Crop Diversity Increasing Says Dutch Researchers
April 23, 2010| |
Genetic variety in crops has increased over the past 40 years despite a drop of six percent in the 1960s. Researchers at the Dutch Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) in the April edition of Theoretical and Applied Genetics reported this finding after evaluating 44 publications which studied genetic diversity of crop varieties with the help of genetic marker technology.
"If there are twenty varieties of a genetic marker instead of two, then of course there is a greater diversity. But if the overwhelming majority of the cultivars all have the same marker, it means the diversity is low. We analyzed a number of studies this way in a meta-analysis," explained Mark van de Wouw of the CGN.
Van de Wouw postulates that new techniques make it easier for plant breeders to introduce genes from other varieties into their species. Also, with the setting up of gene banks, more genetic material has become available to plant breeders.
See the news article at http://www.wur.nl/UK/newsagenda/news/Crop_biodiversity_going_up_not_down.htm
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