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Collection of crop genetic resources in Egadi archipelago and southern Sicily

S. Cifarelli F. Branca Axel Diederichsen P. Perrino G. Laghetti K. Hammer

Introduction

The Italian minor islands are often the last refuges for landraces and old cultivars typical of the
Mediterranean area (Hammer et al. 1999, in prep.), and are also richer in plant genetic resources than
mainland places (Laghetti et al. 1998a; 2000). In 2000 a further expedition was carried out in the Egadi
archipelago (Italy), continuing collecting activities within the joint specific program ‘Safeguarding of crop
genetic resources on Italian minor islands’ between the Germplasm Institute (IG) of Bari (Italy) and the
Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) of Gatersleben (Germany) started in 1994
(Laghetti et al. 1996; Perrino et al. 2000).

The Canadian national genebank, Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) was invited to participate in
this collecting mission because of its specific interests in collecting germplasm in Italy. Because Canadian
agriculture has a relatively short history, very few plant species of economic importance have their centre of
diversity or domestication in Canada. Therefore, the introduction of new species, varieties and wild material,
for cultivation has been essential for agriculture. From a Canadian viewpoint, oat (Avena sativa L.) is a good
example for the successful use of and continued interest in new germplasm. Oat is the fifth largest crop in
Canada, where there are several resistance breeding programmes for the crop (Diederichsen in prep.;
Rodionova et al. 1994). Sources of resistance to crown rust in oat have been derived from the wild hexaploid
oats, in particular A. sterilis L. The centre of origin for Avena is the Mediterranean basin, with all 29 species
represented in this region. Thus it is important to acquire wild Avena germplasm while it is still available.
Canadian oat breeders seek Italian germplasm of the hexaploid Avena sterilis, since they already
successfully introduced resistance for crown rust from Italian germplasm into cultivated oats. Recently, a new
species of the genus Avena has been discovered in Sicily (Ladizinsky 1998). This shows that Sicily is rich in
diversity for this genus and stresses the importance for collecting and studying its germplasm.
Sicily is also a centre of diversity for the Brassica genus, with a great variation of expression of characters,
both among and within crops and related wild species (Branca and Iapichino 1997; Perrino 1997). The most
common Brassica crop landraces are broccoli (B. oleracea L. var. italica Planck), cauliflower (B. oleracea
var. botrytis (L.) Alef.), kale (B. oleracea var. acephala (DC.) Alef.) and kohlrabi (B. oleracea var. gongylodes
L.). Among the wild species B. fruticulosa (Cyr.), B. drepanensis (Caruel) Ponzo, B. macrocarpa Guss., B.
rupestris Rafin. and B. villosa Biv. are present. The latter could cross with cultivated species, and so it is
possible to find some characteristic types with intermediate traits. For this reason the expedition was
supported also by the Department of Garden-, Flower- and Tree-Cultivation and Agronomy (Dipartimento di
Orto-Floro-Arboricoltura e Tecnologie Agroalimentari (DOFATA) of Catania University.

Collecting methods

In August/September 2000, a collecting mission was carried out in Egadi archipelago (Sicily). The primary
sources of the collected accessions were fields and growers’ reserves. For wild taxa, seeds and young
plants were gathered. At each collecting site a passport data sheet of the IG was filled in. The elevation,
longitude and latitude of each collecting site were determined by a handheld GPS system. In addition to the
data recorded directly by the collecting team, further information on insular agriculture was registered from
local specialists and through many interviews with farmers. More details on the collecting methods and
exploration strategy used are described in the reports of previous expeditions in other Italian minor islands
(Hammer et al. 1997; Laghetti et al. 1996, 1998b, 1999a,b, 2002a, 2002b).

Egadi archipelago

Egadi archipelago, the largest Mediterranean marine reserve, comprises, together with three inhabited main
islands of Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo, the two islets of Formica and Maraone (Figure 1), which are
today uninhabited. General information on the history, economy, geology and climate of Egadi islands can
be found in Racheli (1979).

Favignana>

Up to ca. 60 years ago the main economic activities on this island were: fishing (very famous in the world of