Federal Centre of Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants Global Crop Diversity Trust

1. Federal Centre of Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants Global Crop Diversity Trust • Towards a Global Strategy for the Conservation of Oat Genetic Resources • = • Christoph U.Germeier, Lothar Frese and Brigitte Laliberte,

2. The situation of worlds genetic resources • International agreements are in place: • Convention on Biological Diversity (1993), • Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utili-zation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (1996), • International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2004). • None of these provides for a perpetual source of funding • Crop diversity in the field is diminishing, • wild relatives of crops are disappearing under cleared forests and urban sprawl, • Even some of the world's largest and most important international genebanks are facing severe budget cuts.

3. The Global Crop Diversity Trust - Initiator of the Process http://www.croptrust.org

4. The Global Crop Diversity Trust - Initiator of the Process Objectives - aims to match the long term nature of conservation needs with long term secure and sustainable funding as an element of the funding strategy of the International Treaty. - assist the development of a rational and efficient global system of crop diversity conservation. Activities • (Co-) funding of gene banks and facilities (e.g. Svalbard facilities) • Compilation of 9 regional conservation strategies, - Compilations of currently 16 Global Crop Conservation Strategies exclusively for “Annex I Crops”.

5. Elements of a Global Crop Strategy user relationships Networks Safety duplication Collection management -Regeneration -Storage - Viability monitoring ... Facilities Collection Procedures Institution Curator User provenance Material distribution User types Information delivery User requirements Cooperation Multilateral cooperation Participation Data contribution Bilateral cooperation Information management Structure Biological Status

6. The Status of Oats / Avena spp. Legal: - Oat is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. - Oat is not within the mandate of one of the CGIAR centers. Agronomic: - Oat is a crop typical for and well adapted to the cooler climates (Nordic countries, Canada), but thrives well also in Australia. - Oat is no bread cereal, but has been a staple food for a long time in Northern Europe. - Oat is extraordinary in cereals regarding health promoting contents (protein, fat, ß-glucan, minerals, antioxidants, hormone analogs). - Oat is highly suited for sustainable, extensive production systems.

7. Short Outline of Developing a Global Conservation Strategy for Oats 1. Identify crop experts, collections, curators and users (breeders). 2. Literature review on origin and evolution, gene pools, taxonomy and distribution, centers of diversity, use in breeding and research. 3. Questionnaire to update information on oat collections. 4. Stakeholders and Strategy Advisory Group Workshop (Fargo). 5. Identification of major collections and their importance by analysis of information from regional conservation strategies, from the survey and by application of indicators for scoring the value of collections. 6. Scoring management procedures of collections according to accepted management standards. 7. Identification of networks, constraints and challenges of collaboration. 8. Visit of collections eligible for funding by the trust. 9. Final meeting of genebank curators and stakeholders. 10. Final report and suggestions for the allocation of funds by the trust.

8. Relevant Information Available on Distribution and Collections Distribution: - Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.gbif.org, http://ge.gbif.net/). Collections: - FAO (1996): The state of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. - FAO WIEWS Database (http://apps3.fao.org/wiews/germplasm.htm) - European Avena Database (http://eadb.bafz.de). - EURISCO (http://eurisco.ecpgr.org/). - USDA Genetic Resources Information Network (http://www.ars-grin.gov). - Canadian Genetic Resources Information Network (http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/acc/search-recherche_e.html).

9. Avena Collections throughout the World FAO mentions 117 Avena collections, with 113528 accessions In Europe: European Avena DB: 26 contributors, 32664 accessions EURISCO: 24 contributors, 31739 accessions

10. Coverage of Species in World Key Collections

11. Elements for an International Oat Information System GRIN: http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/acc/acc_queries.html GRIN-CA: http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/acc/search-recherche_e.html Pedigrees of Oat Lines: http://avena.agr.gc.ca/OGIS/index_e.php OatGenes: http://avena.agr.gc.ca/oatgenes GrainGenes: http://wheat.pw.usda.gov Gelato: http://avena.agr.gc.ca/GELATO/

12. Elements for an International Oat Information System

13. Elements for an International Oat Information System

14. Elements for an International Oat Information System

15. Project databases and management and information systems in research and breeding online upload and download Cooperative open source software development platform CropForge Crop Portals (e.g. Avena Portal) C+E Passport Pedigrees Domain specific Central Crop Databases and Warehouses XML Web Services layer for communication with multicrop information systems Central PGR data pools (EURISCO, GRIN, GRINCA,..) Taxonomy GBIF Geography (Google Map) Genebank information systems (Multi-Crop) National Inventories Addresses (FAOInst) …. Sequences (GenBank) Architecture for an International Oat Information System Central information services

16. Thanks for your Attention Acknowledgements: Funding by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Angelika Schäfer-Menuhr, Severin Polreich and Angelika Doelle. Brigitte Laliberte for continuing support. All genebank curators and database managers, who responded to the questionnaire and provided additional information on their collections.