Collecting of crop genetic resources in Italy, 2004

In September 2004, a collecting mission was carried out in Italy within the framework of an agreement between the Plant Genetics Institute (IGV), Bari, Italy, of the National research Council (CNR) and the Crop Science Institute of Kassel University (Germany). The mission collected 116 accessions belonging to 24 species, mainly cereals, pulses and vegetable landraces. The area receiving most attention were carnia, Venetian lagoon, Po delta and Salento. Rare landraces were found out, such as 'mugnoli' (a botanical form of Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Plenk), whose cultivation in the Salento area pre-dates that of broccoli. For each collecting site, information on past and present agricultural state is given, together with an assessment of the degree of crop genetic erosion. Italian agricultural biodiversity has been lost in great part, but some remote and isolated zones are still an important refuge for crop genetic resources. Material is being deposited in the IGV genebank.