It is the result of clonal selection, recovery and characterization of germplasm carried out by various scientific bodies over more than fifty years. The program for the recovery of Apulian germplasm, initiated by the University of Bari in the 1960s with grapevines, was subsequently extended to other woody crops, involving five other Italian regions and some Mediterranean countries. The Center currently preserves about 6,500 genotypes of over 1,800 varieties of grapevine, olive, citrus (10 species) and fruit crops (26 species) and it’s managed according to the “Guidelines for the conservation and characterization of plant biodiversity of agricultural interest” of the National Plan on Biodiversity approved with Ministerial Decree 28672 of 12/14/2009.
Since 2012, three integrated projects, funded by the Puglia Rural Development Program and dedicated to fruit trees, grapevine and olive, have enabled the Center to acquired new equipment, laboratories and facilities for the characterization, multiplication, conservation of regional germplasm and to recover ancient buildings (lamie, trulli and a snow house) that are well integrated with the collections and have given rise to the “diffused Museum of Biodiversity”, within the wonderful frame of Valle d’Itria. It has become a tourist attraction that welcomes visitors and training activities for schools, valorizes and registers ancient varieties, and experiments with new products such as wines from recovered ancient native vines.
Beside the activities of official varietal/clonal registration and the new unique food products development, the collection hosted some private and public breeding activities aimed to obtain genotypes for the new priorities of EU green deal and climate change mitigation action.
Keywords: ex situ conservation, local germplasm, clonal selection, breeding, tourism.
