Johannes M M Engels

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research | CGIAR · Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

For details see chapter 6 in the publication: A guide to effective management of germplasm collections (J.M.M. Engels and L. Visser - editors)

Research into the origins of food plants has led to the recognition that specific geographical regions around the world have been of particular importance to the development of agricultural crops. Yet the relative contributions of these different regions in the context of current food systems have not been quantified. Here we determine the origins...

Crop wild relatives (CWR, plural CWRs) are those wild species that are regarded as the ancestors of our cultivated crops. It was only at the end of the last century that they were accorded a high priority for their conservation and, thus, for many genebanks, they are a new and somewhat unknown set of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture...

The history of ex situ conservation is relatively short, not more than a century old. During the middle of the last century, triggered by the realization that genetic erosion was threatening the existing landraces and wild relatives of the major food crops, global efforts to collect and conserve the genetic diversity of these threatened resources w...

This Special Issue critically reviews the history of global conservation and use efforts that have been undertaken over the past 70 years to curb genetic erosion of our crop plant gene pools for the benefit of humankind. With the worldwide establishment of genebanks to conserve the threatened genetic resources for the long term, the establishment o...

Genetic resources serve as the foundation of our food supply and are building blocks for the development of new crop varieties that support sustainable crop production in the face of climate change, as well as for the delivery of healthy diets to a continuously growing global population. With the encouragement of the FAO and with technical guidance...

Among the most important users of plant genetic resources, conserved predominantly in public genebanks around the world, are public and private plant breeders. Through their breeding efforts, they contribute significantly to global, regional, and local food and nutrition security. Plant breeders need genetic diversity to be able to develop competit...

Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) are the building blocks upon which global food and nutrition security depend and are key to plant breeding for more resistant crops, but how available are they? To understand what PGRFA are available under the mechanisms created by the International Plant Treaty’s access and benefit-sharing,...

This Entry into Encyclopedia of MPDI is based on a peer-review paper in the journal Plants (Critical Review of the Increasing Complexity of Access and Benefit-Sharing Policies of Genetic Resources for Genebank Curators and Plant Breeders–A Public and Private Sector Perspective, Plants, Volume 12, Issue 16, 10.3390/plants12162992). The Entry can be...

Plant breeders develop competitive, high-yielding, resistant crop varieties that can cope with the challenges of biotic stresses and tolerate abiotic stresses, resulting in nutritious food for consumers worldwide. To achieve this, plant breeders need continuous and easy access to plant genetic resources (PGR) for trait screening, to generate new di...

Genebanks are crucial for safeguarding global crop diversity but are themselves exposed to several risks. However, a scientific basis for identifying, assessing, and managing risks is still lacking. Addressing these research gaps, this study provides risk analysis for three key risk groups: natural hazards, political risks, and financial risks, car...

This is yet another publication that is part of the series on 'Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. I have added my name as a co-author only to allow the uploading of this interesting publication, WITHOUT having been directly involved in its production.

This entry of the open access journal Encyclopedia of MDPI is based on an earlier publication 'A Critical Review of the Current Global Ex Situ Conservation System for Plant Agrobiodiversity. I. History of the Development of the Global System in the Context of the Political/Legal Framework and Its Major Conservation Components' is open for editing b...

Europe is very active in terms of conserving plant genetic resources, with hundreds of genebanks and thousands of dedicated people involved. However, the resulting infrastructure is, along with being very expensive, far from efficient and not very reliable. In this opinion paper, the authors describe how this situation arose, and why the European C...

In this paper, we review gene bank operations that have an influence on the global conservation system, with the intention to identify critical aspects that should be improved for optimum performance. We describe the role of active and base collections and the importance of linking germplasm conservation and use, also in view of new developments in...

Crop diversity underpins the productivity, resilience and adaptive capacity of agriculture. Loss of this diversity, termed crop genetic erosion, is therefore concerning. While alarms regarding evident declines in crop diversity have been raised for over a century, the magnitude, trajectory, drivers and significance of these losses remain insufficie...

The history of ex situ conservation is relatively short, not more than a century old. During the middle of last century, triggered by the realization that genetic erosion was threatening the existing landraces and wild relatives of the major food crops, global efforts to collect and conserve the genetic diversity of these threatened resources were...

Preface to ”Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources” The foundation of our global food supply is based on the result of thousands of years of crop selection and improvements made to wild and semi-domesticated species, crop wild relatives, and landraces, which have given rise to present-day cultivated crop varieties. In addition, in many parts of t...

The inherent ability of seeds (orthodox, intermediate, and recalcitrant seeds and vegetative propagules) to serve as carriers of pests and pathogens (hereafter referred to as pests) and the risk of transboundary spread along with the seed movement present a high-risk factor for international germplasm distribution activities. Quarantine and phytosa...

