Crop Wild Relatives
What are Crop Wild Relatives?
Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) are wild plant species that are genetically related to cultivated crops.
Why are they important?
CWR have been used to improve the yields and nutritional quality of crops since the beginnings of agriculture. Farmers often plant CWR alongside domesticated crops to promote natural crossing of beneficial traits. Genes from wild plants have also provided cultivars with resistance against pests and diseases and improved tolerance to abiotic stresses. The genetic transfer of beneficial traits from wild varieties has been so widespread, that most modern cultivars of crops contain some genes that are derived from a wild relative.
Crop Wild Relatives key facts
There are between 50,000-60,000 crop wild relatives (Maxted & Kell, 2009 [1]).
11,000 of these are important for food and agriculture.
700 (less than 0.26% of the world's flora) require urgent conservation because they are considered the most important in terms of global food security and are most threatened by climate change and habitat loss
In addition to their use in breeding, crop wild relatives are also used directly. People in Africa, for example, eat wild cowpea species (Vigna spp.) while in Madagascar, wild yams (Dioscorea spp.) are a rich source of carbohydrates and provide rural households with an additional source of income. CWR species also provide other valuable products such as animal fodder.
Crop Wild Relatives Portal
To find out more, visit the Crop Wild Relatives Portal [2] which includes searchable databases where you can find detailed species information.
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Web Address of the page:
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research/conservation/crop_wild_relatives.html?tx_wecdiscussion[sub]=1Links in this page
- [1] http://www.cwrsg.org/Publications/Reports/Global_in_situ_CWR_conservation_network.pdf
- [2] http://www.cropwildrelatives.org/
- [3] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research/conservation/on_farm_conservation.html
- [4] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research/sustainable_agriculture/neglected_underutilized_species.html
- [5] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/announcements/cacao_yesterday_today_and_tomorrow.html
- [6] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/announcements/archived/home_gardens_neglected_hotspots_of_agricultural_and_cultural_diversity.html
- [7] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/announcements/archived/crop_wild_relatives_their_conservation_and_importance.html
- [8] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/browse_by/category/research/conservation/
- [9] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/browse_by/category/research
- [10] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/browse_by/tag/crop wild relatives
- [11] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/browse_by/tag/in situ conservation
- [12] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/browse_by/tag/on farm conservation