Preserving and promoting forage wild populations and landraces in central : the Region approach.

Renzo Torricelli1, Donato Silveri2, Fabio Veronesi1 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Applicata, Università degli Studi di Perugia, (DBA_UNIPG), Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy 2 Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo dei Servizi Agricoli d’Abruzzo (ARSSA), Piazza Torlonia, 91 67051 (AQ), Italy

(Reported by V Negri, DBA_UNIPG)

Introduction In the past, most areas of Italy agricultural activity was based on a large number of local varieties (landraces) formed by a complex of different genotypes, with different characteristics related to the environmental conditions of the area of cultivation. These populations guaranteed quite but constant yields (Negri et al. 1997). The modern agriculture based on the high energy inputs and on breeding activity caused a sharp decrease in the Italian genetic resources (Veronesi 1994); this is true also for forage crops. Landraces of forage species like lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) and sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.) were grown in the central Italy for animal feed characterizing and protecting the landscape until the 60ies of the last century. Presently a large quantity of material has already completely disappeared because of genetic erosion due to changed agricultural systems, decrease of people employied un agriculture, especially in mountain areas, and lack of seed reproduction on the own farm. Forage legumes can play an important role in the development of sustainable agriculture and in organic farming systems, for this reason, in the last few years some initiatives have started in Italy at the regional level with the aim to collect and conserve the still available plant genetic resources. The Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo dei Servizi Agricoli d’Abruzzo (ARSSA, Agricultural Development Agency of the Abruzzo Region, Central Italy) funded a project aimed at collecting, characterizing, preserving and promoting the use of forage landraces of perennial (lucerne, sainfoin and sulla) and annual species adapted to Central Italy.

Perennial forage legumes Seed of 24 landraces of lucerne, 13 landraces of sainfoin and 5 landraces of sulla were collected throughout the territory of Abruzzo (Table 1) in 2000. There is the risk that this precious material is lost permanently because many farmers are old or have stopped growing forage landraces. Therefore, ARSSA Agency promoted different strategies for their safeguard: i) seed reproduction in similar environments to those of cultivation and promotion of in situ conservation ii) seed maintenance in germplasm bank (ex situ conservation) iii) transformation of the most interesting landraces in varieties to be commercialised in central Italy. All populations are presently maintained in the germplasm bank of the Department of Applied Biology (ex situ conservation). In lucerne and sainfoin breeding programmes have been started to synthesize broad based varieties. The steps undertaken for lucerne were the followings i) selection among landraces in replicated trials carried out in three locations (Vasto on the Abruzzo coast, hilly areas of Abruzzo and Perugia at DBA_UNIPG experimental field), ii) selection of the best performing landrace in the maritime and in the mountainous environment respectively (Travaglini et al. 1999), iii) phenotypic selection of the best landrace within each targeted environment and iv) breeding of two synthetic varieties (Silveri et al. 2002). The two lucerne varieties which are respectively adapted to maritime and mountain environment were registered in the National Register of Plant Varieties with the names of Memar and Memont (Dalla Ragione et al. 2004). In sainfoin the breeding work was aimed at obtaining two different varieties one adapted to mountainous conditions (one cut only) and the other adapted to hill conditions (two cuts), respectively. Breeding procedures were similar to those mentioned for lucerne, but for the trial location by the seaside that was replaced with a mountainous location (Castel del Monte, 1200 m asl) (Dalla Ragione et al. 2004). The sainfoin varieties obtained are presently under the registration process phase. Concerning lucerne, the ARSSA Agency issued an announcement to promote and to start the marketing of seed varieties; however, this announcement has not find the interest of Seed Companies up to now.

