About CWR

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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What are CWR ? Why are they important ? Threats to CWR Sharing CWR
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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Project activities Project crops Project partners Where we work
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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CWR inventory CWR occurence database Crop Wild Relatives Global Atlas Pre-breeding data CWR Project Publications CWR in the news
News

Global Crop Diversity Trust
Platz Der Vereinten Nationen 7
53113 Bonn, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 228 85427 122

Eggplant

Solanum spp.

Eggplants are an Old World crop, valued for their taste as well as antioxidant and micronutrient contents. Three cultivated species are known: the Gboma eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon), the scarlet eggplant (S. aethiopicum) and the brinjal eggplant (S. melongena).

S. macrocarpon is native to tropical Africa. It is grown today for its leaves and fruits in West, East and Central Africa, Surinam and the Caribbean. S. aethiopicumis native to Africa as well, but it is now also cultivated in tropical South America and the Caribbean. The domestication of S. melongena probably took place in the area between India, Myanmar and China. The brinjal eggplant reached the Mediterranean basin between the 7th and 8th centuries. Today, S. melongena is the most important cultivated eggplant, widely grown in South Europe and Asia.

The breeding objectives for eggplant are varied, including resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, improved nutritional content, high yields and enhanced fruit quality.

Collecting

Collecting Projects

Use

The CWR Eggplant Database on Germinate 3 lists data on nearly 1,000 eggplant samples and more than 1,500 molecular markers.

Pre-breeding Project

Collections

Genesys records about 6,500 eggplant germplasm accessions, with a third being landraces. Approximately 3,000 accessions are held by the World Vegetable Center, followed by the 1,000 accessions held in The Netherlands by the Centre for Genetic Resources and the University of Nijmegen.

COLLECTING PARTNERS

PRE-BREEDING PARTNERS

Feature stories

Development of eggplant materials for adaptation to climate change

2017-07-18 09:00:44

New eggplant varieties resistant to extreme conditions

2020-03-03 14:12:36