A SURVEY OF THE ITALIAN ENDEMIC VASCULAR FLORA AS A SOURCE OF CROP WILD RELATIVES

Recent studies highlight the prime importance of CWRs in the framework of global food safety and biodiversity conservation. In these contexts, a number of studies are being carried out within EU-funded projects like PGR Secure (http://www.pgrsecure.org/) and Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change (http://www.cwrdiversity.org/). In Italy, using an inclusive definition of CWR based both on gene pool (1, 2) and taxon group (1) concepts, a recent study recognized 7032 CWR species (3). However, no data is available as regards the ex situ collections of these taxa, as urged in (4). To this end, we are reporting a survey of the Italian endemic vascular flora as a source of CWRs, based on a recently published and continuously updated list (5), checked against both gene pool and taxon group concepts. Within Italian CWRs, endemic species should be given high priority as regards their study and conservation, as they are not found outside the country. Of the 1410 endemic species and subspecies, 1227 (i.e. about 87%) are CWRs based on the broad definition proposed by Maxted et al. (1). Of this impressive amount of CWRs, 95 are those related strictly to human and animal food, a further restrictive criterium used in (6). Approximately 20% of endemic CWRs are conserved in ex situ collections in germplasm banks (7), but this percentage is attained due mainly to few genera with at least one accession for each species (Allium, Brassica, Crocus, Ribes), highlighting the need for further efforts to secure this important source of genetic load. Our analysis show a wide gap in basic biosystematic knowledge such as chromosome number and ploidy level, which is completely unknown for over 40% of Italian endemics (8). This information is crucial since differences in chromosome number and ploidy level may cause difficulties in the practical use of the Gene Pool concept. Furthermore, despite the deeper understanding of dormancy-breaking and germination requirements for some groups of endemic CWRs (e.g. 9,10,11), much more effort is required to understand their reproductive biology. Clearly, further research is needed to fill these gaps and to compose a clearer picture of this important resource, to evaluate their potential use and ultimately their management and conservation.