CAMPAIGNS

Pea Global Crop Conservation Strategy

A multi-year effort to develop new strategies and update existing ones was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
To gain an overview on the current state of the conservation and use of pea genetic resources, Crop Trust commissioned the Global conservation strategy for conservation and use of pea genetic resources. This strategy supports the efficiency and effectiveness of pea diversity conservation at national, regional and international levels, and identifies priorities for strengthening the conservation and use of pea genetic resources.
An important goal of the conservation strategy is to identify gaps in genebank collections and prioritize filling them, so that the full range of diversity is captured and made available to future generations.
Overall, there are over 130 institutions holding Pisum germplasm, conserving about 100,000 accessions. However, more than 80% of these are concentrated in 13 collections and it is difficult to estimate how many of the accessions held ex situ are unique.

Did you know?

Pea is a globally important cool-season legume crop that is produced worldwide as both dried seeds or in fresh vegetable form (green peas), predominantly in temperate regions.
The vast majority of peas cultivated around the world are classified as Pisum sativum L.
In 2019, the primary global production of dried peas was 14.2 Mt. Compared with other temperate grain legumes, dried peas ranked second equal with lentils in terms of global production.
Pea belongs to the most ancient set of cultivated plants from the Near East domestication center. It was domesticated about 10,000 years ago
It is still an important crop that is used widely as a grain, a vegetable and animal fodder

Priority action 1: Establish a global pea working group with representatives from key collection holders, breeders and research institutions
Priority action 2: Rationalize the global Pisum collection
Priority action 3: Acquisition priorities (the analyses revealed that landraces from some countries are underrepresented in ex situ collections).
Priority action 4: Establish an ad hoc working group to formulate options for revising and standardizing morphological descriptors with reference to the development and adoption of plant and crop ontologies