Significance of genetic resources of cool season annual legumes: II: Neglected and underutilised crops

Abstract

Plant genetic resources are a live treasury of both one country and the whole mankind, although their ex situ preservation and in situ conservation are very demanding in numerous ways, especially if human resources and financial issues are considered. Legumes (Fabaceae Lindl.) are facing the bottlenecks caused by breeding emphasizing yield and quality, raising the questions how to solve the issue of this narrowing the genetic basis of cultivated legume species. The reintroduction of neglected and underutilised crops, such as red vetchling (Lathyrus cicera), Cyprus vetchling (Lathyrus ochrus), French serradella (Ornithopus sativus), Ethiopian pea (Pisum abyssinicum), field pea (Pisum sativum var. arvense), fenugreek (Trigonella phoenum-graecum), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), Narbonne vetch (Vicia narbonensis), Hungarian vetch (Vicia pannonica) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) may significantly assist many contemporary farming systems by diversifying their needs and improve the efficiency of environment resources.

Ovaj pregledni rad teži da prikaže zanemarene i nedovoljno korišćene gajene jednogodišnje mahunarke i pokuša da odgovori kako ih sačuvati od potpunog nestanka. Ove vrste se odlikuju velikim potencijalom za visoke i kvalitetne prinose i otpornost na abiotički i biotički stres. Takođe, odlikuju se i brojnim agronomski značajnim osobinama. Široka međusobna varijabilnost najvažnijih svojstava može biti izuzetno korisna za proširenje raznovrsnosti postojećih sistema ratarenja, koji se u sve većoj meri odlikuju sve uzanijom genetičkom osnovom.