summary of accessions collected and sites visited
Total number of accessions collected: 339
Total number genera collected: 22
Total number of sites sampled:85
Average number of sites per day of collection: 5
Average number of accessions per day of collection: 19

Collection sites were chosen at intervals that ranged from 20 – 50 km apart. Where possible seeds from 30 plants of the target species were collected at one site.
Site information was recorded including latitude, longitude, altitude, information concerning the terrain and status of the plant populations.
Soil samples were collected for further analysis and accurate weather data will be determined from long term meteorological data.

The collection in Kazakhstan was confined to the southern regions close to the Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese borders. Collection sites ranged from Chimkent, which is 60km from the Uzbek border and due north of Tashkent, to Almaty that is approximately 600 km east of Chimkent, and within site of the Kyrgyzstan. The mission then continued north-east in a loop which took us approximately 350 east of Almaty and 250 km north.
There were 3 distinct type of environments from where plants were collected; 1)Irrigated farmland that included roadside and moist microenvironments influenced by irrigation canals, 2)arid flat rangelands/steppe featuring plant associations dominated by Artemisia spp. and to a lesser extent 3)steep dry mountainous terrain which hosted sparse vegetation featuring grasses and prostrate shrubs such Astragalus spp.

Soil surface textures found included clay loam, sandy loams, silt loams and gravelly textured soils in a sandy loam matrix derived from loesseal deposits. In the irrigated areas there was much evidence of salinity emerging as a problem to agricultural production.

The major grazing animals that were encountered were cattle horses and sheep. The environment did not appear to be overly grazed as it is in say the middle east. This is probably due to a massive reduction in grazing animals after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The irrigated environments yielded the majority of target legumes. Most were forage or pasture species and included Glycerrhyzia spp, Medicago spp, Trifolium spp, Onobrychis spp, Lathyrus, Lotus and Vicia spp. These taxa tended to be wide spread in irrigated areas. Wheat and barley wild relatives, Aegilops spp. and Hordeum spp. and forage grass that included taxa such as Dactylus and Agropyrum were found in the arid environments.

Observations, discussions with local farmers and with local plant scientists established that there were no old wheat, barley or food legume landraces to be found in Kazakhstan. The varieties observed and which are widely grown in Kazakhstan are all either varieties developed in the soviet times or more recently developed by local NARS. Wheat and barley were the most commonly observed crop followed by linseed. Food legumes were rare. Only one field of chickpeas was observed and the variety was developed in soviet times in Uzbekistan.

Forage legumes were not widely cultivated in the regions we visited. However we did observe irrigated fields of improved Medicago sativa varieties and Onobrychis varieties. We also observed the mowing of wild Medicargo species, Glycerrhzia and camels thorn Alhagi pseudoalhagi for winter forage.