Cecilia Zucchini ¹ Lorenzo Raggi ^1* Anna Grassi ¹ Giorgia Spataro ² Daniela Gigante ¹ Valeria Negri ¹

• ¹ Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
• ² Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification, Milano, Italy

Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) have great socioeconomic importance for humans harbouring a broad spectrum of diversity, including valuable traits for plant breeding, and being important elements of different habitats. Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima ((L.) Arcangeli), also known as sea beet, is an important CWR of cultivated beets (GP-1) that belongs to the Beta L. genus, a priority for conservation at the global level mainly due to the economic significance of encompassed crops. The high adaptability of this taxon to different environmental conditions, as well as its tolerance/resistance to different biotic and abiotic stresses, makes it a vital source for sugar beet improvement and cultivation. Aim of this work was to analyse the in situ status of sea beet population conservation in Italy, as well as the consistence of ex situ collections conserved in genebanks, so as to guide protection activities and new collecting missions. Geographical distribution data of populations were assembled from different databases that resulted in 138 B. vulgaris subsp. maritima georeferenced populations after data quality control. Distribution, land cover and use of the involved sites were then evaluated to provide insight into the current condition of areas hosting this CWR diversity. Since protected areas play a crucial role in CWR in situ conservation, the presence of populations within vs. outside Italian protected areas was also evaluated. Obtained results showed that about 22% of the considered populations occurs in protected sites of the Natura 2000 Network, while about 15% in areas recorded in the Official list of protected natural areas (EUAP). The comparison of distribution and density analysis results revealed the presence of several gaps between the sites hosting populations in situ and sites where ex situ conserved accessions were originally collected.