Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution A multidisciplinary approach to enhance the conservation and use of hazelnut genetic resources

1 During recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the importance of adopting a holistic view of 2 biodiversity, including agricultural biodiversity, conservation for sustainable utilization and development. These 3 principles have been underlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity and the European efficiency 4 resources towards 2050. Thus one critical issue is now to understand the distribution and extent of genetic 5 diversity available to breeders and stakeholders, the kind and range of characterization, how to face the problem 6 of continuous expanding of germplasm to be conserved. Focusing on the case study of hazelnut which is a crop 7 of great importance for European Countries, the paper describes a resourceful strategy for re-organizing and 8 sharing hazelnut genetic resources through an upgrading of knowledge on their value and uses. The paper 9 summarizes the progresses so far and provides a ‘launching pad’ for future researches. The brief review 10 discusses also the recent progresses in recovery, characterization conservation and uses of European hazelnut 11 germplasm achieved by 068 AGRI GEN RES SAFENUT which was one of the 17 Action financed by the 12 European Commission Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development. The current status on the 13 morphological and molecular characterization of the in situ and ex situ of the most important European 14 collections, the rescue and safeguards of new accessions recovered on farm were discussed underling critical 15 aspects. A better understanding of hazelnut genetic diversity and its distribution is essential for its conservation 16 and use as well as the harmonization of the morphological and biochemical descriptors. The importance of 17 traditional knowledge is also considered as integrated part of the multidisciplinary approach useful to rationalize 18 genetic resources maintained in the collections. Thus improving the characterization on cultivated and wild 19 forms through the development of a core collection, is the further step to achieve a more effective management 20 and use of European nuts germplasm. 21 22