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Agricultural Crop Issues and Policies

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The crucial role of genetic resources in supporting human society is
frequently overlooked and greatly undervalued. They are of tremendous
practical and historical significance for human life. They underpin both our
daily survival and are responsible for generating a large part of the wealth of
nations.

Germplasm is a resource that consists of the genetic materials that can
perpetuate a species or a population of an organism. It can be used both to
reproduce and, through hybridization and selection, to change or enhance
organisms. Conserving genetic resources in the form of crop, livestock,
microbial, and tree germplasm is a means of safeguarding the living materials
now exploited by agriculture, industry, and forestry to provide food for humans
and feed for livestock, fiber for clothing and furnishing, fuel for cooking and
heating, and the food and industry products of microbial origin.

Genetic conservation is also an integral part of a still broader activity
concerned with protecting and maintaining the quality of air, water, and soil and
the many plants, animals, microorganisms, and communities of organisms that
help to mold and stabilize the global environment. Conservation ensures that
future generations of humans will also benefit from earth's biological resources.
In 1985 the Board on Agriculture of the National Research Council, under
the chairmanship of Dr. William L. Brown, concluded that an assessment of the
status of global genetic resources important to agriculture was needed.
Encouragement for this study came from several government and foundation
officials and scientific associations. The National Research Council established
the Committee on Managing Global Genetic Resources: Agricultural Imperatives in November
1986. The scope of its study was largely restricted to plants, animals, and
microorganisms used in commerce or having potential for such use.

Why is it necessary to preserve materials that were originally collected
from undeveloped agricultures or from the wild? The success of modern high-
yielding crop varieties is such that they tend to replace older peasant varieties
even in remote parts of the world. Even though many of the varieties widely
grown 20 years ago can still be found, they are also increasingly being replaced.
These materials can be important sources of genetic variation. People have also
destroyed or altered many natural habitats of wild crop relatives and made them
unsuitable for the plants that once grew there.

There is widespread concern among many agricultural scientists about the
status of conserved germplasm worldwide. Most collected materials, to be of
use, must be evaluated and tested at the expense of considerable effort and
resources. If properly conserved and catalogued such material is available to
others who may wish to use it. Is enough being done? Is the material already
conserved in seed stores and other facilities adequately documented, properly
stored and managed, and freely available to anyone with a legitimate need?
Does it include all the potentially important genetic information that can still be
collected now but which may be disappearing and therefore not available much
longer? Are sufficient resources being applied by national governments to their
own and to global needs? What priorities have been established and are they
correct? What mechanisms are in place for conserving genetic resources?

Conserving the genetic resources of exploited species first arose when
humans saved individual or small groups of animals and part of their harvests of
gathered seeds, roots, and tubers of plant. They were kept for herd increase and
planting. Putting aside the better forms for future use began the long process of
selection and improvement responsible for the development of agriculture. The
first crop plants and livestock were undomesticated wild species that gave rise,
thousands of years later, to modern varieties and breeds. The rediscovery of
genetics at the end of the last century gave breeders an explanation of the
mechanism of inheritance. The earlier cultivars and breeds and their closely
related wild species were sources of useful variation that could be introduced by
hybridization. Breeders assembled collections of useful materials that were
described, catalogued, and tested and could be saved from year to year. These
collections were the first forms of germplasm to be systematically conserved, at
least during the working lifetime of the breeder.

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

MANAGING GLOBAL GENETIC RESOURCES

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

New York : The National Academy of Sciences of the USA., 1993

Deskripsi Fisik

480 pages, 6 x 9

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

0309598265

Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

PERTANIAN.

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

agus

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