Presentation on initial stages of US CWR project for C-8 symposium, ASA conference, October 2011

1. What's In Our Back Yard?
Developing An Inventory of U.S.
Native and Naturalized Crop
Germplasm
(F. Cox, 2007)
Stephanie L. Greene, Colin Khoury
USDA, ARS NPGS-Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing, Prosser, WA
Decision and Policy Analysis Program, CIAT, Cali, Colombia

2. Outline
1. Why focus on crop wild
relatives (CWR) and
economically important wild
crops in the U.S.?
2. Developing a CWR
inventory
3. Prioritizing the inventory
4. Next steps

3. Maxted and Kell (2009) indentified 291 papers reporting
the use of 189 CWR taxa to improve 29 crops
# CWR taxa used
# of References
• 39% Disease • 17% Quality/Husbandry • 10% Yield
• 17% Pest • 13% Abiotic Stress • 4% Fertility/Restorers

4. CWR viewed as a key strategy for developing
crops adapted to climate change
Norway pledged $50 million over a decade to systematically find,
gather, catalogue, use, and save the wild relatives of wheat, rice, beans,
potato, barley, lentils, chickpea, and other essential food crops. The
work will be led by the Trust, working in partnership with national
agricultural research institutes, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K.
and the CGIAR
“one of the most concrete steps taken to date to
ensure that agriculture, and humanity, adapts to
climate change.”
---Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister for Environment and
Development, Global Crop Diversity Trust 2010 Annual Report

5. “Loss of PGR has reduced options for the agricultural sector. The
major causes of genetic erosion are land clearing, population
pressures, overgrazing, environmental degradation and changing
agricultural practices.”
The FAO State of the World’s
Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture (2010)

6. Vulnerable to Climate Change
Model-based predictions:
Ø Liva et al (2009). By 2060, 40 of 69 protected areas
would no longer have the right climate to support
currently existing populations of all 8 Mexican cucurbit
CWR
Ø Jarvis et al. (2008) By 2055, 16-22% of Arachis,
Solanum and Vigna CWR will be extinct
Ø Thuiller (2005)- By 2080, 50% of 1350 studied plant
species would be vulnerable or threatened by climate
change

7. Conservation Status
Of accessions conserved in global ex situ
collections, only 18% are CWR

8. USA Conservation
The NPGS currently houses over 540,000
accessions representing over 13,500
species (GRIN 2011), but only 2.6 % of
our collection is wild germplasm collected
in the United States.

9. Model for the
development of
national CWR
strategies (Maxted
et al. 2007)

10. Developing the U.S. Inventory
Ø Inventory includes CWR and taxa directly used for food, fiber,
forage, medicine, ornamental, and restoration purposes
Ø Includes both native and naturalized taxa
Ø CWR definition
wild plant taxon that has an indirect use derived from its close
genetic relationship to a crop; this relationship is defined in terms
of Gene Pools (GP) (Harlan, and de Wet 1971), 1,2 and 3 or taxon
groups 1 to 4 (Maxted et al. 2006)
Ø Sources: GRIN World Economic Plants Database (Wiersema and
León (1999); Flora of North America; Herbs of Commerce, McGuffin
et al. (2000), Native Seed Network database
(www.nativeseednetwork.org).
Ø Fall 2010- Draft inventory sent to 50 specialists for peer review

11. U.S. Inventory contains 3000+ taxa
Ø Most taxa are for wild or
partially domesticated crops
used for timber, revegetation,
forage, medicinal or
ornamental purposes
Ø 364 CWR taxa are useful
for breeding 65 crops
• Sixty of these taxa are
naturalized species
Inventory can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3hu6gq9

12. Inventory Results
Ø Species in the genus Helianthus are the most abundant
wild taxa. In addition to wild forms of Helianthus annuus,
there are 23 taxa in GP 2, and 28 taxa in GP 3, with a total
of 2121 accessions in ex situ collections
Ø Other genera that are CWR to domesticated crops, with
over 10 or more native taxa, include Frageria, Lupinus,
Prunus, Ribes, Rubus, Vaccinium and Vitis.
Ø CWR genera of domesticates that have limited
representation in ex situ collections include Gossypium,
Lactuca, Prunus, Ribes (gooseberry), Saccharum,
Vaccinium (cranberry), Tripsacum and Zizania

