Development of a prioritised checklist of crop wild relatives for conservation in Malawi

The national increase in human population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) demands for more food; while increase in the impact of climate change, demands for resilient agricultural production systems, and both call for improved agricultural productivity. Plant breeders will need adaptive traits to improve crop productivity and resilience. Crop wild relatives (CWR) have the potential to offer the much needed diversity for crop improvement, but their diversity is inadequately conserved. Lack of knowledge about their occurrence in Malawi, limits their systematic conservation and utilisation. Developing a CWR national inventory helps to define conservation priorities and actions. The objective of this study was to match checklists of crop genera and national flora, using their taxonomic and genetic relatedness information. This resulted into the first comprehensive annotated checklist of 446 CWR taxa in Malawi, which was prioritised by a set of criteria previously agreed with national stakeholders based on socio-economic importance of the related crop, potential use of the wild relative in crop improvement and threat status. The inventory comprises of 277 CWR taxa, identified as priority for conservation in Malawi; of which 78% were native. These belong to 56 genera and are related to 54 food, fodder, spices and beverage crops; and include taxa related to crops of regional and global importance. Eighty-seven taxa of highest priority for conservation were further identified, 12.6% of which have confirmed uses in crop improvement on pests and disease resistance, drought tolerance and yielding ability. The inventory will facilitate effective conservation and availability of these taxa for their use in crop improvement.L\u2019augmentation nationale de la population humaine en Afrique sub-saharienne (ASS) demande plus de nourriture; tandis que l\u2019augmentation de l\u2019impact du changement climatique, la demande de syst\ue8mes de production agricole r\ue9silients, et tous les deux appellent \ue0 une productivit\ue9 agricole am\ue9lior\ue9e. Les s\ue9lectionneurs auront besoin de traits adaptatifs pour am\ue9liorer la productivit\ue9 et la r\ue9silience des cultures. Les esp\ue8ces sauvages apparent\ue9es aux cultures (CWR) ont le potentiel d\u2019offrir la diversit\ue9 n\ue9cessaire \ue0 l\u2019am\ue9lioration des cultures, mais leur diversit\ue9 est insuffisamment conserv\ue9e. Le manque de connaissances sur leur pr\ue9sence au Malawi limite leur conservation et leur utilisation syst\ue9matiques. L\u2019\ue9laboration d\u2019un inventaire national CWR aide \ue0 d\ue9finir les priorit\ue9s et les actions de conservation. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait de correspondre les listes de contr\uf4le des genres de cultures et de la flore nationale, en utilisant leurs informations de parent\ue9 taxonomique et g\ue9n\ue9tique. Cela a abouti \ue0 la premi\ue8re liste de contr\uf4le annot\ue9e compl\ue8te de 446 taxons CWR au Malawi, qui a \ue9t\ue9 prioris\ue9e par un ensemble de crit\ue8res pr\ue9alablement convenus avec les parties prenantes nationales en fonction de l\u2019importance socio-\ue9conomique de la culture apparent\ue9e, de l\u2019utilisation potentielle du parent sauvage dans l\u2019am\ue9lioration des cultures et de l\u2018 \ue9tat de la menace. L\u2019inventaire comprend 277 taxons CWR, identifi\ue9s comme prioritaires pour la conservation au Malawi; dont 78% \ue9taient indig\ue8nes. Ils appartiennent \ue0 56 genres et sont li\ue9s \ue0 54 cultures vivri\ue8res, fourrag\ue8res, d\u2019\ue9pices et de boissons; et inclure les taxons li\ue9s aux cultures d\u2019importance r\ue9gionale et mondiale. Quatre vingt sept taxons prioritaires pour la conservation ont \ue9t\ue9 identifi\ue9s, dont 12,6% ont confirm\ue9 des utilisations dans l\u2019am\ue9lioration des cultures contre les ravageurs et la r\ue9sistance aux maladies, la tol\ue9rance \ue0 la s\ue9cheresse et la capacit\ue9 de rendement. L\u2019inventaire facilitera la conservation efficace et la disponibilit\ue9 de ces taxons pour leur utilisation dans l\u2019am\ue9lioration des cultures