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Plant biodiversity is the basis for sustainable agricultural production. Due to various geographical, climatic and soil conditions, Croatia has a great richness of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP), whose natural populations show great diversity at the morphological, biochemical and genetic levels. However, they are threatened by genetic erosion caused by various factors such as habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as overexploitation. Within the framework of the National Program for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in the Republic of Croatia and the Working Group for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, MAP genetic resources are collected, conserved, characterized, evaluated, regenerated, and documented. The collected accessions are stored in ex situ conservation facilities at +4°C. Currently, the collection consists of 2652 accessions of more than 230 plant species. To fill the existing gaps in the MAP collection, collection missions are organized every year. These missions use the standardized collection form, which includes taxonomic information, taxon biology, a description of the collection site and vegetation, environmental data, an assessment of population diversity, and information on the risk of genetic erosion. The characterization and evaluation of the collected accessions is based on standardized, internationally accepted descriptor lists. After characterization and evaluation, the collected material is available for introduction into agricultural production and for future scientific studies and breeding programs. |
