Portuguese Cucurbita Spp. And Citrullus Lanatus: Conservation, Evaluation and Breeding

The legacy of collecting missions to the valorisation of agro-biodiversity

“…In the early 1970s, a new momentum started in Portugal in order to collect and conserve the national plant genetic resources, through actions carried out by genetic resources program for the Mediterranean region (Bettencourt, 1999; Ministério da Agricultura e do Mar, 2015).In 1977, still under the genetic resources programme for the Mediterranean region, supported by FAO and Bioversity International, the Banco Mediterrânico de Milho, in Braga,was created, with the responsibility of maize collecting and conservation, that subsequently gave birth to the Banco Português de Germoplasma Vegetal (BPGV), the National Genebank (Barata et al, 2011b;Bettencourt, 1999;Farias and Marcelino, 1993;Farias, 1999; Ministério da Agricultura e do Mar, 2015). From 1977 to 2014, numerous germplasm collecting missions for cereals, fibers, forage species, grain legumes, medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetables and crop wild relatives of major crops were carried out in Portugal (Barata et al, 2009;Barata, et al, 2011a;Barata et al, 2011b;Barata et al, 2014;Bettencourt and Gusmão, 1981;Bettencourt and Gusmão, 1982;Bettencourt, 1999;Farias, 1989;Farias et al, 1992;Farias and Marcelino, 1993;Farias, 1999;Farias, 2002;Lopes et al, 2015;Marcelino, 1994;Marcelino, 2002;Mota et al, 1981;Mota et al, 1982a;Mota et al, 1982b;Mota et al, 2005;Rocha, 2000;Rocha, 2005;Rocha et al, 2008;Rocha et al, 2010a;Rocha et al, 2010b;Rocha et al, 2010c;Rocha et al, 2011;Rocha et al, 2013;Rocha et al, 2014;…”