Affiliation:
1. Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Kathmandu P.O. Box 3055, Nepal
2. Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, Pokhara P.O. Box 324, Nepal
3. Bioversity International, Kathmandu P.O. Box 3055, Nepal
4. Bioversity International, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 5689, Ethiopia
Abstract
Crop genetic diversity is the most important factor for a long-term sustainable production system. Breeding and production strategies for developing and growing uniform and homogenous varieties have created many problems. Such populations are static and very sensitive to unpredictable stresses. In Nepal, more than 80% of the seed system is informal, which has contributed greatly to creating and maintaining genetic diversity within the field. This paper aims to assess and present the approaches and advantages of increased crop genetic diversity in the fields, based on the experiences of implementing on-farm conservation activities carried out in Nepal for last two decades. Some of the evidence has been derived from an ongoing evolutionary plant breeding (EPB) project being implemented in Nepal. The information is supplemented with field assessments, focus group discussion, and a literature review. The major approaches to increase crop genetic diversity are evolutionary plant breeding, cultivar mixture, landrace enhancement, informal seed systems, the bulk method, diversifying the seed sources, participatory plant breeding, open pollination, etc. EPB and cultivar mixture are very simple and effective approaches to increase crop genetic diversity at field level. The involvement of farmers in these approaches helps to accelerate the population improvement, maintaining the higher degree of genetic diversity. The major advantages of increased crop genetic diversity are seed maintenance by farmers themselves, minimal risk of crop failure, resilience to unpredictable stresses, increased amount of diversified nutrition, production increment, ease of producing organically, etc. However, there are some issues and problems associated with mixtures and intra-varietal diversity; for example, not being able to harvest by machine, maturing at a different date, difficulty in maintaining seeds and registration, etc. Crop genetic diversity should be considered as a sustainable approach for a climate-resilient and self-dependent production system. The higher the genetic diversity in farming land, the more chance of receiving multiple benefits in the agriculture system.
Funder
International Fund for Agricultural Development
EPB-IFAD
Subject
Nature and Landscape Conservation,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Ecological Modeling,Ecology
Reference27 articles.
1. Halewood, M. (2016). Farmers’ Crop Varieties and Farmers’ Rights: Challenges in Taxonomy and Law, Routledge.
2. Plant Breeding in Nepal: Past, Present and Future;Joshi;J. Agric. For. Univ.,2017
3. Crop Genetic Diversity Benefits Farmland Biodiversity in Cultivated Fields;Chateil;Agric. Ecosyst. Environ.,2013
4. Rebuilding Local Seed System and Safeguarding Conservation of Agrobiodiversity in the Aftermath of Nepal 2015 Earthquake;Gauchan;J. Agric. Environ.,2018
5. Garland, S., and Curry, H.A. (2022). Turning Promise into Practice: Crop Biotechnology for Increasing Genetic Diversity and Climate Resilience. PLoS Biol., 20.
Cited by
4 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献