Support funds for plant genetic resources maintained in situ and collections 2019 – selected projects
The call for applications for PGR maintained in situ and PGR ex situ collections was launched in November 2019. This call for applications is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAA) for an amount of 400 000 €.
6 projects have been funded for a total amount of 120 046 €.
Actions proposed by the applicants include:
- Safeguarding of plant genetic resources, of cultivated species or wild relatives, maintained in situor conserved ex situ in order to avoid their loss in short or medium term. Actions aimed at establishing conservation networks for ex situ collections, collecting material or maintaining wild relatives resources in situ are encouraged,
- Infrastructure or equipment financing to improve the conservation and collection management of plant genetic resources,
- Collection characterisation (phenotypic, molecular, …) in order to acquire better knowledge of plant genetic resources maintained in France, to facilitate their use.
At the closing of the call for applications on January 6th, 2020, 8 projects were received for a budget of approximately 310 000 € with 230 000 € of funding request. After analysis of the projects by two experts and by the examination commission, 6 projects were selected for actions to be carried out by the end of May 2022 for a total amount of 120 046 €.
List of financed projects (AAC):
Fruit species
- Conservatoire Végétal Régional d’Aquitaine (CVRA) (Aquitaine Regional Conservatory Orchard)
The project concerns the renewal of half of the apple collection kept at the CVRA, i.e. 495 accessions, as well as genetic analyses to deepen the knowledge of this collection and look for possible redundancies. It also includes the financing of equipment to ensure the maintenance of the plots of the conservatory orchard. - Conservatoire Botanique National (CBN) méditerranéen de Porquerolles (Mediterranean National Botanical Conservatory of Porquerolles)
The project finalises the work undertaken by AFIDOL (RESOLVAR I & II) to inventory and to undertake molecular characterisation of olive plant genetic resources present in 38 public or private collections and maintained in situ. These actions aim to identify resources of interest to be integrated into the ex situ reference collection of the CBN of Porquerolles. The structuring of the participants into a network aims at conserving the identified heritage varieties over the long term. - Pôle Fruitier de Bretagne (Fruit pole of Brittany)
The project, led by the Fruit pole of Brittany, aims to improve knowledge of Breton heritage varieties of cider apples (1,500 accessions) and perry pears (300 accessions). These varieties are preserved in situ in a network of orchards for conservation purposes maintained by the 18 member structures spread throughout Brittany. The harmonisation of descriptors and the genetic characterisation of part of these resources will make it possible to identify specimens of the same variety in one or more orchards in order to create duplicates and establish a regional strategy for the conservation of these heritage resources.
Ornamental species
- Conseil départemental du Val de Marne (Val de Marne County Council)
The Rose Garden Haye-les-Roses is involved in safeguarding the diversity of roses from botanical species to modern varieties. In order to improve knowledge of these resources, work on roses’ nomenclature, validated on the basis of historical documents and the search for synonyms has been proposed in collaboration with the University of Angers. These validated data will be made available to other rose collection managers. This work : checking the identity of the GPRs, pooling data, identification of potential duplicates in other collections, reviving the network of collection managers, is encouraged by the Ministry of Agriculture. - Roseraie Loubert (Rose Garden Loubert)
The funding allocated to Ms. Loubert aims to improve the traceability of resources and information associated with her collection of over 3,000 rose bushes by computerising them. This work will be complemented by the genetic characterisation of 360 accessions of old varieties of roses in order to complete the knowledge already acquired on this collection during a research program with INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment). - Turcieflor
The project aims to renew the facilities housing the Alstroemeria collection maintained by the Pierre Turc companies. This collection includes 85 accessions of royalty-free “Lilies of the Incas”, some of which are no longer marketed.
