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Diversity
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Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities
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Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2024) | Viewed by 9106

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dejene K. Mengistu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 5689, Ethiopia
Interests: wheat; abiotic stress; plant breeding; crop improvement; abiotic stress tolerance; genetic diversity; crop physiology; field trials; plant phenotyping; agricultural biotechnology
Dr. Paola De Santis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, 00153 Rome, Italy
Interests: crop genetic diversity; participatory approaches; seed systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce a forthcoming Special Issue of Diversity focused on Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities, an important research area for triple reasons. First, genetic diversity is the basis for the survival of plants themselves in nature and crop improvement for breeders. Second, genetic resources are pivotal to sustaining agriculture in the face of climate change as inter-species and intra-varietal variations provide genes of adaptation to climate change-related biotic and abiotic stresses. Third, diversity provides an opportunity to access diversified and nutritious food on a local and global scale. For these reasons, sustainable utilization and conservation of crop genetic resources have been attracting global attention.

This Special Issue is an exciting opportunity to combine and synthesise recent research development on capitalization of crop genetic resources as a means of adaptation to global and local climate change impacts, sustain agricultural production and productivity and improve the resilience and nutrition of smallholder farmers in developing countries. Furthermore, this Special Issue draws on the success and challenges of plant genetic resource in situ and ex situ conservation endeavors. Hence, at Diversity, we kindly invite you to submit a manuscript or manuscripts focused on any of the above topics. Although specific research finding with broad implications are welcome, we encourage authors to submit manuscripts prepared from data generated from multi-national studies, synthesis works and reviews that could better widen our knowledge on the benefit of sustainable utilization and conservation of crop genetic resource for enhanced productivity, improved resilience and nutritional security.

If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Dejene K. Mengistu
Dr. Paola De Santis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • crop diversity
  • genetic resources
  • climate change
  • abiotic stress
  • biotic stress
  • conservation
  • sustainability
  • resistance
  • tolerance

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 2638 KiB  
Article
Building the Resilience of Marginal Rural Areas Using a Complementary Characterization Approach: Possible Beneficial Health Effects and Stress Tolerance of Italian Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Landraces
by Martina Falcione, Alessandra Renella, Vadym Samukha, Mayra Colardo, Melissa Simiele, Gabriella Stefania Scippa, Marco Segatto and Dalila Trupiano
Diversity 2024, 16(4), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16040240 - 17 Apr 2024
Viewed by 565
Abstract
Common bean landraces, besides contributing to the preservation of the social and cultural identity of the local communities of the production area, typically display adaptability to adverse agro-climatic conditions. This adapted germplasm is a repository of the gene pool and also shows typical [...] Read more.
Common bean landraces, besides contributing to the preservation of the social and cultural identity of the local communities of the production area, typically display adaptability to adverse agro-climatic conditions. This adapted germplasm is a repository of the gene pool and also shows typical phytochemical profiles, representing an essential source of bioactive components. However, genetic erosion is progressively affecting this genetic material, creating serious threats to its cultivation in marginal rural areas and use as a source of biodiversity and bioproducts. In the present work, a comprehensive approach was used to characterize the seed morpho-colorimetric traits, genetic diversity, and NMR metabolomic profiles of three Italian common bean landraces. Specific physiological and biochemical features (antioxidant molecules, osmolytes, structural reorganization of photosynthetic pigment, etc.), together with the accumulation of distinctive metabolites, contribute to the description of the observed diversity among the landraces in terms of the salt stress response and antiproliferative abilities on intestinal human cancer cells. This information could be useful in establishing their value in terms of environmental and/or human health “service”, both essential to translating landraces into competitive products, a prerequisite for envisioning appropriate strategies for their conservation and a driving force for the revitalization of marginal rural areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities)
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19 pages, 2153 KiB  
Article
Farmers’ Preferences and Agronomic Evaluation of Dynamic Mixtures of Rice and Bean in Nepal
by Shree Prasad Neupane, Bal Krishna Joshi, Dipendra Kumar Ayer, Krishna Hari Ghimire, Devendra Gauchan, Ajaya Karkee, Devra I. Jarvis, Dejene K. Mengistu, Stefania Grando and Salvatore Ceccarelli
Diversity 2023, 15(5), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050660 - 13 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2119
Abstract
Field trials of rice and bean dynamic mixtures were carried out in low input and hill farming systems of Nepal from 2019 to 2021 to improve productivity and resilience. The rice trials were conducted in two locations (Jumla and Lamjung) and those on [...] Read more.
Field trials of rice and bean dynamic mixtures were carried out in low input and hill farming systems of Nepal from 2019 to 2021 to improve productivity and resilience. The rice trials were conducted in two locations (Jumla and Lamjung) and those on bean in Jumla, using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Dynamic mixtures were constructed from landraces, improved varieties and breeding lines for both crops. A total of 48 bean entries were used in Jumla, whereas 56 and 66 rice entries were used to make location-specific dynamic mixtures in Lamjung and Jumla, respectively. They were formed by mixing diverse varieties as a strategy to maintain a broad genetic base. Farmers (men and women) and technicians selected from the most complex mixture and the selections were added to the trials starting from second year. In rice, some mixtures and selections from the mixtures gave grain yield comparable to the improved check and higher than the local checks. In the case of bean, differences between entries were not significant but some of the selections received a high preference score. Overall, the dynamic mixtures appear as a reliable material for sustainable increase in yield in the low input and hill farming system of Nepal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities)
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Review

