Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 4
Written by Maria Mihaela ANTOFIE, Camelia SAVA SAND

To maintain food security, the conservation and sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) is essential under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) adopted in 2005 based on the Convention on biological diversity signed in 1992. Both Conventions have been ratified by Romania and the conservation and sustainable use of domesticated crops and edible wild plant species needs to be addressed in near future. The scope of this article is to analyse two onion landraces for evaluating their status of conservation and furthermore, to propose some measures for their further conservation and sustainable use based on the needs of local communities. We underline that onion is mentioned on the Annex of the Plant Treaty as a PEGFRA. Red onion landraces 'de Turda’ was officially recognized in 1952 and 'de Buzău’ in 1977, based on the analysis of Official Catalogues. If, the landrace 'de Turda’ was erased from the Official Catalogue after 1990, 'de Buzău’ continues to be recognized at the official level. Both landraces have been assessed against the UPOV Standard TG/46/7, to find solutions for further recognition of 'de Turda’ onion as an important plant genetic resources for food based on the provisions of Directives 2008/62 / EC, 2009/145 / EC and 2010/60 / EU. The analysis of our results reveals that 'de Buzău’ is producing large size bulbs and 'de Turda’ is producing medium size bulbs and both are distinct, uniform and stable based on Standard TG/46/7 requirements. The consistent results of our analysis further support the need for on farm conservation of these two genetic resources in their agro-ecosystems of origin that is important for food security maintenance in local communities.

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