In 1975, the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) created the first internationally linked system of genebanks, known as the Registry of Base Collections (RBC), to conserve plant germplasm and make it available globally for agricultural research and development. Over time, international efforts shifted away from enhancing and bui...

Plant biodiversity is the foundation of our present-day food supply (including functional food and medicine) and offers humankind multiple other benefits in terms of ecosystem functions and resilience to climate change, as well as other perturbations. This Special Issue on 'Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources' comprises 32 papers covering a wi...

Crop wild relatives (CWR, plural CWRs) are those wild species that are regarded as the ancestors of our cultivated crops. It was only at the end of the last century that they were accorded a high priority for their conservation and, thus, for many genebanks, they are a new and somewhat unknown set of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture...

This is the final version (formally approved by the AEGIS Advisory Committee of 24.09.2010) of a Template for the preparation of an operational genebank manual. An overview and general instructions for the use of the template are provided before each of the three sections. The Template is part of the AEGIS quality management system, i.e. AQUAS (fo...

Overlooked in national reports and in conservation programs, wild food plants (WFPs) have been a vital component of food and nutrition security for centuries. Recently, several countries have reported on the widespread and regular consumption of WFPs, particularly by rural and indigenous communities but also in urban contexts. They are reported as...

Agricultural landscapes host a significant share of the biological diversity in Germany. Protecting and advancing this diversity is an established societal goal. First, Germany has committed to national and international obligations to protect biodiversity in the sense of nature protection. Second, biodiversity secures genetic pools which could bec...

Das Diskussionspapier „Ackerbaustrategie 2035 – Perspektiven für einen produktiven und vielfältigen Pflanzenbau“ des BMEL zeigt anhand von sechs Leitlinien und zwölf dazugehörigen Handlungsfeldern Optionen für die Verbesserung des deutschen Ackerbaus auf. Es enthält viele sinnvolle Ansätze. Allerdings greift das Papier bezüglich des Erhalts und der...

Zusammenfassung: Das Diskussionspapier „Ackerbaustrategie 2035 – Perspektiven für einen produktiven und vielfältigen Pflanzenbau“ des BMEL zeigt anhand von sechs Leitlinien und zwölf dazugehörigen Handlungsfeldern Optionen für die Verbesserung des deutschen Ackerbaus auf. Es enthält viele sinnvolle Ansätze. Allerdings greift das Papier bezüglich de...

From its inception, the Nordic Gene Bank cooperated with other gene banks, and this collaboration was coordinated within the European Cooperative Programme for the Conservation and Exchange of Crop Genetic Resources (ECP/GR, later ECPGR). At that time, during the early 1980s, the period of Cold War, a special challenge was to facilitate the coopera...

This chapter describes the involvement of the predecessor institutes of Bioversity International in seed conservation research. The work started in the 1970ties and has produced practical methodologies and strategies to optimize drying, storing and germination testing for a wide array of crop species and their wild relatives.

This chapter summarizes the involvement of Bioversity and its predesessor institutes in the processes of the preparation of the Plant Genetic Resources State of the World reports.

The ECPGR Workshop “Assessing current practices and procedures to strengthen AEGIS”, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture and organized in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA, Spain), was held at Centro Nacional de Capacitación Agraria (CENCA), San Fernando...

In 1975, the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources created the first internationally linked system of genebanks, known as the Registry of Base Collections (RBC), to conserve plant germplasm and make it available globally for agricultural research and development. Over time, international efforts shifted away from enhancing and building th...

This presentation was made to a workshop to provide the necessary technical background to the operations of the virtual European genebank as part of AEGIS. An overview of the developed technical framework in which AEGIS related activities are undertaken, including the available tools and methodologies as well as the progress achieved since the est...

Insekten sind essenzielle Bestandteile von Ökosystemen. Sie zersetzen unter anderem organische Materie, bestäuben einen Großteil der Pflanzen und dienen vielen anderen Tieren als Nahrungsgrundlage. So generieren sie viele Leistungen, wie die Bestäubung von Nutzpflanzen oder die biologische Schädlingskontrolle, die wir täglich verwenden und auf die...

Die Afrikanische Schweinepest ist auf Grund ihrer Ausbreitung im osteuropäischen Raum (Baltische Staaten, Polen, Tschechien) seit dem Winter 2017/2018 eine reale Bedrohung der einheimischen genetischen Ressourcen bei Schweinen in Deutschland. Die Tötung der Tierbestände von mittelbar und unmittelbar betroffenen Betrieben kann erhebliche Konsequenze...

The following topics are being addressed: How challenges are being addressed: an overview; Securing existing ex situ cacao genetic resources; Developing a global strategic cacao collection; Collecting and gap filling in ex situ collections to reflect genetic diversity; Ensuring the in situ and on-farm conservation of important diversity; Strengthen...

