ii ECP/GR Brassica WORKING GROUP The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is an autonomous international scientific organization operating under the aegis of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The international status of IPGRI is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, by March 1997, had been signed 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, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovak Republic, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine. IPGRI's mandate is to advance the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations. IPGRI works in partnership with other organizations, undertaking research, training and the provision of scientific and technical advice and information, and has a particularly strong programme link with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Financial support for the research agenda of IPGRI is provided by the Governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, and by the Asian Development Bank, CTA, European Union, IDRC, IFAD, Interamerican Development Bank, UNDP and the World Bank. 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, technical 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 views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these participating organizations. Citation: Maggioni, L., D. Astley, M. Gustafsson, T. Gass and E. Lipman, compilers. 1997. Report of a Working Group on Brassica, Third meeting, 27-29 November 1996, Rome, Italy. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy. ISBN 92-9043-340-X IPGRI Via delle Sette Chiese 142 00145 Rome Italy © International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, 1997 CONTENTS iii Contents Discussions and recommendations 1 Opening session Introduction 1 Regional cooperation in crop genetic resources: recent events 1 The European Brassica Database (Bras-EDB) Report of the ECP/GR-EGDS Documentation meeting 2 Status of the European Brassica Database (Bras-EDB) 2 Status of Brassica genetic resources collections Status reports not included in the report of the Second Meeting (Lisbon, 1994) 4 Updates to status reports received during the Second Meeting (Lisbon, 1994) 5 Safety-duplication 7 Studies on regeneration and rationalization methods Brassica regeneration procedures at NGB 8 Changes in gene/allele frequencies during regeneration 8 Rationalization of collections and related studies of the diversity spectrum 8 Vernalization procedures for seedlings 9 The quality of containers for base collection storage 11 Recommendations 11 Core Collection development for Brassica 11 In situ conservation In situ conservation of Brassica oleracea wild relatives 12 Inclusion of wild Brassica species in lists of endangered plant species 13 Recommendations 13 Project resubmission to the EU genetic resources programme (EC1467/94) 14 ISHS Symposium in Rennes 15 Newsletter 17 Concluding remarks 17 Presented papers Report of the Chairperson on the period 1994-1996 Mats Gustafsson 18 The European Brassica Database Ietje W. Boukema, Theo J.L. van Hintum and Marcel W.M. Jongen 21 Status of Brassica genetic resources collections Status of the Bulgarian national collection of crucifers Stefan Neykov and Jordan Angelov 25 Status of the national Brassica collection in Croatia Vesna Zidovec 28 Status of the Czech Brassica collection Vratislav Kucera 30 Status report on the Brassica collections in German genebanks Klaus J. Dehmer and Karl Hammer 32 iv ECP/GR Brassica WORKING GROUP Perspectives for activities regarding Brassica germplasm conservation and utilization in Greece Nikolaos Stavropoulos and Stelios Samaras 39 Brassica germplasm in Italy Pietro Perrino 40 Current status of the CGN Cruciferae collection Ietje W. Boukema 53 Status of the Brassica germplasm in the collection of vegetable crops in Poland Teresa Kotlinska 58 Status of Brassica collections in Portugal João C. Silva Dias 63 The Russian Brassica collection Larisa I. Shashilova 65 Status of the Brassica collections in Slovakia MagdalenaValsiková 67 Plant genetic resources activities in Turkey - brassicas S. Ali Küçük 69 UK Collections of Cruciferous Crops Dave Astley 76 Status of the national Brassica collections at the Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) Gry Synnevåg 80 Regeneration and rationalization methods Brassica regeneration procedures at the Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) Gry Synnevåg 82 Current research on the distribution of genetic diversity in Dutch white cabbages Theo J.L. van Hintum and Ietje W. Boukema 86 Brassica Core Collection Brassica oleracea Core Collection Dave Astley, Ietje Boukema and Theo van Hintum 88 In situ conservation Monitoring of (2n=18) wild Brassica populations in Italy and Croatia Lorenzo Maggioni and Antonia Eastwood 91 Report on activities and planning for in situ and ex situ conservation in Sicily Francesco M. Raimondo 104 Appendix I. List of participants 106 Appendix II. Abbreviations and acronyms used in the text 109 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1 Discussions and recommendations Opening session Introduction The third meeting of the Brassica Working Group was held from 27 to 29 November 1996 in Rome, Italy. The meeting was attended by 21 participants representing 20 countries, FAO and IPGRI (see List of participants, Appendix I). The meeting was opened by Thomas Gass, Director of the IPGRI Regional Office for Europe, who welcomed the participants on behalf of the organizers. He emphasized the importance of this second meeting of the Working Group since the beginning of Phase V, which should be considered an opportunity to assess the progress made in implementing the Group's workplan and decide on the necessary steps to ensure a productive Phase V for the Working Group. Thomas Gass then introduced Lorenzo Maggioni, the new ECP/GR Coordinator. Lorenzo Maggioni welcomed the Group and expressed his pleasure in being able to work closely with the Brassica Working Group. With reference to the Group's endeavors to make regional Brassica conservation efforts more effective and to address the in situ conservation of relevant species, he noted the importance of these issues for ECP/GR considering the responsibility of European countries in contributing towards the conservation of this important indigenous genepool. Mats Gustafsson, Chair of the Working Group, then asked the participants to briefly introduce themselves. He outlined the primary objective of the meeting which is to follow-up on the workplan established as a result of the 1994 meeting, and to discuss the future activities of the Group. The agenda suggested for the meeting was adopted with minor modifications. The discussions and recommendations are summarized in the first part of the present report. Individual papers are included in the second part in a non-refereed form. The Chair's report of the period since the last meeting also is included in the second part. Regional cooperation in crop genetic resources: recent events Thomas Gass gave an overview of the regional preparatory process leading to the International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources (ITC) held in June 1996 in Leipzig, Germany, and explained some of its implications for the ECP/GR Brassica Working Group. He described the changes in the structure of ECP/GR decided by the National Coordinators during the Mid-Phase Meeting of the Technical Consultative Committee (TCC) and reminded the Group that regional networks were recognized as key elements in implementing the Global Plan of Action adopted in Leipzig.1 1 See following references: Gass, T., G. Kleijer, M. Waldman and E.