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11 pages, 1983 KiB  
Review
Approaches and Advantages of Increased Crop Genetic Diversity in the Fields
by Bal Krishna Joshi, Krishna Hari Ghimire, Shree Prasad Neupane, Devendra Gauchan and Dejene K. Mengistu
Diversity 2023, 15(5), 603; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050603 - 28 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5572
Abstract
Crop genetic diversity is the most important factor for a long-term sustainable production system. Breeding and production strategies for developing and growing uniform and homogenous varieties have created many problems. Such populations are static and very sensitive to unpredictable stresses. In Nepal, more [...] Read more.
Crop genetic diversity is the most important factor for a long-term sustainable production system. Breeding and production strategies for developing and growing uniform and homogenous varieties have created many problems. Such populations are static and very sensitive to unpredictable stresses. In Nepal, more than 80% of the seed system is informal, which has contributed greatly to creating and maintaining genetic diversity within the field. This paper aims to assess and present the approaches and advantages of increased crop genetic diversity in the fields, based on the experiences of implementing on-farm conservation activities carried out in Nepal for last two decades. Some of the evidence has been derived from an ongoing evolutionary plant breeding (EPB) project being implemented in Nepal. The information is supplemented with field assessments, focus group discussion, and a literature review. The major approaches to increase crop genetic diversity are evolutionary plant breeding, cultivar mixture, landrace enhancement, informal seed systems, the bulk method, diversifying the seed sources, participatory plant breeding, open pollination, etc. EPB and cultivar mixture are very simple and effective approaches to increase crop genetic diversity at field level. The involvement of farmers in these approaches helps to accelerate the population improvement, maintaining the higher degree of genetic diversity. The major advantages of increased crop genetic diversity are seed maintenance by farmers themselves, minimal risk of crop failure, resilience to unpredictable stresses, increased amount of diversified nutrition, production increment, ease of producing organically, etc. However, there are some issues and problems associated with mixtures and intra-varietal diversity; for example, not being able to harvest by machine, maturing at a different date, difficulty in maintaining seeds and registration, etc. Crop genetic diversity should be considered as a sustainable approach for a climate-resilient and self-dependent production system. The higher the genetic diversity in farming land, the more chance of receiving multiple benefits in the agriculture system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Crop Genetic Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities)
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