Overview of germplasm collecting activities for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in Sudan from 2002 to 2022

From 2002 to 2022, the Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre (APGRC) in Sudan conducted 56 collecting missions for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) in Sudan. These missions aimed to conserve the country’s crop genetic diversity and covered different states and almost all ecological zones within the country, from the desert in the north to the high-rainfall savannah in the far south. Different farming systems were included, such as rain-fed, irrigated and flood-irrigated systems. The most covered states were West Darfur in the far west followed by South Kordofan in the western-central region. A total of 7,720 PGRFA accessions were collected encompassing diverse crops and plant species within different plant groups. Cultivated varieties made up 90% of the whole collection, while crop wild relatives accounted for 8%, and range plants represented the remaining 2%. Cereals were the most collected group (48%), followed by vegetables (17%). The least represented groups were range plants, medicinal plants and fibre crops. Sorghum was the most represented crop in the collection with 2,481 accessions, followed by pearl millet with 1,022 accessions. Hundreds of accessions of cowpea, okra, sesame and other crops were also collected. A total of 181 accessions of natural range plants were collected from selected states. The materials collected during these germplasm collecting missions will be conserved at the APGRC genebank, characterized and evaluated for different traits. Further germplasm collection activities may be carried out in the future to address any identified gaps.