Leafy Vegetables Working Group

Vegetables Network

Report of a Vegetables Network. Second Meeting, 26–28 June 2007, Olomouc, Czech Republic PART I - DRAFT (PDF file 484KB) Report of a Working Group on Leafy Vegetables First Meeting, 13-14 October 2005, Olomouc, Czech Republic PART I - REVISED DRAFT (PDF file 287KB) Workplan agreed in June 2007 The International Lactuca Database Leafy Vegetables Working Group members Leafy Vegetables Meetings & Reports

Background information   Safety-duplication   The International Lactuca Database   Duplication   Characterization and evaluation   Conservation and management of wild relatives   Regeneration Background information In May 2000, in Vila Real, Portugal, the ECPGR Vegetables Network Coordinating Group recommended also extending collaborative activities to Solanaceae, Cucurbits and Leafy Vegetables and included these crops within the Network's mandate. The ad hoc Group on Leafy Vegetables met for the first time during the ECPGR Vegetables Network meeting in Skierniewice, Poland, May 2003 (see: meeting report [here], PDF file 850KB). Experts of these crops were able to discuss opportunities of cooperation within ECPGR. It was concluded that the Leafy Vegetables Group would focus on the most important crops, i.e. lettuce, spinach and Cichorium and their wild relatives. A proposal to establish a formal ECPGR Working Group on Leafy Vegetables was prepared and endorsed by the ECPGR Steering Committee in October 2003. The first meeting of the formal Working Group was held in Olomouc, Check Republic, 13-14 October 2005. The Group met again in a parallel session during the Second meeting of the Vegetables Network in Olomouc, Czech Republic, on 26–28 June 2007. The International Lactuca Database (ILDB) The necessity of a database for lettuce became apparent during the "EUCARPIA Leafy Vegetable Meeting" (Olomouc, Czech Republic, June 1999). There it was shown that Lactuca is relatively well represented in genebanks, but that access to information on lettuce collections is not optimal and duplication between Lactuca collections is considerable. The International Lactuca Database (ILDB) was established in 2000 and is currently maintained at CGN, The Netherlands. The database concentrates in first instance on passport data of all Lactuca species of germplasm collections worldwide. The development of new central databases for spinach and chicory was recommended in Skierniewice (May 2003), based on the example of the existing Lactuca database. Responsibility to create and manage the ECPGR spinach and chicory DBs was accepted in 2004 by CGN Wageningen, The Netherlands and GEVES Brion, France respectively. Characterization and evaluation Common IPGRI descriptors for the three selected crops are currently not available. However, the exchange of data for a minimum list of characterization descriptors was agreed (see: Appendix E). Currently, evaluation data on several diseases are available or will become available in some genebank databases. However, evaluation data on new diseases (or new races of existing diseases) in lettuce, spinach and Cichorium are not available. Possibly the screening of wild relatives of lettuce and collections of spinach and Cichorium for resistance to these diseases could be achieved in collaborative (EU-funded) projects. Regeneration During the meeting in Poland (2003) inventories were made of the status of regeneration (See: Appendix C) and regeneration protocols (See: Appendix D). Both of them have been revised and updated during the meeting in Czech Republic (2005). It seems that most genebanks can manage well the regeneration of their own accessions. Safety-duplication Most partners have already provided for safety-duplication of their national collections and offered space in their long-term storage facilities to host safety-duplicates from other genebanks (see: Appendix B). Duplication A high percentage of duplication exists within and between lettuce collections. Especially for wild Lactuca spp., the detection of duplicates would allow a good overview of the available diversity and would improve efficiency when screening the collection for valuable traits. Detection of Most Original Samples (MOSs) was planned as a task for the DB manager, in collaboration with collection holders. Conservation and management of wild relatives Wild relatives of lettuce and Cichorium are very common in Europe. The poor availability of accessions of some wild Lactuca spp. remains a problem, especially from the secondary and tertiary genepools. Also very limited numbers of wild spinach and Cichorium accessions are available. A more intensive cooperation with the countries of origin for collecting wild Lactuca, Spinacia and Cichorium is recommended. For more information or comments: Please contact the Chair of the Working Group: Mr Rob van Treuren [click here] and Vice-Chair: Ms Katerina Karlová [click here]

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