Agricultura

Genet Resour Crop Evol (2011) 58:125–137 DOI 10.1007/s10722-010-9601-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The World Saffron and Crocus collection: strategies for establishment, management, characterisation and utilisation
´ ´ ´ Jose-Antonio Fernandez • Omar Santana • Jose-Luis Guardiola • Rosa-Victoria Molina • George Borbely • Ferdinando Branca • Sergio Argento • Pat Heslop-Harrison Eleni Maloupa • ThierryTalou • Jean-Marie Thiercelin • Khalil Gasimov • ´ ´ Hasan Vurdu • Marta Roldan • Marcela Santaella • Enrique Sanchıs • ´ ´ Amparo Garcıa-Luis • Gyula Suranyi • Attila Molnar • Gabor Sramko • ´ ´ Gergely Gulyas • Luckacs Balazs • Orsolya Horvat • Marıa-Fernanda Rodrıguez • ´ ´ ´ ´ Raul Sanchez-Vioque • Miguel-Angel Escolano • Jose-Vicente Reina • ˜ Nikos Krigas • Teresa Pastor • BegonaRenau-Morata • Christine Raynaud • Oruc Ibadli • Moschos Polissiou • Maria Z. Tsimidou • Athanasios Tsaftaris • Mahmoud Sharaf-Eldin • Joaquin Medina • Theophanis Constantinidis • Theophanis Karamplianis • Marcelino De-Los-Mozos-Pascual
Received: 26 March 2010 / Accepted: 12 August 2010 / Published online: 19 September 2010 Ó The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access atSpringerlink.com
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Abstract Since 2007, the European Commission AGRI GEN RES 018 ‘‘CROCUSBANK’’ action has permitted the creation of the alleged World Saffron and Crocus Collection (WSCC), a unique collection which contains a representation of the genetic variability present in saffron crop and wild relatives at global scale. At present the germplasm collection, housed at the Bank of Plant Germplasm ofCuenca
´ ´ J.-A. Fernandez (&) Á M. Roldan Á M. Santaella ´ Laboratorio De Biotecnologıa-IDR, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Campus Universitario s/n, 02071 Albacete, Spain e-mail: joseantonio.fperez@uclm.es ´ ´ O. Santana Á M.-F. Rodrıguez Á R. Sanchez-Vioque Á ´ Miguel-AngelEscolano Á J.-V. Reina Á T. Pastor Á M. De-Los-Mozos-Pascual (&) Junta de Comunidades de Castilla La-Mancha (JCCM),´ Centro de Investigacion Agraria de Albaladejito, Ctra. Toledo-Cuenca, km 174, 16194 Cuenca, Spain e-mail: mde@jccm.es ´ J.-L. Guardiola Á R.-V. Molina Á E. Sanchıs Á ´ A. Garcıa-Luis Á B. Renau-Morata ´ Departamento de Produccion Vegetal, ETSIA, ´ Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (UPVLC), Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

(BGV-CU, Spain), consists of 572 preserved accessionsrepresenting 47 different Crocus species (including saffron Crocus) and is expected to increase up to more than 600 accessions by the end of CROCUSBANK action (May 2011). The preserved biodiversity of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) covers a wide range of the genetic variability of the crop and

P. Heslop-Harrison Department of Biology, University of Leicester (ULEIC), University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH,UK ´ G. Borbely Á G. Suranyi Á A. Molnar Á G. Sramko Á G. Gulyas Á L. Balazs Á O. Horvat Laboratory of Plant Biology, University of Debrecen ´ (UD), Egyetem ter 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary F. Branca Á S. Argento Dipartimento di OrtoFloroArboricoltura e Tecnologie ´ Agroalimentari, Universita di Catania (UNICT), Via Valdisavoia, 5, l/95123 Catania, Italy E. Maloupa Á N. Krigas National AgriculturalResearch Foundation (NAGREF), Agricultural Research Centre of Northern Greece, P.O.Box 458, 57001 Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece

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Genet Resour Crop Evol (2011) 58:125–137

currently consists of 220 accessions from 15 countries: 169 of these come from European cultivation countries, 18 from commercial areas in non EU countries, 26 from regions of minimal or relict production and/orfrom abandoned fields and 7 from commercial nurseries. The non-saffron Crocus collection currently comprises 352 accessions: 179 collected from the wild in 12 countries of natural distribution, 24 from donations of public and private institutions, 91 from commercial nurseries and 58 acquired from BGV-CU collection management. Here we provide a record of collections, activities concerns and...