Ex situ and in vivo conservation and utilization of crop wild relatives in Bulgarian National Genebank

The protection of the crop wild relatives (CWRs) is prioritized goal in the world scale. The need of their effective conservation as a tool to reduce loss of biodiversity is underscored by the CBD, the ITPGRFA and the Global strategy for conservation of plant genetic resources. Bulgaria is one of the countries in the world possessing large distribution of crop wild relatives – more than 5000 plant species appeared as crop wild relatives. In the IPGR, Sadovo is situated the National genebank where are preserved more than 59187 accessions. In long term conservation, under the temperature of –18 °С, are preserved 18621 CWRs accessions from 26 plant families, 88 genera and 176 species. CWRs are also preserved in vivo in the Botanical garden of IPGR – Sadovo.