Collecting and assessment of genetic diversity conserved on farm in Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The need to collect plant genetic resources of some crops with importance in a healthy nutrition of the population is of major interest to our institution. The link between agriculture and food security is vital and of strategic importance to any country. In this equation, access and use of a rich genetic background, with known properties, is a condition, almost mandatory, which will allow a quick adaptation to the changes and trends that appear in the agro-food sector. Within this collecting mission, 15 rural communities, with a certain degree of isolation along the Prut River were explored, diversified from the pedoclimatic, altitudinal and agricultural systems point of view. It were targeted individual households of farmers with limited financial resources, who practice a low input agriculture. It were identified traditional varieties of vegetables and it were collected 116 local varieties, comprising 30 species, which will be able to be used in breeding programs or direct cultivation by farmers.All these local landraces with a great genetic variability were collected from local farmers, who prefer and grow them in their gardens due to the multiple uses in food and the adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress factors, in the context of current climate changes.