OVERVIEW OF THE CONSERVATION OF VANILLA GENETIC RESOURCES

The most effective means of protecting the diversity of vanilla species ought to be in situ protection in their areas of origin. However, the natural areas where the pri-mary gene pools are found are very often subject to strong demographic pressure that endangers the different species. This type of conservation can therefore only be envisaged if it is associated with a global conservation strategy at the level of a terri-tory (Soto Arenas, 1999). In Mexico, the success and experience of the CONABIO (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad) may enable the implementation of this conservation method. In South Africa, the iSimangaliso reserve focuses particularly on conserving V. rosheri, which is second in the list of rare and endangered endemic species (Combrink and Kyle, 2006).

However, the diversity of vanilla, including more than 100 species distributed over three continents and living in varied biotopes, makes it diffi cult to set up in situ conservation systems. The establishment of ex situ collections therefore appears to be a necessary strategy for protecting vanilla genetic resources.

Initiatives of varying degrees of importance have been taken in the past in certain vanilla-producing countries where the genetic resources are found (Puerto Rico, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Mexico). Thus, from the 1940s onward on the Mayaguez station in Puerto Rico, research was conducted to characterize and improve vanilla plants (Childers et al., 1959). At about the same time in Madagascar, the Ambohitsara vanilla station near Antalaha began to collect and hybridize a wide range of vanilla plants (Dequaire, 1976). However, this collection was decimated by repeated cyclones, a lack of maintenance, and the propagation of viruses (Grisoni, 2009). In the late 1970s, the CATIE (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza) in Costa Rica collected and maintained about 32 vanilla accessions from Central America. A part of this collection was safeguarded by passage in vitro (Jarret and Fernandez, 1984). In Mexico, alongside the CONABIO program, a collection of clones representing the diversity of the country was established, but unfortunately could not be maintained (M.A. Soto Arenas, pers. comm.).

Today, the most important collections are found in France—Réunion (CIRAD), French Polynesia (EVT), and Cherbourg (council/MNHN), in India (ICRI), and in the United States (Table 3.1). Several botanical gardens and research institutions also have varying quantities of vanilla specimens in their greenhouses (Les Serres d’Auteuil, Jardin du Luxembourg and Jardin Botanique de Nancy in France, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Copenhagen Botanical Garden in Europe, or

TABLE 3.1 Information on the Major Collections of Vanilla Name of the CollectionCRB VATELAmerican Vanilla and Wild Relatives CollectionMyladumpara Collection Vanilla (MCV)EVT Location and address of the collection Pole de protection des Plantes Saint Pierre 97410 La Reunion—France University of California, USAIndian Cardamom Research Institute Myladumpara, Kerala 682 553, India

Hamoa (Taputapuatea) 98735 Raiatea French Polynesia Organization or company responsible for the collection

Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) Dr. Pesach Lubinsky, University of California, USA Indian Cardamom Research Institute Spices Board, Govt. of India Etablissement Vanille de Tahiti (EVT) Curator of the collection and emailMichel Grisoni [email protected]Pesach Lubinsky [email protected] sdoneill@ucdavis.edu

Dr. K.J. Madhusoodanan [email protected]; [email protected]; dirres_ spices@rediffmail.com Sandra Lepers- Andrzejewski sandra.andrzejewski@ labo-vanilledetahiti.pf Purpose of the collectionResearch, preservationConservation, breeding, research

Research, preservationVanilla improvement Date of creation of the collection

1984Not offi cial; based on collections since 2004

19811999 Number of Vanilla species in the collection 25 (800)3063 continued

36 Vanilla

TABLE 3.1 (continued) Information on the Major Collections of Vanilla Name of the CollectionCRB VATELAmerican Vanilla and Wild Relatives CollectionMyladumpara Collection Vanilla (MCV)EVT Number of accessions80010021231 Living material400All live21181 Dehydrated or spirit samples, nucleic acid extracts 40050 Morphological and molecular descriptors

Yes RAPD, AFLP, SSR, plastid DNA sequences Some ITS/psBA markers and AFLP Yes No molecular descriptors

Yes AFLP, chromosome counts, 2C content Availability of material for exportYes for some accessions, submitted to conditions (MTA, CITES)NoBeans or DNA extract only List of species in the collection

V. africana, V. albida, V. aphylla, V. bahiana, V. chamissonis, V. crenulata, V. ensifolia, V. grandifl ora, V. humblotii, V. imperialis, V. insignis, V. leprieuri, V. lindmaniana, V. madagascariensis, V. odorata, V. palmarum, V. phalaenopsis, V. planifolia, V. polylepis, V. pompona, V. tahitensis, V. trigonocarpa, Vanilla spp.

Focus on New World speciesV. planifola, V. aphylla, V. pompona, V. tahitensis, V. andamanica, V. wightiana

Majority of V. tahitensis + V. planifolia, V. pompona and hybrids Data kindly provided by the curators of the collections.

Rutgers University, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden in Brazil, the Secretariat of the Pacifi c Community in Fiji, to name but a few). Private collections belonging to orchid lovers are another source of sometimes rare specimens. In total, around 50% of global diversity (in terms of the number of species) is thus conserved in these collections, essentially in the form of whole plants, in vivo or sometimes in vitro.

However, in most cases, the material is poorly identifi ed in terms of taxonomy and the conservation methods used do not guarantee complete security for the resources.

In vivo collections are not shielded from plant health risks (introduction of parasitic fungi or viruses and vectors of viral disease in greenhouses) or climate risks (storms, cyclones). Viral indexing has shown that 40% of the vanilla plants conserved in botanical gardens are infected by the Cymbidium mosaic virus (Grisoni et al., 2007).

In vitro culture techniques for vanilla plants have been mastered (see Chapter 5) and ensure protection of plant material from contamination. However, in vitro conserva-tion of collecconserva-tions requires regular maintenance operaconserva-tions that imply a large num-ber of qualifi ed workers. Furthermore, the succession of subcultures means that somaclonal variants may appear and the original genetic resources may be lost. For these reasons, methods to secure the collections must be developed as a matter of urgency. Cryopreservation could be an option for the future. In India, cryopreserva-tion of pollen has been successfully conducted as a part of interspecies hybridizacryopreserva-tion research. This technique solves the problem of the synchronization of fl owering in different species. Likewise, a protocol for the cryopreservation of the apex of vanilla plants has been standardized for the storage of genetic resources (see Chapter 5).

Protocols for the cryopreservation of meristems are being studied, particularly in Mexico (Gonzalez-Arnao et al., 2009) and France.

In Reunion Island the collection of vanilla genetic resources is the central element of the VATEL Biological Resource Centre, which was accredited in 2009. This rec-ognition implies resource management that follows a quality process similar to the ISO 9001 international standard, and requires compliance with procedures on con-servation technologies, the introduction of biological material, and the dissemination of genetic resources.