CONSERVATION AND EVALUATION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES IN LATVIA

1. CONSERVATION AND EVALUATION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES IN LATVIA Dainis Ruņģis

2. History of PGR in Latvia • PGR activities in Latvia were started after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union • The inventory of existing working collections was started in 1993 when the Latvian society of Genetics and Breeders organized the working Board for Cultivated PGR and working groups for different groups of plants. • Institutions holding collections did not have appropriate resources for long-term storage. To preserve Latvian genetic resources and to maintain high-viability accessions for long term storage the Latvian Gene Bank of Cultivated Plants (LGB) was founded in 1998 within the framework of the Nordic-Baltic project. • In general the model of the Nordic Gene Bank was followed. First accessions were placed in freezers in 1999. Field collections of fruits and berries were located in the cooperating institutes. Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

3. International documents Convention on Biological Diversity accepted in Latvia in1995. The International Treaty on PGR for Food and Agriculture accepted in Latvia in 2004. Local documents The Biological Diversity National program developed by the Latvian Ministry of Environment in 1999 to develop a program and strategy for conservation of PGR for food and agriculture. National Plan on Environmental Policy 2004-2008. “Programmefor long-term preservation and utilization of plant, animal, forest and fish genetic resources for agriculture and food 2007-2009” developed by the Latvian state Ministry of Agriculture which is responsible for coordinating PGR activities. Main documents concerning GR Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

4. The administrative structure of genetic resources in Latvia Ministry of Agriculture Genetic Resource Council Genetic Resource Centre (GRC) Gene bank Central Database Genetic analysis Laboratory Co-ordinating experts Section experts Cooperating institutions (stakeholders) of GR Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

5. This is a facility set up at LVMI “Silava” with funding from the Ministry of Agriculture This centre incorporates the Latvian Gene Bank, the Gene Bank database, and a genetic analysis laboratory Genetic Resource Centre LATVIJAS REPUBLIKAS ZEMKOPĪBAS MINISTRIJA Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

6. Stakeholders – cooperating institutions where evaluation and characterization of PGR have been done. Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

7. What crops are the most important in Latvia? Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

8. Field collections Fruits and berries -Latvian State Institute of Fruit-Growing (Partially duplicated at Pūre Horticultural Research Station) Vegetables - Pūre Horticultural Research Station (Partially duplicated at the Latvian University of Agriculture, Agrobiotechnological Institute) Aromatic and medicinal plants - Latvian University of Agriculture, Agrobiotechnological Institute Potatoes - State Priekuļi Plant Breeding Institute In vitro collection of potatoes is kept at State Priekuļi Plant Breeding Institute. Gene bank – seeds PGR collections Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv

9. Latvian gene bank • 72 species from 38 genera are maintained. Currently, seed accessions of the majority of Latvian crop cultivars are represented in the LGB. Approximately 10% of the collection comprises of wild relatives of forage grasses collected within Latvia. • Seeds of Latvian–bred cultivars are held in a Baltic Safety Duplication collection at the Nordic Gene Bank Genetic Resource Centre - www.genres.lv