Status of the Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation of Brazilian Crop Wild Relatives of Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, and Finger Millet: Filling the Gaps of Germplasm Collections

This study presents the status of ex situ and in situ conservation for the crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet in Brazil, and the subsequent germplasm collection expeditions. This research is part of a global initiative entitled “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The total accessions collected (174) almost doubled the total accessions of these crop wild relatives incorporated in Embrapa’s ex situ conservation system prior to 2015. The results show the importance of efforts to collect and conserve ex situ crop wild relatives in Brazil based on previous gap analysis. The complementarity with the in situ strategy also appears to be very promising in the country.