Importance of Crop Wild Relatives and Landraces Genetic Resources in Plant Breeding Programmes and Their Conservation

Plant genetic resources are the biological basis of global food security. Agricultural diversity and
genetic resources should be used more effectively to sustain the current level of food production and
to solve future problems. The importance of plant genetic resources in the improvement of varieties
with new features is indisputably known. The most effective use of plant genetic resources is
undoubtedly in plant breeding and improvement of new varieties. In other words, it is used as a
genitor. Since the cultivars are often inadequate in many genes, especially biotic and abiotic stress
factors (diseases, pests, cold, drought, etc.) breeders constantly search for new sources of genetic
materials. This review is based on reports in the landraces (primitive) varieties and crop wild relatives
to explain the importance of genetic resources in plant breeding of reviewing scientific literature to
pass.