The rise and fall of Vicia calcarata Desf

• Published in: Genetic resources and crop evolution Vol. 68; no. 1; pp. 381 - 395
• Main Authors: Hammer, Karl, Laghetti, Gaetano, Accogli, Rita, Radić, Velimir, Milošević, Branko, Mikić, Aleksandar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Crop improvement; Cultivars; Divergence; Dry matter; evolution; Farms; Flowers; forage; gene banks; Grasslands; growth habit; Italy; Legumes; Life Sciences; Maritime areas; Mediterranean region; Northern Africa; Notes on Neglected & Underutilized Crops; peduncle; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Roadsides; Seeds; Spain; Syria; Taxonomy; Vicia; Vicia monantha; volunteer plants; wheat; Mediterranean Area; Northern Africa; Italy; Mediterranean region; Syria; Spain; Taxonomy; Underutilised crop; subsp; Crop wild relatives; On-farm research; Ex situ collections; Yield evaluation; Ecogeography; In situ expeditions
• ISSN: 0925-9864; 1573-5109
• DOI: 10.1007/s10722-020-01004-4

The chief subject of this brief overview is a vetch species, once distinguished as Vicia calcarata Desf. and currently regarded as V. monantha Retz. subsp. triflora (Ten.) B. L. Burtt & P. Lewis, but we prefer to distinguish this taxon at species level as Vicia calcarata. It is a volunteer plant occurring regularly on ruderal sites in the local floras of the coastal and maritime areas of the Mediterranean Basin, and sporadically happens to be cultivated in fields. It has a more robust growth habit than V. monantha subsp. monantha , with usually three flowers per peduncle and larger seeds, rather constant morphological traits. In situ and on-farm observations on V. calcarata are scarce, relating mostly to the southern mainland of Italy and its islands, Spain, North Africa and Syria, where it is found in forests, grasslands, wheat fields, ruderal soils and along roadsides. On a global scale, there are 91 accessions of V. calcarata in six ex situ genebank collections in Alcalá de Henares, Bari, Beirut, Gatersleben, Sadovo and St. Petersburg. In a series of ex situ field trials in Novi Sad, twelve accessions of V. calcarata produced average yields of 6.3 t ha −1 of forage dry matter and 1100 kg ha −1 of seed. There are promising perspectives for developing cultivars of V. calcarata , since the available divergence offers a solid basis for crop improvement. After a long fall, a novel rise of V. calcarata is yet to come.