The conservation and use of crop genetic resourcesfor food security

Colin K. Khoury

Wageningen University31 August 2015

Wageningen, The Netherlands

David Cavagnaro

Research questions:

• What is the status of diversity in our food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

• Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?

• Is this genetic diversity available in the present and in the long term?, and

• What steps are needed to improve access to genetic resources critical for crop improvement?

Research questions:

• What is the status of diversity in our food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

i.e., “How many crops feed the world?”

1961

How many crops feed the world?

Khoury et al. (2014) PNAS 111(11): 4001-4006

1985

How many crops feed the world?

Khoury et al. (2014) PNAS 111(11): 4001-4006

2009

How many crops feed the world?

Khoury et al. (2014) PNAS 111(11): 4001-4006

How many crops feed the world?

Khoury et al. (2014) PNAS 111(11): 4001-4006

Research questions:• What is the status of diversity in our

food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

Key implications regarding crop genetic diversity:• As major staples become ever more dominant,

production stability, nutrition, and environmental impacts become ever more critical

• Thus their genetic diversity will need to be ever more utilized

• Marginalizing crops will need increased investment to make them competitive and desirable

• This likewise requires conservation, research, and utilization of genetic diversity

Research questions:• What is the status of diversity in our

food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

• Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?

Crop wild relatives

Brar DS. (2010). What are the main bottlenecks to the use of CWR in breeding? How can they be overcome? Presentation for ‘Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: The Need for Crop Wild Relatives’, Bellagio, 7-9 September 2010.

Crop wild relatives are valuable

Aluminium tolerance fromOryza rufipogon

Salinity tolerance from Solanum cheesmaniae

Western corn rootworm resistance

from Tripsacum dactyloides

Salinity tolerance from Helianthus paradoxus

2055

Crop wild relatives are threatened

Research questions:• What is the status of diversity in our food

systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

• Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?

• Is this genetic diversity available in the present and in the long term?, and

• What steps are needed to improve access to genetic resources critical for crop improvement?

Gather occurrence

data

A gap analysis methodology

Make collecting

recommendations

Model distributions

Process data

Determine gaps in

genebanks

TaxonomicGeographicEcological

Choose species or

area

BeanSweetpotat

oPigeonpea

Distributions of the CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Collecting priorities for the CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Potential adaptive traits in CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Targeted proposed collecting for adaptive traits for the CWR of pigeonpea

Potential distributions of selected CWR in A) south Asia and B) Australia that are not currently represented in germplasm collections and which occur in regions with <500 mm annual precipitation.

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Research questions:

Key findings regarding crop wild relatives:

• There are (still) a lot of crop wild relatives, even in ‘genetic resource poor’ countries

• Considerable potential to contribute traits of value to crops

• Often not well defined and poorly documented• Highly under-represented in genebanks• Biogeographic methods and expert inputs can

be useful in setting conservation priorities and targeting potential traits

Research questions:• What is the status of diversity in our food

systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?

• Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?

• Is this genetic diversity available in the present and in the long term?, and

• What steps are needed to improve access to genetic resources critical for crop improvement?

Interdependence and implications for access to diversity

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Global interconnectedness with regard to primary

regions of diversity of crops important in food supplies

Khoury et al. (2015) ITPGRFA Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO).

Thank you! c.khoury@cgiar.org