BT401 Merged PPT Handouts Lectures 1-120

Genetic Resources and Conservation

Introduction:

Genetic resources are the heritable characteristics of a plant or animal of real or potential benefit to people. Genetic material is any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity. Examples include material of plant, animal, or microbial origin, such as medicinal plants, agricultural crops and animal breeds.

Animals, plants, micro-organisms and invertebrates which are used for Food, Agriculture and Forestry are called Genetic Resources. Together with the components which fulfill agriecological functions they are grouped under the concept Agrobiodiversity. Genetic resources for Food, Agriculture and Forestry include both wild species and domesticated forms. Reflecting the main areas of use – crop production, animal husbandry, forestry, fisheries and microorganisms.

There are two important themes with regard to genetic resources.

First one is sharing of benefits The second relates to food security.

Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement (ABSA)

An Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement (ABSA) is an agreement that defines the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol focuses on the equitable sharing of genetic material (plant, animal, microbial, other) including the traditional knowledge associated with the genetic resources, and the benefits that arise from their use.

Component

1. Access to Genetic resources
2. Sharing of benefits

Lecture -2 Types of Genetic Resources

1. Plant genetic resources

Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) are the raw material that farmers and plant breeders use to improve the quality and productivity of crops. They can be defined as any genetic material of plant origin of actual or potential value for food and agriculture, e.g. seeds, tubers, mature plants etc.

2. Animal genetic resources

Animal genetic resources (AnGR) is used to include all animal species, breeds and strains that are of economic, scientific and cultural interest to humankind in terms of food and agricultural production for the present or the future.

3. Forest genetic resources

Forest genetic resources (FGR) are the heritable materials maintained within and among tree and other woody plant species that are of actual or potential economic, environmental, scientific or societal value.

4. Aquatic genetic resources

Lecture 1

Aquatic genetic resources also comprise all water-dwelling genetic resources.

5. Genetic resources of micro-organisms

Genetic resources of micro-organisms means genetic material of actual or potential value from microorganisms.

6. Invertebrates Genetic Resources

Invertebrates include a great number of species that perform valuable functions in agro-ecosystems

Lecture -3 Significance of Genetic Resources

Genetic resources are sometimes called the "first resource" of the natural resources on this planet - the others being land, air, and water.

The diversity of genetic resources for food and agriculture (i.e. plants/crops, animals, aquatic resources, forests, micro-organisms and invertebrates) plays a crucial role in meeting basic human food and nutritional needs.

It is essential for maintaining and enhancing the efficiency and the resilience of production systems, as well as contributing to sustainable diets and to the delivery of ecosystem services, such as pest and disease regulation.

Genes are the link from generation to generation of all living matter. Therefore, attention to genetic resources means attention to the vast diversity among and between species of animals, plants, and microorganisms.

Genetic resources must be maintained as an investment for the future. Genetic resources are of tremendous practical and historical significance for human life from daily survival to generating the wealth of nations, yet their crucial role in supporting human society is frequently overlooked and undervalued.

Genetic conservation is an integral part of a much broader activity concerned with protecting the many plants, animals, microorganisms, and communities of organisms that help to mold and stabilize the environment and maintain the quality of air, water, and soil.

Conservation ensures that future generations will benefit from earth's biological resources.

Conserving genetic resources is a means of safeguarding the living materials exploited by agriculture, industry, forestry, and aquaculture to provide food, feed, medicines, fiber for clothing and furnishing, fuel for cooking and heating, and the food and industrial products of microbial activity.

Lecture -4-5: Plant Genetic Resources

Plant genetic resources are the building blocks and fundamental not only in crop improvement program, but also for the very survival of the species in time and space. Plant genetic resources include all our agricultural crops and even some of their wild relatives because they too often have valuable traits. Plant genetic resources are components of biodiversity which sustain the humankind.

Germplasm:

Germplasm of a crop may be define as the sum total of all hereditary material. i.e. all the alleles of various genes, present in a crop specie and its wild and weedy relatives . It is also termed as Genetic Resources.

Kinds of Plant Genetic Resources

PGR can be broadly divided into two types depending upon the state of their domestication

Cultivated Plant Genetic resources Wild plant Genetic Resources

Alternatively, They may be termed as indigenous or exotic on their base on their place of origin.

Plant Genetic resources or Germplasm of a crop consist of 5 types of material:-

Land races Obsolete varieties Varieties in cultivation Breeding lines Wild form and wild relatives

1. Landrace:

A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated plant species which has developed largely adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a cultivar which has been selectively bred to conform to a particular standard of characteristics. Landrace populations are often variable in appearance, but they can be identified by their appearance and have a certain genetic.

2. Obsolete varieties

Obsolete varieties are varieties developed since the advent of scientific agriculture in the late nineteenth century and that are no longer cultivated. Although no longer grown commercially, such varieties are usually maintained in collections for use in current and future breeding programs. These varieties were developed by systematic breeding effort, were once commercially cultivated but are no more grown. For example Wheat varieties K65, K68, Pb591

3. Varieties in cultivation

Varieties in cultivation are the easiest to use in the breeding program. And they form a major part of working collections. They are good source of gene for yield, quality etc. they can be introduced in a new area and directly released for cultivation.

4. Breeding Lines

These are lines/ populations developed in breeding programs have narrow genetic base and often contain valuable gene combination. This group nearly contain homozygous line or mutant lines and lines derived from biology programs, including transgenic lines. They are ordinarily maintained as working collection by breeders

5. Wild Form and Wild Relatives

Wild forms are wild species from which crop species are directly derived. They are easy to cross with the concerned crop species. The wild relatives include all other species. Which are related to the crop species by descent during their evolution.

Genetic stocks

Genetic stocks, broadly defined as plants or populations generated and/or selected for genetic studies, represent a unique and growing class of extremely valuable germplasm which, depending on crop, type of genetic stock and user community may represent genetic resources of either transient or long-lasting value.