Project 3.3 Agrobiodiversity Collection and Conservation for Sustainable Production -Medium Term Plan (2002 – 2004)

Goal:	Conservation and utilization of the biodiversity of ICARDA's mandate crops: wheat, barley, lentil, kabuli chickpea, faba bean and pasture and forage species and their associated rhizobia.
Indicators:	Number and area of target species sustainably conserved; utilization of genetic resources in national crop improvement programs.
Purpose:	Expansion, conservation, characterization, preliminary evaluation and documentation of the current ex situ collections of the genetic resources of wheat, barley, lentil, kabuli chickpea, faba bean and pasture and forage species and their rhizobia, in order to support the quest for germplasm with useful characters to be utilized in crop improvement programs of ICARDA and NARS; Development of approaches to the successful in situ conservation of the biodiversity of agriculturally useful plant species within the agricultural landscapes of WANA.
Indicators:	Number of accessions conserved, characterized and documented in the GRU/ICARDA gene bank.
	Number of accessions distributed to users at ICARDA and worldwide.
	Useful characters and traits from these collections utilized by ICARDA and NARS in their germplasm enhancement programs.
	Number and area of target species, and areas of associated natural habitat, conserved in situ.
Output 1:	Expanded ex situ collections of the genetic resources to be utilized in crop improvement programs of ICARDA and NARS.
Indicators:	Number of accessions in the active collection.
	More than 1000 seeds in the active collection.
	Seed viability higher than 80%
Milestones:
2002	150 accessions collected in strategic plant collection mission in one CAC country.
	Acquisition of 200 unique landrace accessions from CAC collections and the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR)
	90% of accessions held at ICARDA meet the international standards of seed quantity and viability.
	90% of accessions are held in the long-term base collections.
2003	150 accessions collected in strategic plant collection mission in second CAC country.
	Acquisition of further 200 unique landrace accessions from CAC collections and the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR)
	The first viability monitoring of ICARDA’s long-term collections 50% completed.
2004	150 accessions collected in strategic plant collection mission in third CAC country.
	Acquisition of further 200 unique landrace accessions from CAC collections and N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR)
	The first viability monitoring of ICARDA’s long-term collections completed.
Output 2:	Germplasm characterization and preliminary evaluation for biotic and abiotic stresses as well as for morphological and agronomic traits using international descriptors. Genetic diversity analysis and assessment of the potential of conserved material for crop enhancement.
Indicators:	Number of accessions characterized/evaluated.
	Number of traits characterized/evaluated.
	Number of accessions and traits documented in the GRU database.
Milestones:
2002	Germplasm collected in 2001 CAC mission characterized and evaluated in partnership with CAC NARS
	Revised core collection of cultivated barley characterized by molecular markers.
2003	350 accessions from CAC countries or VIR characterized and evaluated in partnership with CAC NARS and VIR.
	Lentil core collection characterized by molecular markers.
2004	350 accessions from CAC countries or VIR characterized and evaluated in partnership with CAC NARS and VIR.
	Molecular characterization of wheat landraces from VIR, ICARDA and Australia germplasm collections.
Output 3:	Special purpose collections with multiplied seed for distribution.
Indicators:	Number of collections and number of accessions.
Milestones:
2002	Wild Triticum core collection developed.
2003	Durum wheat core collection developed.
2004	Kabuli chickpea core collection developed.
Output 4:	Wheat germplasm with new genes from wild relatives.
Indicators:	Number of useful traits transferred; number of lines with useful genes introgressed.
Milestones:
2002	Bread wheat lines with genes introgressed from hexaploid synthetics developed by ICARDA.
2003	Genetic basis of the new stripe rust resistance derived from Triticum dicoccoides identified.
2004	Identification of introgressions from wild species using molecular markers.
Output 5:	Conservation and sustainable use of dryland agro-biodiversity in GEF/UNDP project sites in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority and Syria.
Indicators:	No. of target species conserved in pilot areas.
	No. of pilot sites.
	Area of natural habitat in which wild species are conserved and sustainable managed in situ
	Area of agricultural land on which landraces of crops and fruit farm and nut trees are conserved on farm.
Milestones:
2002	Regional workshop on policy, economics and property rights.
2003	Tripartite review.
2004	Tripartite review.
Output 6:	Strengthened capacity of national and regional genetic resources institutes.
Indicators:	Number of training courses and NARS staff trained.
	Technical assistance provided to national genetic resource institutes and genebanks.
Milestones:
2002-04	One short-term group training course.
	Scientists from CAC to visit and work at GRU for short period.
2003	Genetic resources unit in each of the CAC countries.
Output 7:	Documentation of ICARDA plant genetic resources collections available to users worldwide.
Indicators:	Access to databases on-line via internet/local network and offline through CD-ROMs and printed catalogs.
	Number of records in the documentation system.
	Accuracy and completeness of the data.
Milestones:
2002:	Central Asia genetic resources database.
2003	Molecular marker data documented in a computerized system.
2004	CD-ROM catalog ‘Durum wheat II’.
	Database of wheat landraces conserved by VIR, ICARDA and Australia.
Output 8:	Healthy seed introduced to and distributed from ICARDA.
Indicators:	Number of seed samples tested.
	Efficiency of the seed health testing methods and procedures.
Milestones:
2002	100% of incoming and outgoing seed samples tested.
2003	100% of incoming and outgoing seed samples tested.
2004	100% of incoming and outgoing accessions tested.
	CR tools for seed health testing developed.
Duration:	5 years

