First face-to-face meeting of BrasExplor project

All the partners were present except four, who were connected by zoom. Three international experts, Guusje Bonnema (WUR, the Netherlands), Manuela Nagel (IPK, Germany) and Lorenzo Maggioni (ECPGR, Italy), kindly joined us for analyzing the first results and the prospect of the project.

After a general presentation of the BrasExplor project, each partner detailed the first results obtained. Collects of wild populations and local landraces, seed production, DNA sequencing and first data on genetic diversity were described.

These data pointed out (1) for Brassica rapa, the specific genetic structure of Italian and Algerian wild populations whereas landraces and European wild populations seem more closely related, (2) for B. oleracea, the wild populations collected in Spain and France belong to the same cluster than forage kales. For all physiological studies, the populations appeared highly contrasted for their germination vigor, their responses to cold stress and warm ambient temperature. Core collections of both species will be experimented in the different countries next autumn.

The discussion with the experts highlighted the originality of the project and different attention points that we have to finalize before the end of the project.

The meeting was also the opportunity to visit field experiment for seed production.