International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, 763537, Cali, Colombia.
Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, 1 N. Grand Blvd, St Louis, MO, 63103, USA.
New Phytol. 2022 Jan;233(1):84-118. doi: 10.1111/nph.17733. Epub 2021 Oct 20.
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 insufficiently understood. We outline the various definitions, measurements, scales and sources of information on crop genetic erosion. We then provide a synthesis of evidence regarding changes in the diversity of traditional crop landraces on farms, modern crop cultivars in agriculture, crop wild relatives in their natural habitats and crop genetic resources held in conservation repositories. This evidence indicates that marked losses, but also maintenance and increases in diversity, have occurred in all these contexts, the extent depending on species, taxonomic and geographic scale, and region, as well as analytical approach. We discuss steps needed to further advance knowledge around the agricultural and societal significance, as well as conservation implications, of crop genetic erosion. Finally, we propose actions to mitigate, stem and reverse further losses of crop diversity.
作物多样性是农业生产力、弹性和适应能力的基础。因此，这种多样性的丧失，即作物遗传侵蚀，令人担忧。尽管一个多世纪以来，人们对作物多样性明显减少发出了警报，但这些损失的程度、轨迹、驱动因素和意义仍未得到充分理解。我们概述了作物遗传侵蚀的各种定义、度量、尺度和信息来源。然后，我们综合了有关传统作物农家品种在农场、农业中的现代作物品种、自然栖息地中的作物野生近缘种和保藏库中保存的作物遗传资源多样性变化的证据。这些证据表明，在所有这些情况下都发生了显著的多样性丧失，但也有多样性的维持和增加，其程度取决于物种、分类和地理尺度以及地区，以及分析方法。我们讨论了进一步推进关于作物遗传侵蚀的农业和社会意义以及保护意义的知识所需的步骤。最后，我们提出了减轻、遏制和扭转作物多样性进一步丧失的行动。