Table 1. Origin of the landraces collected throughout the territory of Abruzzo Region Lucerne Sainfoin N. Locality Altitude N. Locality Altitude m asl m asl 1 Roseto degli Abruzzi (TE) 100 1 I (AQ) 760 2 Magliano dei Marsi 1 (AQ) 728 2 Navelli II (AQ) 760 3 Magliano dei Marsi 2 (AQ) 728 3 S. Pio delle Camere 830 (AQ) 4 Magliano dei Marsi 3 (AQ) 780 4 (AQ) 910 5 Forcella (TE) 250 5 Forme di Massa d’Albe 750 (AQ) 6 Valle Rosea (TE) 200 6 Navelli III (AQ) 760 7 Mezzanotte (TE) 300 7 Castel del Monte (AQ) 1200 8 1000 8 Navelli VI (AQ) 760 (AQ) 9 Rosciano Villa Badessa 230 9 Prata d’Ansidonia (AQ) 800 (PE) 10 Pietranico (PE) 500 10 Navelli V (AQ) 760 11 C. da Pagliaporci (PE) 370 11 (AQ) 1200 12 (AQ) 370 12 S. Demetrio (AQ) 662 13 S.Giacomo di Atri (TE) 280 13 (AQ) 940 14 Colle S. Donato (CH) 300 Sulla 15 Casere Casoli (CH) 278 15 S. Giovanni Lipioni (CH) 545 16 Paludi (CH) 250 16 Agro di Palmoli (CH) 727 17 Roccaspinalveti (CH)) 700 17 Torrebruna (CH) 845 18 Atessa (CH) 475 18 Paglieta (CH) 235 19 Casale Montenerodomo 800 19 C. da Torrone Scerni 281 (CH) (CH) 20 Piano Carlino (CH) 378 21 C. le Serre Casoli (CH) 378 22 S. Domenico (CH) 300 23 S. Marco (AQ) 200 24 S. Venanzio (CH) 700

Annual forage legumes During the years 1997-98 and 2001-2002 the central area of Abruzzo was explored and natural populations of annual forage legumes were collected in regional pastures of agronomic relevance. For each accession, the seed of 50–60 randomly chosen plants was collected. Seventy accessions were collected in total, 30 belonging to the genus Trifolium, 29 to the genus Medicago and 11 to other genera (Table 2). These accessions are stored in the ARSSA germplasm bank. Part of the collected seed was used to establish two propagating seed fields, one in Abruzzo Region (Corfigno, AQ) and the other in Umbria Region (Perugia). The aim of this work was to increase the amount of seed so to provide some farmers with the opportunity of testing annual legumes as cover crops in olive orchards, vineyards and organic farming management of Abruzzo Region. Since Regional funding was interrupted, no data are available on the results of this work.

