Collecting plant-genetic resources in the Georgian SSR (Kartli, Meskheti) 1989

Abstract

In september of 1989 a ninth joint mission has been organized to study indigenous material of cultivated plants in Georgia which went in Central and Southern Georgia to the historical provinces of Kartli (Lower and Inner Kartli) and to Meskheti. Structural changes of the agricultural production (and enforced population movements) in the last decades caused a drastic decrease of the species spectrum of the cultivated flora and of the former infraspecific variability of most of the crops. This is especially true for the cereals (less so for maize), however fromTriticum dicoccon as well as fromT. durum could still be collected one accession each. Almost half of the total collection (222 accessions) consists of grain legumes, mostly garden beans, from which a fairly great number of seed variants had been observed. Some further examples of the accessions have been described in detail. Archaeological remains of cultivated plants could be examined in different institutions and actual excavation places.