Article

Large colleclions of wild relatives of crop plant have been established al the Gatersleben genebank as a consequence or the growing demands of brced ing research and plant hreed ing. A spec ific approach to such collec tions was necessary, reviewing and developing the possibil ities of genebanks. Thc first 'monographi c trea tment of wild plant collec ti ons' desc ribing the genus Aegilops from the perspective or genebank aspecls appea red in 1980. Other examples that mceti breeders' demands are Hordeum and Secale. Two special cases are deseribed for Datura, with a collection stemming from biochemical and taxonomic-,orphological research, and Agrostemma, a weed showing convergent evolution and with economic possibilities, but endangered by developing agricultural techniques and methods. Once in the genebank the material has lo be evaluated to allow more effect ve use in plant breeding.