Collecting native seed for restoration: Collateral benefits to agricultural crop improvement, research and education

Authors: Greene, Stephanie; Carver Jr, Daniel; Khoury, Colin; Irish, Brian; OLWELL, PEGGY - Bureau Of Land Management; PRESCOTT, LEAH - Bureau Of Land Management

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/30/2019
Publication Date: 11/1/2019
Citation: Greene, S.L., Carver Jr, D.P., Khoury, C.K., Irish, B.M., Olwell, P., Prescott, L. 2019. Collecting native seed for restoration: Collateral benefits to agricultural crop improvement, research and education. Crop Science. 59(6):2429-2442. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2019.06.0372.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2019.06.0372

Interpretive Summary: The need to restore natural landscapes adversely impacted by wildfire and hurricanes, gave rise to the Bureau of Land Management Seeds of Success Program, a strongly collaborative effort to collect seed of wild native plant species. Many of the collected native species are also important for agricultural activities; however, we don't know to what extent collection activities have yielded seed that can be used for agricultural purposes. In this paper we evaluated the Seeds of Success collection to evaluate the number of species that have the potential to be used as sources of traits for crop improvement, or directly developed for food, ornamental, medicinal, forage and feed, and material and industrial agricultural purposes. We also examined direct use, using information provided by users requesting seed from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System. From 2001 to 2017, the Seeds of Success Program collected 23,577 accessions of 4,761 different species, almost 30% of the native species in the United States. Collecting efforts have addressed gaps in the conservation of native crop wild relatives; 12% of species and 18% of accessions are close and distant relatives of major and minor crops. Almost half the collection are species that can potentially be used in ornamental, food, medicinal, forage and feed, or material and industrial plant production, with species having ornamental potential being most abundant. Requests for seed have been increasing over time with the top three uses being genetic studies, botanical/taxonomic investigations, and varietal development. The Seeds of Success Program has positively affected the availability of wild plant genetic resources that have many potential uses in support of agricultural crop improvement, research, and education.

Technical Abstract: The need to restore natural landscapes impacted by environmental perturbations such as wild fire and hurricanes, gave rise to the Bureau of Land Management Seeds of Success Program, a strongly collaborative effort to collect seed of wild native species since 2001. These collected native species are also important for agricultural activities; however, these impacts have not been assessed. Collected species were evaluated for their potential as sources of traits for crop improvement, and direct development for food, ornamental, medicinal, forage and feed, and material and industrial agricultural purposes. Direct use was also examined, using information provided by users requesting seed from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System. From 2001 to 2017, the Seeds of Success Program collected 23,577 accessions of 4,761 different species, almost 30% of the native species in the United States. Collecting efforts have addressed gaps in the conservation of native crop wild relatives; 12% of species and 18% of accessions are close and distant relatives of major and minor crops. Almost half the collection are species that can potentially be used in ornamental, food, medicinal, forage and feed, or material and industrial plant production, with species having ornamental potential being most abundant. Requests for seed have been increasing over time with the top three uses being genetic studies, botanical/taxonomic investigations, and varietal development. The Seeds of Success Program has positively affected the availability of wild plant genetic resources that have many potential uses in support of agricultural crop improvement, research and education.