Deleterious effects of climate change and human activities, as well as diverse environmental
stresses, present critical challenges to food production and the maintenance of natural …

Economically, legumes (Fabaceae) represent the second most important family of crop
plants after the grass family, Poaceae. Grain legumes account for 27% of world crop …

The need to boost agricultural production in the coming decades in a climate change
scenario requires new approaches for the development of new crop varieties that are more …

The history of ex situ conservation is relatively short, not more than a century old. During the
middle of last century, triggered by the realization that genetic erosion was threatening the …

The resilience and sustainability of food systems depend on crop diversity. It is used by
breeders to produce new and better varieties, and by farmers to respond to new challenges …

Background The wild relatives of crops represent a major source of valuable traits for crop
improvement. These resources are threatened by habitat destruction, land use changes, and …

Global efforts have seen the world's plant genetic resources (PGRs) conserved in about
1625 germ plasm repositories. Utility of these resources is important in increasing the …

More than 70 years after the first ex situ genebanks have been established, major efforts in
this field are still concerned with issues related to further completion of individual collections …

Genebanks play an important role in the long-term conservation of plant genetic resources
and are complementary to the conservation of diversity in farmers' fields and in nature. In this …

Background Locally harvested wild edible plants (WEPs) provide food as well as cash
income for indigenous people and are of great importance in ensuring global food security …