Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2010 Apr;120(6):1241-52.
doi: 10.1007/s00122-009-1252-6.

Genetic diversity trends in twentieth century crop cultivars: a meta analysis

Mark van de Wouw  1 , Theo van Hintum, Chris Kik, Rob van Treuren, Bert Visser
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Genetic diversity trends in twentieth century crop cultivars: a meta analysis

Mark van de Wouw et al. Theor Appl Genet. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of papers has been published on the genetic diversity trends in crop cultivars released in the last century using a variety of molecular techniques. No clear general trends in diversity have emerged from these studies. Meta analytical techniques, using a study weight adapted for use with diversity indices, were applied to analyze these studies. In the meta analysis, 44 published papers were used, addressing diversity trends in released crop varieties in the twentieth century for eight different field crops, wheat being the most represented. The meta analysis demonstrated that overall in the long run no substantial reduction in the regional diversity of crop varieties released by plant breeders has taken place. A significant reduction of 6% in diversity in the 1960s as compared with the diversity in the 1950s was observed. Indications are that after the 1960s and 1970s breeders have been able to again increase the diversity in released varieties. Thus, a gradual narrowing of the genetic base of the varieties released by breeders could not be observed. Separate analyses for wheat and the group of other field crops and separate analyses on the basis of regions all showed similar trends in diversity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Crop genetic diversity in the twentieth century based on an unweighted (a) and a weighted (b) meta analysis of 44 publications. The diversity in the decade with the lowest diversity was set to 100
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Funnel plot of effect sizes plotted against the weight of each decadal comparison
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Wheat genetic diversity (a) and crop genetic diversity (excluding wheat) (b) in the twentieth century based on a weighted meta analysis of 20 publications. The diversity in the decade with the lowest diversity was set to 100
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anderson JA, Churchill GA, Autrique JE, Tanksley SD, Sorrells ME. Optimizing parental selection for genetic-linkage maps. Genome. 1993;36:181–186. doi: 10.1139/g93-024. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bauer I, Drinic SM, Drinic G, Micic DI. Assessing temporal changes in genetic diversity of maize hybrids using RAPD markers. Cereal Res Commun. 2007;35:1563–1571. doi: 10.1556/CRC.35.2007.4.3. - DOI
    1. Christiansen MJ, Andersen SB, Ortiz R. Diversity changes in an intensively bred wheat germplasm during the 20th century. Mol Breed. 2002;9:1–11. doi: 10.1023/A:1019234323372. - DOI
    1. Condón F, Gustus C, Rasmusson DC, Smith KP. Effect of advanced cycle breeding on genetic diversity in barley breeding germplasm. Crop Sci. 2008;48:1027–1036. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2007.07.0415. - DOI
    1. Cooke RJ, Law JR. Seed storage protein diversity in wheat varieties. Plant Var Seeds. 1998;11:159–167.

Publication types