VIII. International Agricultural, Biological & Life Science Conference, İstanbul, Türkiye, 06-09 September 2026

CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION OF CROP WILD RELATIVES IN BULGARIA TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Veselina Masheva ¹,*, Katya Uzundzhalieva ² , Nina Pavlova ³ , Aneliya Katova ⁴ , Nataliya Petrovska ⁵ , Viliana Vasileva 6 , Emil Vasilev ⁷ , Biserka Hinkina ⁸ , Yuliana Yordanova ⁸ , Petyo Dauldzhiev ⁸ & Mariana Petkova ⁹

1 Plant Genetic Resources Institute of Plant Genetic Resources "K.malkov", BULGARIA

2 Plant Genetic Resources Agricultural Academy, Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, BULGARIA

3 Plant Genetic Resources Institute of Plant Genetic Resources - Sadovo, BULGARIA

4 Breeding and Technology Institute of Forage Crops - Pleven, Agricultural Academy, BULGARIA

5 Genetics, Breeding and Seed Production Maize Research Institute – Knezha, BULGARIA

6 Agrotechnology and Economy of Maize Production Maize Research Institute - Knezha, BULGARIA

7 Genetics, Breeding and Seed Production Maize Research Institute – Knezha, BULGARIA

8 Maize Breeding Maize Research Institute - Knezha, Agricultural Academy, BULGARIA

9 Department of Microbiology and Environmental Biotechnology Agricultural University Plovdiv, BULGARIA

ABSTRACT

Climate change is a reality in today's world and, together with the unprecedented increase in world population, highlights the looming problem of food security. The increase in global demand for food, the depletion of natural resources and the potential impacts of climate change have created an increased need to search for strategies to combat it. One such is the untapped genetic diversity in the wild relatives of cultivated plants. Growing concern about the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on biodiversity and food security, taken together with a growing world population, means that taking action to conserve the diversity of crop wild relatives (CWR) is no longer an option, but an urgent priority. Wild relatives of crop plants have the potential to contribute to the improvement of crops to biotic and abiotic stresses, leading to improved yield and resilience under climate change. Conservation of CWRs is a complex and technically difficult interdisciplinary process. The aim of the study is to develop in situ CWR national lists including specimen data and transfer selected CWR data to a central accessible online database EURISCO. This aims to make visible the extent of CWR diversity in the country and to suggest means of identifying the most suitable populations for active conservation. EURISCO's CWR in situ extension is created by including in EURISCO a subsection of each CWR's data corresponding to those populations that are 'actively conserved' and could potentially be made available to users. The identification of this subsection will be at the discretion of each country in order to offer the public a list of populations for which it is possible to identify the owner/managing institution and the institution that can be approached about the possibility of obtaining genetic material. In other words, these are lists of populations, a sample of which can in principle be made available to users.

Keywords: coservation, CWR, climate change, transfer to EURISCO