EVA Pepper Project meetings

EVA Pepper annual project meeting 2022

The 2022 EVA pepper annual meeting was held in hybrid form from 26-28 October 2022. Due to some last-minute cancellations, only seven partners gathered in person in Vico Equense, Italy, while seven connected remotely to review the project progress and discuss the work plan for the remaining project duration until the end of 2023. Partners reviewed criteria for the selection of accessions from European genebanks, of which 160 were used in phenotypic trials and genotyping. Genotypic data showed that the collection used in the project reflects a diverse set of accessions and may also hint at some misclassifications, showing the usefulness of genomics methods in genebank management. Phenotypic trials in the field, glasshouse and laboratories have produced a large dataset of observations which will be used to identify accessions of interest for breeding programs. Breeding company partners appreciated the access to genebank materials and confirmed their interest to continue their collaboration to evaluate more pepper accessions. The meeting participants also visited the research labs and warehouse of local project partner La Semiorto Sementi in Sarno.  

The report of the meeting is available [here].

Annual Pepper Network meeting - 14 June 2021

June 2021

EVA Pepper annual project meeting: The second annual meeting of the EVA Pepper network was held online on 14 June 2021. 

Fifteen members of the EVA Pepper network met online on 14 June 2021 to discuss ongoing activities and review protocols and data collection templates.

More than 200 pepper accessions had been multiplied by partners in Italy and Serbia and tested and certified to meet all phytosanitary requirements for ToBRFV. Despite some obstacles due to phytosanitary concerns over ToBRFV, all multiplied pepper seeds were distributed to partners in time and field trials have already started in Italy, Spain and Greece. These trials will create interesting data on agronomical and quality traits on 160 pepper accessions from different European genebanks. Lab trials for important diseases and genotyping of all accessions will complement the data.

Next years’ annual meeting will hopefully be held in person and in conjunction with a meeting of the ECPGR Solanaceae Working group.

EVA Pepper Project meeting, 9 June 2020 - virtual meeting

June 2020

Twenty-two EVA Pepper network partners met virtually on 09 June 2020 to receive updates on current activities and discuss open questions and next steps for the project. A total of 250 pepper accessions were currently being multiplied by project partners in Italy and Serbia. Partners discussed strategies to comply with the new European Plant Health Regulation during the multiplication and distribution of seeds to evaluation partners inside and outside of the European Union, especially in light of emergency measures in place to prevent the introduction and spread of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV).

After a break, the network partners reviewed the proposed trial protocol and gave an overview of their evaluation sites. Genotyping options were discussed and an appropriate protocol will be further developed by an expert group in the network. Partners also reviewed a list of traits collated from the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and the EU Horizon2020 project G2P-SOL but agreed that, since not all evaluation partners were present at the meeting, preferences should be indicated during a survey and finalized in another meeting.

The EVA Pepper network made good progress in work planning and remains open for additional evaluation partners before starting evaluations of pepper accessions and landraces from European genebanks in 2021.

Meeting report (184,8 KB)

EVA Networks
The EVA project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food
and Agriculture for the period 2019-2024.