Preface Vincent Johnson Grown on more than 12 million hectares, the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) is a culturally and economically important livelihood crop for millions across Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. Fully developed and strategically used, coconuts could help increase food production, improve nutrition, creat...

Der rapide Verlust an biologischer Vielfalt in den Agrarlandschaften, der die Vielfalt der Habitate, die Vielfalt der Arten und die genetische Vielfalt innerhalb der Arten betrifft, ist mittlerweile wissenschaftlich gut belegt. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und die Europäische Union (EU) sind rechtlich verpflichtet, die natürlichen lebensgrundlage...

The importance of Europe as a region of crop genetic diversity and its conservation is analyzed and a brief history of the conservation of plant genetic resources in Europe is presented, in the context of past political and development scenarios. The rather fragmented conservation situation that had evolved and resulted in a significant duplicatio...

In many regions of the world, the cultivation of landraces is still common, in particular in centres of crop diversity. Significant effort has been put into ex situ conservation of landraces but limited data exist on the changes in genetic diversity that occur over time in farmers’ fields. We assessed temporal changes in barley landrace diversity i...

PRUNDOC was a project financed by ECPGR (European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources) in order to include Prunus germplasm into the European Collection. The project partners have offered approximately 100 unique genotypes for the European Collection, phenotypically described, and 36 of them were analysed by SSR. Data will be uploaded...

Climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances can lead to the loss of genetic variation and thereby affect evolutionary potential and survival of plant populations in the wild. We examined these predictions in the primary wild relative of barley, Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) Thell., within its center of diversity, in Jordan....

Seed quality is a critical aspect in agriculture as well as in the long-term conservation of plant genetic resources in genebanks. Since potential seed longevity depends on initial quality, genebank curators need to be aware of the best management practices that contribute to the production of high quality seed during routine germplasm regeneration...

General background on crops; agriculture and their origin; Biodiversity; agricultural diversity; plant genetic resources (what it is; from where it comes; why important; how is it threatened?) Centres/regions of diversity How and where to conserve this diversity? Role of farmers and gardeners in growing crops and improving them (i.e. our ancestors!...

The attached message provides an update on recorded references, uses etc. of the publication 'Origins of food crops connect countries worldwide'.

Schlussfolgerungen: Biologische Vielfalt stellt ein öffentliches Gut dar, das in den heute vorherrschenden landwirtschaftlichen Produktionssystemen unehmend bedroht ist. Es ist die Aufgabe der Politik, durch Produktions- und Nutzungsauflagen oder Anreizsysteme den Rahmen für die Wirtschaftsbeteiligten so zu setzen, dass dieses öffentliche Gut gesch...

Informed collecting, conservation, monitoring and utilization of genetic diversity requires knowledge of the distribution and structure of the variation occurring in a species. Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) Thell., a primary wild relative of barley, is an important source of genetic diversity for barley improvement and co-occurs with...

Microsatellite data for 373 Spontaneum individuals. (PDF)

Ecogeographical and genetic data for 32 Spontaneum populations collected in Jordan in 2012. (PDF)

Correlation analyses between genetic, geographic and environmental data. (PDF)

Research into the origins of food plants has led to the recognition that specific geographical regions around the world have been of particular importance to the development of agricultural crops. Yet the relative contributions of these different regions in the context of current food systems have not been quantified. Here we determine the origins...

The necessity of sustainability in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries is beyond question. Breeding takes a central position with respect to sustainability in that it is concerned with the generation of the fundamental products of these economic sectors, i.e. improved varieties and breeds, while at the same time it sets boundaries on the sustainab...

The outline of the presentation includes the following topics: Introduction and motivation Definition of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) Background information, including some statistics on the actual use of plant species, their threats, inter-dependency of countries, dependency on fewer crops Specific attributes and characteristics of NU...

My interest in neglected and underutilized species (NUS) stems from my involvement with plant genetic resources (PGR) conservation and use, the management of genetic resources and diversity in the production systems, and securing this important human heritage for future generations and sustaining the foundation for future crop improvement. Against...

Biodiversity is continually declining, according to global biodiversity indicators (Butchart et al. in Science 328:1164–1168, 2010). Population trends, habitat extent, habitat condition, and composition of species communities—indicators of the state of diversity—are declining, while at the same time pressures on biodiversity posed by resource consu...

Contents of presentation: Introduction Key characteristics of formal and informal seed systems Farmer vs modern seed systems International perspectives: FAO – norm setting Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) – potential donor Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) and Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) – donor cum implementer Bioversity Internati...

This presentation addresses the following aspects: - Introduction - Definition of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) - Background information - Specific attributes and characteristics of NUS - NUS status in ‘formal’ conservation - NUS and combating hunger - NUS and nutrition - Some successes stories of NUS - How can we raise the profile of N...