Türkiye Yerel Çeşit Genetik Kaynaklarının Muhafazası

Abstract

A landrace of a seed-propagated crop which is important component of biodiversity and cultural heritage is defined as a variable
population that is characterized by a specific adaptation to the environmental conditions of the area of cultivation, lacks of
formal crop improvement and closely associated with the traditional uses, knowledge, habits of the people who developed
and continue to grow it. Landraces have also been able to survive until today due to geographical and ecological isolation
and belongs to crops that are not common cultivated. Cultivation of landraces is gradually decreased through replacement of
landraces by high yielding varieties and prohibition of sale of seed of varieties that are not registered in Turkey. Especially
landraces is disappearing with the elderly people who grow these varieties for their own consumptions and conserve them. There
is no complete list of local varieties grown in Turkey, today it is exactly not known which of them are grown or completely
disappear. Sytematic, coordinated and integrated in situ and ex situ conservation of landrace diversity can be implemented via
a national management plan for landrace diversity conservation. A national management plan for landrace conservation is a
document that outlines the national approach to landrace conservation and use. It is likely to incorporate a list of landrace, their
distribution, cultivation and use practices, threat assessment, conservation status and priorities, and maintainer, breeder and
other user information. The main step in development of national management plan for landrace diversity is the preparation
of landrace checklist and inventory. Preparation of inventories is a starting point for conservation of agrobiodiversity. Thus
preparation of the national landrace inventory has a priority in raising usage of landrace, contrubuting national food security,
documented of landrace diversity for the future generation, identification and implementation of systematic ex situ and in situ
conservation status, monitoring of changes, meeting changing market demands.