13. Inventory Results
Conservation status (native taxa)
Ø 2039 taxa are globally secure
Ø 384 are apparently secure (G4)
Ø 88 are globally vulnerable (G3)
Ø 22 are globally imperiled (G2), including Tripsicum
floridanum, an endemic CWR in GP 3 for maize and
Rubus macraei, an endemic CWR in GP 2 for red
raspberry
Ø ~ 8 taxa that are critically imperiled (G1), including
2 species of Helianthus and Juglans hindsii, an
endemic in GP 2 of walnut

14. Prioritizing the Inventory
Approach- Identify true “CWR” taxa
Potential value to breeding and crop production
(Potential Use Value)
Primary focus on food crops, but also forage, medicinal,
ornamental, etc.
First step- define a list of major world crops
Ø Data gathered using FAOSTAT, published literature,
Annex 1. ITPGRFA
Ø World Crop List was prioritized based on number of
sources that cited crop (Priority 1, Priority 2)
Ø Genera identified in gene pools of major world crops

15. Major World Crop List
242 World’s Top Crops (268 genera)
§ 101 crops (9 genera) in Priority 1
§ 141 crops (149 genera) in Priority 2
http://tinyurl.com/3udvulb
This list included all the most important agricultural crops
around the world by a number of measures, and covers all
crops listed in FAOSTAT for US production and food supply,
with virtually all major US crops on Priority 1.

16. Priorities assigned to U.S. Inventory
Ø Applied World Crops list to the US National Inventory
Ø Reviewed US Inventory and added additional taxa:
brome (Bromus), Cuphea, groundcherry (Physalis), St.
John’s Wort (Hypericum), liquorice (Glycyrrhiza),
pitanga (Eugenia), and Echinacea
Ø Added species that are iconic wild crops in the US
sugar maple (Acer saccharum), wild rice (Zizania spp.),
Echinacea, pine nut species of Pinus, pecan (Carya
illinoinensis, jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) and the
alcohol/sugar taxa of Agave
Ø 2,014 taxa of 159 priority genera occur in the US
• 905 taxa of 74 Priority 1 genera
• 1,108 taxa of 85 Priority 2 genera.

17. Important crops with rich native
genepools in US
Allium (onion), Cucurbita (squash), Fragaria
(strawberry), Helianthus (sunflower), Ipomoea
(sweet potato), Lactuca (lettuce), Phaseolus
(bean), Prunus (cherry, almond, peach), Ribes
(currant), Rubus (raspberry), Saccharum (sugar
cane), Vaccinium (blueberry, cranberry), and Vitis
(grape), among others.

18. Next Steps
Ø Focus : 250-300 priority 1 taxa
(most closely related to crops)
• Includes richest genepools of native CWR
• Also major wild species utilized for food or
medicine.
• Mainly taxa in GP 1, 2 some GP 3 if utilized
Ø Priority 1 taxa will be subjected to a full gap analysis
to identify collecting priorities and in situ conservation
opportunities
Ø Distantly related taxa will receive a superficial gap
analysis to identify ex situ gaps and prioritized for
additional collecting

19. Next Steps, Continued
Ø Non-native populations will not be considered unless
identified as important by the breeding community
Ø Any taxa identified as rare or threatened will be given
particular attention in conservation recommendations

20. We Want Your Input!
Ø Peer review our priority genepools
http://cwroftheus.wordpress.com/
(deadline end November)
Ø Contribute species occurrence data
Ø Validate the results of the gap analyses
Ø Contact: c.khoury@cgiar.org
Community input will improve the process

21. Acknowledgements
John Wiersema, USDA, ARS
Nigel Maxted, Univ. of Birmingham, UK
Members of the PGOC CWR Subcommittee
NPGS Curators
CGC Chairs and Members
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Image Gallery