The Institute of Evolution Lady Barbara Davis  Wild Cereal Gene Bank (ICGB)

 Evolutionary biology, genetics and genomics, domestication and crop improvement, in crop wild relatives of cereals.


Tamar Krugman, Curator of the Lady Barbara Davis  Wild Cereal Gene Bank (ICGB) 


 Israel and the surrounding in the Near East Fertile Crescent, the region of old-world agriculture, served as an important center for the domestication of plants and animals which established the foundations for the development of human civilization. Wild emmer wheat (WEW), Triticum dicoccoides, wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum are excellent models of cereal crops wild relatives (CWR), for advancing research in plant evolution, population genetics and genomics, domestication and crop improvement. CWR offer a rich repertoire of beneficial alleles that can be deployed for crop improvement. Ex-situ and in-situ conservation and preservation of the extensive genetic diversity of crop progenitors can contribute to food security, especially in view of climate change and increased food demand caused by the continuous growth of the world population. About 20% of world plant diversity is under threat due to rapid processes of urbanization, habitat over-exploitation and degradation. It is widely accepted that CWR harbor genetic diversity that can potentially improve the crops nutritional value, productivity, and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses; however, their diversity is often missing and poorly represented in gene banks. Therefore, the preservation of genetic diversity of CWR in gene banks around the world is of primary importance.

Gene banks vary greatly in terms of their scopes, some of them collect, preserve, and catalogue biological material, while others maintain active research programs that generate pre-breeding materials and valuable knowledge for further research and plant breeding. The main objectives of the Lady Barbara Davis Wild Cereals Gene Bank (ICGB) at the Institute of Evolution (IOE), University of Haifa, are to collect, preserve, and exploit the unique and rich gene-pools of wild cereals from Israel as the basis for active theoretical and applied research.

The ICGB, established in the mid 70’s by Prof. Eviatar Nevo, harbors extensive collections of more than 18,000 accessions of wild cereals, including WEW (6,025 acc.), and wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) (5,915 acc.), the prime progenitors of cultivated wheat and barley, distributed along the Near East Fertile Crescent, with centers of origin and diversity in north Israel and Golan Heights. Most of the collections originated from diverse ecologies in Israel and surroundings, in the Near East Fertile Crescent, including Turkey, Iran, and Jordan. The collection also includes 10 Aegilops species (1,910 acc.) which belong to the secondary gene pool of cereals, and two species of Brachypodium (1,750 acc.).