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Plant genetic resources of higher altitudes in southwestern Georgia (Samcche-Džavacheti and Atčara)

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Abstract

The situation of plant genetic resources in southwestern Georgia is illustrated using the material from a 2010 collecting mission of the Tbilisi Botanical Garden and Institute of Botany and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, after having finished seed reproduction and plant characterization. Despite increased genetic erosion in the region, especially in field crops, 295 accessions of local cereals, vegetables, pulses, spices and medicinal plants could be collected. Variable landraces of winter annual Triticum aestivum L. are still cultivated in several villages of Mescheti, comprising up to six different morphological varieties. Relic crops, such as Linum usitatissimum L. in Džavacheti and Pisum sativum L., Glycine max (L.) Merr. or Brassica oleracea L. var. viridis L. in Atčara could be collected. A tremendous variability of Phaseolus vulgaris L. is grown in the whole area as the main pulse crop.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Georgian farmers and their families for their substantial help in the field and generous hospitality at their homes, the IPK Gatersleben and the ‘Verein zur Förderung der Kulturpflanzenforschung Gatersleben e. V.’ for financing and supporting the mission, N. Akhalkatsi for safe driving, K. Lipfert, B. Schäfer and U. Tiemann for photographical work and drawing the map as well as A. Diederichsen (Saskatoon) for language check. A. A. Filatenko (St. Petersburg) kindly confirmed determinations of Triticum accessions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programme Taxonomy and Evolution, Department of Genebank, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Corrensstr. 3, 06466, Stadt Seeland, Ortsteil Gatersleben, Germany

    Klaus Pistrick

  2. Department of Plant Genetic Resources, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Chavchavadze Avenue 32, 0176, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Maia Akhalkatsi & Jana Ekhvaia

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  1. Klaus Pistrick
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  2. Maia Akhalkatsi
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Correspondence to Klaus Pistrick.

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Dedicated to Karl Hammer and Peter Hanelt, who initiated an era of multi-crop collecting missions for plant genetic resources at Gatersleben, 45 years ago.

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Pistrick, K., Akhalkatsi, M. & Ekhvaia, J. Plant genetic resources of higher altitudes in southwestern Georgia (Samcche-Džavacheti and Atčara). Genet Resour Crop Evol 66, 1327–1340 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-019-00787-5

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