Biodiversity and conservation of carrot wild relatives in Tunisia: An overview

Authors: MEZGHANI, NAJLA - National Bank Of Genes; Spooner, David; MEZGHANI, NEILA - University Of Quebec; Simon, Philipp; RUESS, HOLLY - Former ARS Employee; BEN AMOR, JIHEN - National Bank Of Genes; TARCHOUN, NEJI - National Bank Of Genes

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/11/2019
Publication Date: 3/13/2020
Citation: Mezghani, N., Spooner, D.M., Mezghani, N., Simon, P.W., Ruess, H., Ben Amor, J., Tarchoun, N. 2019. Biodiversity and conservation of carrot wild relatives in Tunisia: An overview. Acta Horticulturae. Pages 143 - 150. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1264.17.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1264.17

Interpretive Summary: Wild and cultivated carrots, technically classified in the genus Daucus, traditionally have contained about 20-25 species worldwide. The western Mediterranean region, including North Africa, represents a major center of diversity of Daucus, with Tunisia containing at least 12 species and seven subspecies. In response to changing environmental conditions and cultural practices much of this diversity is being lost. Hence, the USDA and the National Gene Bank of Tunisia have collaborated in the germplasm collection and study of Daucus. This paper presents our results so far on these activities, using both traditional morphological (form of the plant) data and molecular analyses. This summary raises these important activities to an international audience to advertise these collections, to stimulate further collaboration, and to show the need for further studies building on past work.

Technical Abstract: The genus Daucus traditionally has included about 20-25 species worldwide. The western Mediterranean region, including North Africa, represents a major center of the genus diversity with Tunisia containing at least 12 species and seven subspecies. In many instances, genetic diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives is being lost in response to changing environmental conditions and cultural practices. Recognizing this danger, the National Gene Bank of Tunisia since its creation in 2007, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, High Agronomic Institute of Chott Mariem-Tunisia, and the Vegetable Crops Research Unit, USDA-USA, has given particular attention to Daucus genetic resources conservation and study. We present here the principal achievements in terms of collecting, conservation, and genetic diversity analysis of Daucus wild species germplasm maintained at the National Gene Bank of Tunisia.