Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is a major disease affecting the potato that destroyed approximately $3.5 billion of the crop in the United States in 2009. It’s been around for a while. It destroyed significant portions of the Irish potato harvest during the 1840s, helping to trigger the Irish Potato Famine. Luckily, wild potato species, including Solanum demissum, S. bulbocastanum, S. stoloniferum, and S. verrucosum, have proven to be a rich source of resistance genes. [i]
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About CWRMore about Crop Wild Relatives
Crop wild relatives are the wild ‘cousins’ of our cultivated crops. In the same way that the wolf is related to the dog, CWR are related to our food plants.
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The ProjectMore about the project
The project Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: “Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” aims to collect important species of crop wild relatives, ensure their long-term conservation, and facilitate their use in breeding new, improved crops.
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ResourcesSee all our resources
This Project has led to the development of a number of tools and resources for people interested in collecting, conserving and using crop wild relatives in breeding.
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Global Crop Diversity Trust
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