Preserving biodiversity in saffron: the CROCUSBANK project and the world saffron and Crocus collection.

The loss of land surface dedicated to saffron cultivation in some areas of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean Basin countries (North and South banks), has resulted in a corresponding genetic erosion of this crop. Since saffron multiplies exclusively in a vegetative way, the preservation of the presumably scarce genetic diversity is highly valuable to carry out in any breeding programme. In 2005, the European Commission launched a programme for the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture, AGRI GEN RES. A consortium of 14 groups of 9 countries, lead by the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), presented the four-years project "Genetic Resources of Saffron and Allies (Crocus spp.): CROCUSBANK". The objective of this action is to create, characterise and exploit a worldwide germplasm collection in saffron and relatives. The mother-plant collection is located in the Bank of Plant Germplasm of Cuenca (CIA Albadalejito, Spain), where 384 accessions of saffron and wild crocuses are preserved, multiplied and partially characterised at the moment. In this paper, the curator of the collection, the manager and the coordinator of the CROCUSBANK Project, present the results in this field, after two years of activity.