Significance of genetic resources of cool season annual legumes: II: Neglected and underutilised crops

Abstract

Plant genetic resources are a live treasury of both one country and the whole mankind, although their ex situ preservation and in situ conservation are very demanding in numerous ways, especially if human resources and financial issues are considered. Legumes (Fabaceae Lindl.) are facing the bottlenecks caused by breeding emphasizing yield and quality, raising the questions how to solve the issue of this narrowing the genetic basis of cultivated legume species. The reintroduction of neglected and underutilised crops, such as red vetchling (Lathyrus cicera), Cyprus vetchling (Lathyrus ochrus), French serradella (Ornithopus sativus), Ethiopian pea (Pisum abyssinicum), field pea (Pisum sativum var. arvense), fenugreek (Trigonella phoenum-graecum), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), Narbonne vetch (Vicia narbonensis), Hungarian vetch (Vicia pannonica) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) may significantly assist many contemporary farming systems by diversifying their needs and improve the efficiency of environment resources.

Keywords

• cool season annual legumes
• crop improvement
• cultivation potential
• Fabaceae
• geneticresources
• neglected and underutilised crops