Participatory Collection of Forage Species in Uruguay

Local landraces are potential valuable gene sources with benefits for local agriculture. However, their in situ conservation depends on the personal motivation of farmers and the permanence of traditional farming methods (Negri, 2003). There is the latent risk of loosing landraces and site-specific naturalized germplasm due to rapid socio-economic changes in Uruguayan agriculture. Participatory conservation can provide the necessary synergy between farmers, extension services, geneticists and genebank to achieve the goal of conserving these genetic resources. Although farmers\u27 involvement in germplasm collection is common, particularly for vegetable crops, most forage collections had been done from fields or sideroad areas, therefore lacking passport information in relation to cultural practices. This work outlines the farmers\u27 presence in ex situ germplasm conservation and explores current and past uses of crops

Genomics of tolerance to abiotic stress in the Triticeae

Genomics platforms offer unprecedented opportunities to identify, select and in some cases clone the genes and the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that govern the tolerance of Triticeae to abiotic stresses and, consequently, grain yield. Transcriptome profiling and the other \u201comics\u201d platforms provide further information to unravel gene functions and validate the role of candidate genes. This review provides a synopsis of the main results on the studies that have investigated the genomics of Triticeae crops under conditions of abiotic constraints. With their rich biodiversity and high functional plasticity in response to environmental stresses, Triticeae crops provide an ideal ground for taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by genomics approaches. Ultimately, the practical impact of the knowledge and materials generated through genomics-based approaches will depend on their integration and exploitation within the extant breeding programs