Table 2 Origin of annual forage species accessions collected throughout the territory of Abruzzo Region N. Specie Locality Alt. N. Specie Locality Alt. m m asl asl 1 T. (AQ) 500 36 M. Cast. Sub. 1000 campestre, orbicularis Casette (AQ) 2 T. campestre Capestrano 465 37 M. Pagliare di (AQ) orbicularis Tione (AQ) 3 T. campestre Casette 38 M. S. Lorenzo di Colananni. orbicularis Beffi (AQ) (AQ) 4 T. campestre Scerni (CH) 280 39 M. Pasteni orbicularis Paiara (AQ) 5 T. campestre 450 40 M. Civitaretenga 820 (AQ) disciformis (AQ) 6 T. campestre Gissi (CH) 499 41 M. rigidula Cast. Sub. 500 Vignara (AQ) 7 T. campestre Pagliare di 42 M. rigidula Ofena (AQ) 500 Tione (AQ) 8 T. campestre Alt. delle ?? 43 M. rigidula Cast. Sub. 500 Rocche Crepella (AQ) (AQ) 9 T. campestre San Lorenzo 44 M. rigidula Capestrano 465 di Beffi (AQ) 10 T. campestre Castelv. 490 45 M. rigidula Civitaretenga 820 Subequo (AQ) 11 T. campestre Roccacasale 450 46 M. rigidula Roccacasale 450 (AQ) (AQ) 12 T. campestre Cappadocia 47 M. Capestrano 465 (AQ) polymorpha (AQ) 13 T. campestre Pasteni 48 M. 520 Paiara (AQ) polymorpha (AQ) 14 T. campestre Gole di S. 480 49 M. Casoli (CH) 380 Venanzo (AQ) polymorpha 15 T. campestre Roccacasale 450 50 M. lupolina Pagliare di (AQ) Tione (AQ) 16 T. pratense Cast. Sub. 500 51 M. minima Capestrano 465 Vignara (AQ) (AQ) 17 T. repens Pagliare di 52 M. minima Ofena (AQ) 500 Tione (AQ) 18 T. repens Penna 669 53 M. minma Castelv. 490 Piedimonte Subequo (CH) (AQ) 19 T. montanum S. Stefano di 1460 54 M. minima Roccacasale 450 S. (AQ) (AQ) 20 T. stellatum Ofena (AQ) 500 55 M. minima S. Lorenzo di Beffi (AQ) 21 T. stellatum Roccacasale 450 56 M. minima Pagliare di (AQ) Tione (AQ) 22 T. stellatum Roccacasale 450 57 M. minima Pasteni (AQ) Paiara (AQ) 23 T. fragiferum Vallefredda 58 M. arabica Castel di Ieri 520 Cappadocia 24 T. Casoli (CH) 380 59 M. arabica Roccacasale 450 resupinatum (AQ) 25 T. Pagliare di 60 C. Cast. Sub. 1000 angustifolium Tione (AQ) scorpioides Casette (AQ) 26 T. scabrum Civitaretenga 820 61 C. minima S. Benedetto 1100 (AQ) P. (AQ) 27 T. scabrum Gole di S. 480 62 C. varia Cast. Sub. 1000 Venanzo (AQ) Casette (AQ) 28 T. scabrum Roccacasale 450 63 A. S. Benedetto 1100 (AQ) vulneraria P. (AQ) 29 T. scabrum Roccacasale 450 64 A. S. Stefano di 1460 (AQ) vulneraria S. (AQ) 30 T. scabrum Pasteni 65 O. caput- Ofena (AQ) 500 Paiara (AQ) galli 31 M. Castel di Ieri 520 66 O. caput- S. Stefano di 1460 orbicularis (AQ) galli S. (AQ) 32 M. Ofena (AQ) 500 67 L. S. Stefano di 1460 orbicularis corniculatus S. (AQ) 33 M. Capestrano 465 68 L. tenuis Castel di Ieri 520 orbicularis (AQ) (AQ) 34 M. Castelv. 490 69 V. sativa S. Stefano di 1460 orbicularis Subequo S. (AQ) (AQ) 35 M. Civitaretenga 820 70 V. villosa Cast. Sub. 1000 orbicularis (AQ) Casette (AQ)

Conclusions In Central Italy it is still possible to find landraces of lucerne, sainfoin and sulla and a wide range of annual forage legume populations. With regret it has to be acknowledged that human and financial efforts spent in safeguarding these cultivated and wild populations have been wasted up to now. However, these populations are safeguarded ex situ. Whether they will be lost in situ and the need to restore the environment by using them will turn out, the ex situ repositories of DBA_UNIPG and of ARSSA will be used to the purpose.

References Dalla Ragione I., Porfiri O., Silveri D.D:, Torricelli R., Veronesi F. 2004 – Le risorse genetiche della regione Abruzzo: un patrimonio da valorizzare. ARSSA, Avezzano (AQ). Negri V., Tosti N. Veronesi F., Falcinelli M. 1. 1997. Antiche varietà locali in Umbria. In “ Giornate di Studio sulla Conservazione delle risorse genetiche agrarie: saperi, tecniche, usi e conflitti sociali”, Perugia, 16-18 dicembre 1997. Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy, pp. 107-113. Silveri D., Dalla Ragione I., Porfiri O., Torricelli R., Tosti N., and Veronesi F. 2002 - Collecting, evaluation and conservation of plant genetic resources in Abruzzo region, Central Italy Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter, n. 129: 36-43. Travaglini F., Torricelli R., Silveri D. D., Velletri S., Veronesi F. 1999 - Collezione e caratterizzazione produttiva di popolazioni locali abruzzesi di erba medica. Sementi elette, 3/4, 37-41. 1999. Veronesi F. 1994. Agricoltura sostenibile e miglioramento genetico. Agricoltura Ricerca 156:85-92. On-Farm conservation of the forage species timothy, meadow fescue and red clover. Creating new “landraces”

