Field Gene Banks of Turkey

ABSTRACT: Plant genetic resources (PGR) are a strategic resource and the basis material of sustainable crop production. The aim of PGR conservation is to efficiently conserve and make available the genetic diversity that will become important to human society in the future. Today we may not as yet know everything about future demands for crop varieties. But we know the PGR and it has to be conserved in its entirety. Many important varieties of horticultural species are either difficult or impossible to conserve as seeds. Genetic resources of such plant species are generally conserved in field genebanks (FGB). FGBs are one of the components of a complementary strategy for the conservation of germplasm. For a number of plant species, the alternative methods have not been fully developed so that they can be effectively used. FGBs provide easy and ready access to conserved material for research as well as for use. There are a number of FGBs collections in Turkey conserved by General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies. FGBs give priority to the variability within our horticultural crops. The conservation of native varieties in terms of fruit genetics serves as a foundation for the long-term safeguarding of fruit farming in Turkey. For this reason, numerous varieties of different species of fruit have been conserved in state-owned collections. They serve as the genetic basis for the cultivation of new varieties. In this article, details of the FGBs collection are summarized