New Carrot and Garlic Germplasm to Advance Breeding and Understand Crop Origins

The genetic variation provided by diverse plant germplasm is the basic building material used for crop improvement that shapes the crops we grow today. Wild carrot from the U.S. provided the cytoplasm used to develop a reliable system to produce hybrid carrots that account for most of the commercial production in the U.S. and Europe today. Diverse locally grown carrot cultivars and land races from South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia provides genetic variation being incorporated into carrot breeding programs today for nematode resistance and nutritionally important carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments. Garlic germplasm collections from Central Asia have been a valuable source of genetic variation used to improve garlic so it can be bred like any seed-propagated crop. Wild garlic germplasm from Central Asia and carrot germplasm from North Africa is providing valuable insights into the systematics and origins of these crops. A diverse collection of carrot and garlic germplasm has been essential to drive the improvement and broaden our understanding of these crops, and promises to be even more valuable in the future.