demanding in numerous ways, especially if considering human resources and financial support. It was quite punctually noted that plant genetic resources are in danger to become 'museum items' (Maxted et al 2000).…”