Genetic resources of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in Turkey

Abstract

Plant genetic resources are currently of great interest since they are related to the satisfaction of people’s basic needs and to the solution of severe problems such as hunger and poverty. Turkey is one of the significant countries for the plant genetic resources and plant diversity. The conservation of plant genetic resources is necessary for the sustainable protection of genetic diversity, since Turkey encompasses areas of major centers of crop diversity and the centre of origin for globally significant crops, fodder plants and forages. Landraces of many of these crops are still used within traditional farming systems and pastures. Wild relatives and endemic species of the crop are found in their natural habitats in the rangelands and forest areas which occupy different ecosystems. The flora of Turkey consists of high endemism, about 3000 out of 9500 plant species. Turkey is described as microcenters for many crops also. The importance of the protection of existing plant diversity is highly recognized and various conservation programs exist. The National Plant Genetic Resources and Plant Diversity Program (NPGRDP) operate under the coordination of Aegean Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) involves ex situ (since beginning of 1960s) as well as in situ conservation, including on farm conservation (since 1990s). The new uniform and high yielding varieties used in modern agriculture causes the erosion of genetic diversity of landraces, old and local cultivars. The collection and characterization of those genetic resources become very essential. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the important oilseed crops for Turkey and sunflower landraces have significant diversity in Turkey as being one of the “Centres of Diversity” for sunflower. The existing sunflower landraces were collected within the framework of NPGRDP and maintained long term as ex situ at National Gene Bank and characterized for better understanding of the eco-geographic variation of sunflower landraces throughout the region, as well as for assessing sustainable utilization of those collections. The genetic resources of Turkey, eco-geographical distribution of sunflower landraces and the characterization result of agro-morphological variation of National sunflower collection are presented.