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Landraces in Inland areas of the Basilicata region, Italy: monitoring and perspectives for on farm conservation

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Abstract

A collecting expedition has been carried out in the inland areas of the Basilicata Region, South Italy. Each of the 14 selected municipalities was subdivided in three strata based on the geographical distribution of population and orography: 1. city boundaries, 2. group of country houses, 3. isolated farm houses. Five sites were selected within each stratum/town for a total of 185 sites. In 101 sites crop species germplasm was collected and the farmer-maintainers were interviewed. Altogether 350 accessions were collected, the most common species were Capsicum annuum, Lycopersicon esculentum and Phaseolus vulgaris. A significant number of landraces are still preserved on farm, mostly in isolated farm houses (average age of farmers: 60 years) adopting traditional farming systems but a number of young farmers were also present. Perspectives for on farm conservation and management are discussed and public economic support for “farmer-maintainers” proposed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Basilicata Region for financial support to the project ‘Salvaguardia della biodiversità vegetale per il mantenimento e la tutela di varietà locali lucane di specie ortive’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Genetica Vegetale, Centro Tematico per la Conservazione della Biodiversità Vegetale Mediterranea, Via Nazionale, 44, 75025, Policoro, MT, Italy

    Vincenzo Montesano, Donatella Negro & Giulio Sarli

  2. Centro Interdipartimentale per la Salvaguardia delle Risorse Genetiche Vegetali “Pierino Iannelli”, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Giuseppina Logozzo

  3. Dipartimento di Biologia Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro-Forestali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Pierluigi Spagnoletti Zeuli

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  1. Vincenzo Montesano
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  2. Donatella Negro
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  3. Giulio Sarli
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  4. Giuseppina Logozzo
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  5. Pierluigi Spagnoletti Zeuli
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Correspondence to Vincenzo Montesano.

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Montesano, V., Negro, D., Sarli, G. et al. Landraces in Inland areas of the Basilicata region, Italy: monitoring and perspectives for on farm conservation. Genet Resour Crop Evol 59, 701–716 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9712-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9712-7

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