Importance of Crop Wild Relatives and Landraces Genetic Resources in Plant Breeding Programmes
Berk Benlioğlu
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
M. Sait Adak *
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Plant genetic resources are the biological basis of global food security. Agricultural diversity and genetic resources should be used more effectively to sustain the current level of food production and to solve future problems. The importance of plant genetic resources in the improvement of varieties with new features is indisputably known. The most effective use of plant genetic resources is undoubtedly in plant breeding and improvement of new varieties. In other words, it is used as a genitor. Since the cultivars are often inadequate in many genes, especially biotic and abiotic stress factors (diseases, pests, cold, drought, etc.), breeders constantly search for new sources of genetic materials. This review is based on reports in the landraces (primitive) varieties and crop wild relatives to explain the importance of genetic resources in plant breeding of reviewing scientific literature to pass.
Keywords: Plant genetic resources, landraces, crop wild relatives, plant breeding