Review of genetic resources of grain legumes in Albania

Abstract

Activities regarding grain legumes genetic resources in Albania started in 1963, at first collecting, conservation, evaluation and utilization of landraces and old cultivars, later importing cultivars from European countries. Initially, all the work was done by the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) of Lushnja, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, with a clear plan to select and produce the commercial seeds for daily needs of agricultural cooperatives. About 180 accessions of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were collected until the end of the 1980s, 53 of which were landraces and old cultivars. During 1990-2000 another project was accomplished, where several collecting missions took place, especially in the central and south-eastern regions of Albania. In 1998 the National Gene Bank (NGB) of Tirana was established to conserve the Albanian plant genetic resources.

Keywords

• accession
• Cicer arietinum
• grain legumes
• landrace
• Lens esculenta
• old cultivar
• Phaseolus vulgaris
• Phaseolus coccineus