Untitled Document

Wild relatives are also a good source of diversity

Many wild relatives of our crops have also been saved in genebanks around the world.

Alleles which can be transferred from a wild relative to a crop plant not only increase the crop's genetic diversity, but also can lead to an improvement in a valuable trait, even when this could never be predicted from the wild relative's phenotype (Tanksley and McCouch 1997).

As of 2006, the CGIAR centers (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) together curate more than 650,000 accessions of crop, forage and agroforestry species (2006 Bioversity International).