i Report of a Working Group on Forages Seventh meeting 18-20 November 1999 Elvas, Portugal L. Maggioni, P. Marum, N.R. Sackville Hamilton, M. Hulden and E. Lipman, compilers ii ECP/GR FORAGES WORKING GROUP: 7TH MEETING The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is an autonomous international scientific organization, supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). IPGRI's mandate is to advance the conservation and use of genetic diversity for the well-being of present and future generations. IPGRI's headquarters is based in Rome, Italy, with offices in another 19 countries worldwide. It operates through three programmes: (1) the Plant Genetic Resources Programme, (2) the CGIAR Genetic Resources Support Programme, and (3) the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP). The international status of IPGRI is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, by January 2000, had been signed and ratified by the Governments of Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine. The European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR) is a collaborative programme among most European countries aimed at ensuring the long-term conservation and facilitating the increased utilization of plant genetic resources in Europe. The Programme, which is entirely financed by the participating countries and is coordinated by IPGRI, is overseen by a Steering Committee (previously Technical Consultative Committee, TCC) composed of National Coordinators nominated by the participating countries and a number of relevant international bodies. The Programme operates through ten broadly focused networks in which activities are carried out through a number of permanent working groups or through ad hoc actions. The ECP/GR networks deal with either groups of crops (cereals, forages, vegetables, grain legumes, fruit, minor crops, industrial crops and potato) or general themes related to plant genetic resources (documentation and information, in situ and on-farm conservation, inter-regional cooperation). Members of the working groups and other scientists from participating countries carry out an agreed workplan with their own resources as inputs in kind to the Programme. The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IPGRI or the CGIAR concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the texts and taxonomic definitions in these proceedings reflect the views of the respective authors and not necessarily those of the compilers or their institutions. Citation: Maggioni, L., P. Marum, N.R. Sackville Hamilton, M. Hulden and E. Lipman, compilers. 2000. Report of a Working Group on Forages, Seventh meeting, 18-20 November 1999, Elvas, Portugal. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy. ISBN 92-9043-451-1 IPGRI Via delle Sette Chiese, 142 00145 Rome Italy © International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, 2000 iii Contents Part I. Discussion and Recommendations Introduction 1 The European Central Forages Databases 4 Status of National Collections 10 Collecting activities 17 Underutilized forages 20 Sharing of responsibility 20 Experiences with the minimum standards for regeneration discussed at Beitostølen 22 The Lolium Core Collection 23 The future of forage core collection(s) 24 On-farm/in situ conservation 25 Research activities 25 International collaboration 26 Conclusion 28 Part II. Presented Papers The European Central Forages Databases 29 European Minor Forage Grasses Database, Morten Hulden 30 European Minor Forage Legumes Database, Lajos Horváth and Attila Simon 31 European Agrostis, Phalaris and Phleum Databases, Merja Veteläinen 33 European Poa Database, Helmut Knüpffer, Siegfried Harrer and Evelin Willner 37 European Lolium and Trifolium repens Databases, N. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton 42 European Dactylis and Festuca Databases, G. ðurek 47 European Perennial Medicago Database, Vincent Gensollen and Brigitte Montegano 51 European Arrhenatherum and Trisetum Databases 54 European Bromus and Trifolium pratense Databases, Lajos Horváth and Attila Simon 57 European Agropyron Database, Dotchko P. Shamov 59 European Database for Trifolium alexandrinum and T. resupinatum, Hailu Aynalem 60 European Trifolium subterraneum and annual Medicago species Databases 61 European Lathyrus Database, Daniel Combes 65 Comparison between the number of accessions reported in the European Central Crop Databases (ECCDBs) and in National Collections in 1997, Petter Marum 67 An alternative method to compile and update