Project funded by Norwegian Genetic Resource Centre

Project leader Kristin Daugstad, Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental research (Bioforsk), [email protected]

Earlier we had several local populations or landraces in timothy (Phleum pratense) and red clover (Trifolium pratense). During generations these landraces were adapted to the local climatic conditions and to the harvest management. In cross pollinated species a population consists of large number of different genotypes, each with a little different characteristics and growing value. Under a given climate and growing condition some genotypes will be better adapted than other genotypes. These adapted genotypes will produce more seed than the less adapted genotypes, resulting in an improvement in the next generation. Local cultivars developed after several generations of forage production and seed production on the same location. Since about 1950 the farmers got access to better performing commercial varieties. Also the increasing use of mineral fertilizer made the red clover less important in agricultur. Because of this the practise of producing their own seed declined, and today most of the landraces are lost.

A project with the purpose to make new landraces in timothy, meadow fescue (Festuca pratense) and red clover started in 2003. These three are the most common meadow species in Norway. Meadow fescue became common in Norwegian agriculture when conservation of the roughage as silage (earlier drying dominated) came into use. Meadow fescue is better adapted to early and several cuts than timothy and red clover. The goal is to develop several different local populations adapted to both climatic conditions and to the modern agricultural practise.

Intercrossing Since old Norwegian landraces are almost no-existing we had to start with “new” material. To ensure enough variability to cover the different growing conditions it was important to start with constructing a very wide population of each species. Accessions that were used were, selected from the accessions stored in the Nordic Genebank, and from commercial cultivars. Even southern cultivars were chosen to meet the demand of more climate adapted material in the future warmer climate. From 2003-2006 the three wide “starting-populations” were made by intercrossing the material for two generations in southern Norway.

Establishment The seed harvested in 2006 were used to make seed mixtures containing 65 % timothy, 25 % meadow fescue and 10 % red clover. During 2007 and 2008 a total of seven locations spread all over Norway were sown with the same mixture (Table. 1). Most of the locations are in field- stations in Bioforsk. Some locations are on farms but administered by the local Agricultural Advisory (Norsk Landbruksrådgiving). The seed-mixture were sown on 600 m2 on a field with “ordinary” meadow on the rest of the area.

Table 1. Information about the seven locations where the mixtures were established.

Location Hight N E Annual Annual Year of First name above precipitation temperature establish- year of sea ment seed harvest Øsaker 40 59,32 11,04 853 6,1 2007 2010 Fureneset 20 61,29 5,04 2010 7,0 2007 2010 Løken 530 61,12 9,06 590 1,6 2007 2010 Brønstad 100 64,23 12,29 1000 4,3 2008 2011 Teigen 40 65,91 12,42 1020 5,3 2008 2011 Vågønes 40 67,28 14,45 1055 4,3 2007 2010* Flaten 20 69,93 23,25 400 1,3 2007 2010 *red clover harvested 2009

Management After the establishing year, the meadows will be harvested and used for forage for two years. The third year it will be produced seed. The seed will be used to establish new meadows, and also a sample of the seed will be stored. The stored seed will be available for genetic studies in the future. The management regime, on each location, will in the two forage-years be the same as the rest of the farm. The kind and amount of fertilizer and the number of cuts will depend on the local conditions.

In the third year the fields will be separated into three parts. On one third there will be harvested seed of red clover and on the two other parts seed of the two grasses. For the western and northern parts of Norway, with high rainfall and/or short growing season, we are expecting difficulties with getting ripe seed. In 2009 we tried to harvest seed of red clover on the two most northern locations. In Vågønes we harvested about one kilo seed, with 50 % germination. This was better than expected because of difficulties during the drying of the seed. In Flaten, the north most location, we did not succeed to harvest the seed because of early snowfall.

2010 will become a very exciting year with seed harvesting all over the country. Hopefully we will get enough seed to establish new meadows on most of the locations in 2011. But we must expect to start over again on some locations, maybe by using red clover seed from Vågønes at Flaten etc. Anyway we will get experience of how to produce seed under least suitable circumstances.