Multicrop legume germplasm collection in Oman

A wide range of indigenous varieties of different legume crops has been available in Oman since time immemorial, as these crops are preferred by farmers for their cooking quality and affinity. This paper focuses on the outputs of a collecting expeditions of indigenous legume germplasm for their conservation to avoid extinction due to new emerging edaphic (temperature, salinity, drought etc.) and biotic (insects, pests, diseases etc.) stresses being faced as a result of climate change and to ensure food security of the country. In all, 303 seed samples of land races/accessions in nine legume crops were collected from seven governorates, 187 of which were from seven food legume crops collected from 110 sites. The highest number of accessions was found in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata) (64) followed by faba bean or broad bean (Vicia faba) (41), field peas (Pisum sativum) (27), mung bean (Vigna aureus) (25), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) (13), lentil (Lens culinaris) (11) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) (6). South Batinah had the most legume accessions collected (70), mainly from wilayat Rustaq, followed by Interior (66), Sharqiya (63) Dhahira and Buraimi (46), Dhofar governate (23) and North Batinah (15). In alfalfa (Medicago sativa), 67 seed samples/ accessions were collected from 62 sites, with the most (25) from Sharqiya, 20 from Interior, 8 each from North Batinah and Dhahira and Buraimi, 6 from South Batinah and none from Dhofar. In fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), 49 seed samples/ accessions were collected from 43 sites, with the most from Batinah South (14) represented mostly by Rustaq, followed by Interior (13), Sharqiya (12) and Dhahira and Buraimi (10). The seed accessions were diverse with respect to the seed characters studied i.e., seed length (cm) and width (cm), 100-seed weight (g) and seed color. The diverse nature of the legume seed accessions and their genetic erosion are discussed.