ECP/GR Central Crop Databases, Morten Hulden 73 Status of National Collections Forage genetic resources in Albania, Karaman Tahiraj and Fadil Daci 78 Forage genetic resources in Azerbaijan, Zeynal I. Akperov 82 Status of forage collections in Bulgaria, Dotchko P. Shamov 86 Status of the national forage collection in the Czech Republic, Magdalena Šev¹íková and Iva Faberová 90 The French forage and turf species Network, Vincent Gensollen and Brigitte Montegano 93 Grass landraces of Georgian arid pastures, Avtandil Korakhashvili and Gogotur Agladze 96 Fodder crops in German collections, Evelin Willner 98 Status of the national forage collections in Greece, Thomas Vaitsis 100 Status of the national forage collections in Hungary, Lajos Horváth and Attila Simon 103 Status of the forage collection at the Israel Gene Bank, Hailu Aynalem 105 iv ECP/GR FORAGES WORKING GROUP: 7TH MEETING Italian forage collections, Valeria Negri 106 Genetic resources of forage grasses and legumes in Latvia, Biruta Jansone and Isaak Rashal 111 Status of the forage collection in Lithuania, NijolÅe Lemež ûieneÅ 114 Description of the CGN forage collection, Loek J. M. van Soest and Noor Bas 116 Forage collection at the Nordic Gene Bank, Merja Veteläinen 119 Status and utilization of the national forage collection in Poland, G. ðurek, W. Majtkowski and W. Podyma 122 Collection of native and foreign grass species in the Botanical Garden of the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute in Bydgoszcz, W. Majtkowski and G. Majtkowska 125 Forage collections in Portugal, Eliseu Bettencourt 130 Genetic resources of grasses and legumes in Romania, Teodor Marusca 132 Perennial fodder crops in the collection of Vavilov Institute: taxonomic diversity and breeding value, Nikolay I. Dzyubenko 137 Status of national forage collections in the Slovak Republic, J. Drobná 139 Status of the forage collection in Slovenia, Vladimir Megli¹ 144 Collections of forage grasses in northern Spain, J.A. Oliveira Prendes 146 Status of the national forage collection in Switzerland, Beat Boller 148 UK National Collections, N. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton 149 Forage genetic resources in Ukraine, Vasil Buhayov 151 Current status of forage collections in F.R. Yugoslavia, Zorica Tomiº, D. Sokoloviº, S. Katiº and G. Mladenoviº 154 Collecting activities Cooperation on collecting activities after the Rio Convention: difficulties, Evelin Willner 158 Collecting activities in the Czech Republic and bordering regions, Magdalena Šev¹íková and Vojtech Holubec 163 Collecting of forages in Central Asia, Loek J.M. van Soest, Vladimir Chapurin and Karim Baimatov 165 Collecting activities in Finland and other Nordic countries, Merja Veteläinen 168 Collecting activities in Italy and Wales by IGER, UK, N. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton 169 Collection, evaluation and conservation of forage legumes germplasm in Abruzzo (Italy). R. Torricelli, V. Negri, D.D. Silveri and F. Veronesi 170 Forage collecting activities in Lithuania, 1997-99, NijolÅ LemeûienÅ 176 Forage collecting activities in Poland, 1997-99, W. Majtkowski, W. Podyma, J. Schmidt, G. ðurek, D. Nowosielska and G. Majtkowska 177 Forage collecting activities in Slovakia, 1997-99, J. Drobná, P. Hauptvogel, M. Masaryková and W. Podyma 182 Joint collection and characterization of forage and pasture germplasm in Portugal and Spain, Manuel Tavares de Sousa and Francisco Gonzalez Lopez 184 Forage collecting activities in Bulgaria, 1997-99, Dotchko P. Shamov 186 Forage collecting activities in Cyprus since 1978, Demetrios Droushiotis 187 Underutilized forages Lajos Horváth 188 The Lolium core collection N. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton 193 On-farm conservation in the Nordic countries Merja Veteläinen 194 v Research Activities Morphological and physiological variability of Phalaris arundinacea L. in Romania Teodor Marusca and Ionel Samfira 196 An ecogeographic classification of Mediterranean countries N. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton 200 Cyprus: The role of local germplasm in forage development Demetrios Droushiotis 202 Breeding perennial forages for drought resistance, persistence and forage productivity Thomas Vaitsis 205 Preliminary evaluation of the small grain legumes collection in the Botanical Garden of IHAR, Bydgoszcz, Poland J. Schmidt and G. ðurek 206 Evaluation and characterization of wild ecotypes of tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia caespitosa (L.) P.B.] collected from East