A National Collection to crunch on
The Plant Genetic Resources Section of the CTPS is continuing its work to expand the National Collection. Following these meetings in 2023, new species have entered the National Collection, including fruit species such as apple and fig, aromatic species, field crops species and related species.
For apples, 22 accessions were submitted by the Domaine de Merval Association (76), representing varieties from the Pays de Bray and Normandie, or varieties that have been widely introduced into these territories. The Hauts-de-France Genetic Resources Centre has submitted 5 accessions, including 2 varieties from breeders in their region: reinette Jules Labitte and Belle Pontoise. These 5 resources are accompanied by a variety sheet containing a large amount of characterisation, evaluating and pomological data.
In the South-West, the Communauté des Communes des Coteaux Arrats Gimone (32) has contributed 22 fig tree resources linked to the history of the species and its cultivation in France.
Among the aromatic species, 5 peppermint accessions have been donated by the CNPMAI (91), the national conservatory of aromatic and medicinal plants. These resources are recognised as much for their phytochemical quality and robustness as for their history and their emblematic character of the Milly-La-Forêt region.
For field crop species, INRAE has contributed 60 rapeseed accessions representative of breeding activity on this species in France since the 1950s, and the Potato Public-Private Cooperation Network has completed its contribution with the addition of 15 new accessions.
Finally, 59 accessions of wild related species representing a diversity of 47 species were added by the National Alpine Botanic Conservatory (05).
Some of these deposits also include morphological, evaluating or molecular characterisation data, in addition to resource passport data (country of origin, name, etc.). This information will be made available in the European EURISCO database when the French national inventory is updated in the near future. For species listed in Annex 1 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (TIRPAA), these new accessions are in the process of being added to the multilateral system of the International Treaty (TIRPAA) by the French government.
The full list of new accessions was published in the Official Journal on 28 November 2023. All the resources in the official directory of the National Collection can be consulted on the GEVES website under the heading “which resources have been added to the national collection“; these data are available for download.
