Prunus Working Group
Fruit Network
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Prunus Working Group |
Fruit Network
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Latest news
An ad hoc meeting on fingerprinting of Prunus, Malus / Pyrus and
Vitis was held in East Malling, United Kingdom, on 7-8 December 2006. A second ad hoc meeting
will follow in Gembloux, Belgium in 2008, on synonymy of Prunus, Malus / Pyrus and Vitis cultivars.
An ad hoc meeting of the four Fruit Database Managers (Malus, Prunus, Pyrus and Vitis)
is planned to be held in 2008 as well (place and date to be confirmed). In the same year, an
ad hoc meeting on in situ and on-farm conservation of Prunus, Malus / Pyrus
and Vitis is planned to be held in Dresden, Germany.
Link with EU project
The EU-funded project
GEN RES 61 on Prunus (International Network on Prunus genetic resources) was
carried out in full coordination with the ECPGR Working Group on Prunus.
Most of the project meetings were held jointly with ECPGR. Activities
complementary to the EU project (characterization and evaluation
work and data computerization) were carried out by non-EU partners with
ECPGR
support. In the course of the 3-year (1996 - 1999) project, a new
structure for the European Prunus Database (EPDB) was prepared and made
available on Internet; characterization and evaluation descriptors for
apricots, cherries, peaches, plums and hybrids were defined, including the
reference cultivars; Prunus germplasm was characterized/evaluated throughout
Europe and the data entered into the common database.
The European Prunus Database (EPDB)
The
European Prunus Database (EPDB), originally
established at the Nordic Gene Bank in 1983, has been maintained by the "National Institute
for Agronomical Research" (INRA) in Bordeaux, France, under the initiative of the ECPGR Networks
since 1994. The database includes data on the European
collections of all Prunus species, cultivated stone fruit and their related
species as well as the wild ones. The database comprises 19 passport data
from the FAO/IPGRI Multi-Crop Passport Descriptors list, 13 descriptors common for all
the different species and 7 to 22 specific descriptors depending on the
species of the accession.
A European Prunus Collection
The Group agreed on a concept note “Towards a definition and implementation of a Decentralized European Prunus Collection" (DEPC). The purpose is to coordinate efforts of individual European countries to conserve and make available for propagation and research Prunus accessions originating in Europe or otherwise important to European horticulture, silviculture, cultural heritage or science. The European Prunus Collection would be a decentralized ex situ collection comprising appropriate accessions held by participating genebanks and available for distribution. The accessions to be accepted as part of the European collection should be important accessions from the wild collected in Europe and cultivars or certain selections raised in Europe.
Background information
The Prunus Working Group was established in 1983 as one of the original six Working Groups developed during the first Phase of ECPGR. During its sixth meeting held in 2003 (Budapest, Hungary), the Working Group discussed the possibility of a definition and implementation of a Decentralized European Prunus Collection (DEPC) (See: Appendix I of the meeting report). For more information or comments: |
IPGRI and INIBAP
operate under the name Bioversity International.
