Situational Analyses of the Current State of Plant Genetic Resources Important for Food and Agriculture in Georgia (Caucasus Ecoregion)

Conservation of the genetic resources of ancient crops in Georgia are current landraces and primitive forms occurring in Georgia and to publish lists of indigenous landraces and CWRs of cereals, legumes, vegetables, vine and fruits representing direct ancestors, and endemic, rare or endangered species. National policies and comprehensive measures are urgently needed to address the problem of conserving the genetic resources of ancient crops in Georgia. It is necessary to establish a general overview of the types of crops that are current landraces and primitive forms occurring in Georgia. However, the introduction of new parasites has revealed that endemic forms of Georgian crop plants contain valuable selective disease-resistant material for genetic engineering. Establishment and maintenance of ex situ collections and databases should be considered just as a first step in the conservation process of ancient crop varieties. Storage of the ex situ collections should be improved through upgrading the present storage of the field crop genebank facilities.