The Australian Vigna Species: A Case Study in the Collection and Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives

Lawn, R. J.

doi:10.1002/9781118854396.ch18

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…More data may exist, for example, in localised crop breeding organisations and/or research institutions; therefore, making trait data more widely available could greatly improve the effective use of CWRs in (pre‐)breeding programmes. International collaborative efforts to collate and distribute trait data could begin with the analysis of pre‐existing plant material found within herbaria and botanical gardens (Perez et al, 2020), as shown in the ‘Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change’ project (Dempewolf et al, 2014) or the Australian Vigna species project (Lawn, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritising crop wild relatives to enhance agricultural resilience in sub‐Saharan Africa under climate change

Satori

Tovar

Faruk

et al. 2021

Plants People Planet

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Social Impact Statement Climate change is expected to disproportionately affect sub‐Saharan Africa in the next century, posing a threat to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and deepening food insecurity. To adapt to this threat, more climate‐resilient crops need to be brought into the food system; these may be developed through breeding with crop wild relatives with key traits to cope with climate change. Here, we assess the level of open‐access trait documentation of crop wild relatives of 29 important crops, their resilience, how threatened they are in situ, how well they are preserved ex situ and we provide priorities for their conservation and use in breeding programmes. Summary Climate change is projected to adversely affect smallholder agriculture in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) over the next century, with many areas becoming unsuitable for growing crops. Breeding programmes using crop wild relatives (CWRs) that are pre‐adapted to projected future climatic conditions may lead to more resilient crops, but their traits have not been screened across a large diversity of CWRs. Furthermore, many are threatened and require greater protection in situ and ex situ to prevent the loss of an important adaptive solution to climate change. A previous ecogeographical study found that 303 out of 836 CWRs of 29 major crops cultivated across SSA may represent priorities for future crop resilience. Here, we assessed the availability of trait information and compared traits between resilient and non‐resilient CWRs. Subsequently, we analysed the conservation status of CWRs in situ and ex situ to set new global priorities for protection. Our findings show that the traits of many CWRs are poorly described, but for those species with better coverage, key differences between resilient and non‐resilient CWRs were identified, including lower plant height amongst resilient CWRs of tree crops (arabica and robusta coffee, mango and cacao) and a higher likelihood of invasive CWRs to be resilient. We found that 14% and 36% of resilient CWRs are threatened in situ and absent from seed collections, respectively. Our study highlights CWR priorities for conservation based on resilience. A concerted international effort is recommended to conserve CWRs and improve agricultural resilience in a changing climate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritising crop wild relatives to enhance agricultural resilience in sub‐Saharan Africa under climate change

Satori

Tovar

Faruk

et al. 2021

Plants People Planet

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“…Australia is also home to several native Vigna species, which were consumed by the First Nations Australians. The potential value of Australian native legumes of the Vigna genus in breeding improved crop varieties for cultivation has been explored and could be important in developing local adaptations [8]. Between 1970 and 1990, efforts were made to make a collection of wild relatives from tropical and subtropical Australia.…”

Section: History Of Cowpea Research In Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

A Niche for Cowpea in Sub-Tropical Australia?

et al. 2021

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Pulses have emerged as important rotation crops in Australia. Some are in demand in agricultural production systems due to their high potential market value, because of their roles as grain or forage crops, their nitrogen fixation capability, and because they provide a disease break or improve soil health. While several pulse crops have been identified for winter-season cropping, there are few adapted legumes apart from mungbean that are appropriate for dryland summer cropping. Currently, short-duration crops of mungbean are commonly used, but yields are highly variable and susceptible to drought. Here, we propose that cowpea has the potential to become an alternative rotation crop in dryland summer cropping zones, providing a competitive and profitable alternative pulse crop option where its drought tolerance could enable better performance under inconsistent in-crop rainfall. We demonstrate that cowpea has nutritional properties and putative uses that could prove valuable in emerging plant-based protein and aquaculture markets.

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“…The riddle of a striking adaptability of V. lanceolata to an ample range of climates becomes even more taunting by the communications about its appreciable ecological compliance to extremely different environments. They cover both natural habitats and man-shaped landscapes, such as close to streams, rivers, creeks, channels, drains, lagoons, gulfs and coasts, in rock holes, next to mines, such as in Pine Creek in the Northern Territory, on sandy flats, downs and hills, in bushlands, grasslands, like the Brigalow Belt in Queensland, and rainforests, near farms and paddocks and along roadsides, highways, railways, airstrips and ports (Lawn, 2015). One of the assumed explanations for the scarcity of V. lanceolata in the southern portion of Australia is intensive field crop production and sheep overgrazing during past two centuries (Cahir et al, 2018).…”

Section: Come From a Land Down Undermentioning

confidence: 99%

Vigna lanceolata in the fire-stick farming and the Australian Aboriginal culture

Castelli¹,

Mikic²

2019

Ratar i povrt

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An amphicarpic and tuberous legume yam Vigna lanceolata Benth., endemic to Australia, has had an extraordinary significance in the peculiar type o f farming and entire culture o f the Aboriginal peoples for tens of millennia. Our review, welding plant and human sciences, offers a concise and informative presentation of the species, by elaborating its taxonomy and morphology, describing its beneficial nutritional and medicinal properties, exploring its ecogeography, with a remarkable population abundance in the northern areas of the continent, assessing its extensive spreading as a consequence of the past fire-use environmental changes and ways o f its wilderness reconnaissance, harvest and food preparation, depicting its role in the Australian Aboriginal art, as one of the most sacred objects in the Dreamtime religion, presenting its vernacular names in 85 extinct and living Australian Aboriginal languages and concluding with opening new horizons o f its research, through recently established biodiversity and breeding programmes.

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The Australian Vigna Species: A Case Study in the Collection and Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

Prioritising crop wild relatives to enhance agricultural resilience in sub‐Saharan Africa under climate change

Prioritising crop wild relatives to enhance agricultural resilience in sub‐Saharan Africa under climate change

A Niche for Cowpea in Sub-Tropical Australia?

Vigna lanceolata in the fire-stick farming and the Australian Aboriginal culture

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