users and beneficiaries
The conserved germplasm is and will be utilized by a diverse group of scientists from NARS and other institutions seeking to establish and/or enlarge their genetic resources collections, to research a particular aspect of biodiversity, or to utilize germplasm in breeding programs.

Agricultural producers may be direct beneficiaries in "disaster" situations, when seed of traditional germplasm is lost and may be recovered from ex situ collections held by ICARDA. The ultimate beneficiaries are agricultural producers, who will have access to a more diverse spectrum of cultivars, and future generations who will be assured of the availability of agriculturally important biological resources.

collaborators
Ex situ collections: ICRISAT, CIMMYT, Center for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA), Australia; University of Western Australia, NSW Agriculture, Australia, the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), Russia, Uzbek Research Institute of Plant Industry (UzRIPI)
NARS, ICRISAT; CIMMYT
NARS, ICRISAT, CIMMYT, CLIMA
NARS, VIR, other major gene banks

Safety duplication outside ICARDA: National Board for Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), India; ICRISAT; CIMMYT; Federal Institute of Agrobiology (FIA), Austria; Federal Research Station for Plant Production (RAC), Switzerland
Germplasm characterization and evaluation: VIR, Russia; NARS; NSW Agriculture, Australia; CLIMA; University of Bristol, UK; University of Birmingham, UK
Passport, site and evaluation database: NARS; ICRISAT; CIMMYT; CLIMA; NSW Agriculture, Australia; University of Adelaide, Australia
Classification, catalogs, information dissemination: NARS; IPGRI (SGRP); CLIMA
Gene transfer from the wild progenitors and relatives: University of California, USA
In situ conservation: IPGRI – Global in situ conservation project
Molecular characterization: Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia; University of Birmingham, UK; University of Kyoto, Japan; INRA-ENSAM, Montpellier, France

Cost:
2002 US$ 2,78 million
2003 US$ 2,89 million
2004 US$ 3,00 million

System Linkages:
Output 2: Germplasm collection:
Output 5: Enhancing NARS: 15%

financing plan:
Unrestricted core funds. Grant from GDRC, Australia, supports preservation and utilization of the genetic resources of the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), Russia financing from Global Environment Facility (GEF) for a collaborative project with NARS on conservation of agro-biodiversity in the Near East; collaboration with NARS in the Arabian Peninsula supported by the Arab Fund, IFAD and the OPEC Fund; SGRP grant supports ICARDA’s participation in SINGER. Anticipated funding from ACIAR for collection and conservation of plant genetic resources of Central Asia; anticipated funding from GRDC to extend collaboration with VIR.