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The European seed legislation on conservation varieties: focus, implementation, present and future impact on landrace on farm conservation

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Abstract

After a brief presentation of the European Directives on seed marketing of conservation varieties, data relative to their implementation status are given and discussed in relation to on farm conservation of landraces. Although generally aimed to ensure in situ conservation and the sustainable use of plant genetic resources, the Directives focus on seed production and marketing instead of genetic resource conservation per se. At present, their application has only partially favoured the registration of landraces maintained on farm or preserved in ex situ collections. They can be estimated in thousands in Europe, while only a few landrace with a verified status (51 out of a total of 184 conservation varieties) are presently included in the Common Catalogue. Reasons for this scarce registration are discussed. The European Directives on seed marketing of conservation varieties are a tool to promote on farm conservation of landraces that should be used to a greater extent than at present. Registration of landraces should be strongly and principally promoted by public bodies as a measure to give access to the genetic resources, preserve them on the long term and favour the economic profit of the farmers maintaining them.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under the Grant agreement no GA266394 PGR Secure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione, Settore Sementiero (INRAN-ENSE), Via Ugo Bassi, 8, 20159, Milan, Italy

    Giorgia Spataro

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia Applicata, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121, Perugia, Italy

    Valeria Negri

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  1. Giorgia Spataro
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  2. Valeria Negri
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Correspondence to Valeria Negri.

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Spataro, G., Negri, V. The European seed legislation on conservation varieties: focus, implementation, present and future impact on landrace on farm conservation. Genet Resour Crop Evol 60, 2421–2430 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-013-0009-x

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