Strides towards effectiveProgress of in situ conservation and use of crop wild relatives for sustainable food security under thein a changing climate: A case of the underutilised Vigna (Savi)

Leonard Manda ^1* Rodrigue Idohou ² Eric Etchikinto Agpyi ¹ Symphorien Agbahoungba ¹ Salako Kolawole Valere ² Achille Assogbadjo ¹ Clement Agbangla ³ Aristide Cossi Adomou ⁴

• ¹ Laboratoire d’Écologie appliquée (LEA), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
• ² Laboratoire de Biomathematiques et d'Estimations Forestières, Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
• ³ Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire et d’Analyse des Génomes (LGMAG), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
• ⁴ Laboratoire de Botanique et Ecologie Végétale (LABEV), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin

Providing sustainable food security for the growing human population while halting biodiversity loss under the changing climate is one of the greatest global challenges in the 21 st Century. If effectively conserved and used, crop Crop wild relatives (CWRs) -wild plant taxa genetically closely related to domesticated plants -are considered an alternative pathway to solving this challengeglobal food insecurity in a changing climate. However, their potential contribution is undermined by fundamental knowledge gaps in taxa diversity, distributions, taxonomic affiliations, conservation strategies, and valuable traitsundermine their conservation and use. To address these gaps, We we reviewed the strides literature on the progress made between 2000 and 2021 in support for of in situ conservation and use enhancement of CWRs under the changing climate in five thematic areas with a focusfocusing on the genus Vigna addressing five thematic areas: (1) species diversity, global distribution, conservation status, gene pools, and importance of the genus; (2) CWR-in situ conservation-protected area debate; (3) cultivation and domestication of CWR populations; (4) adaptive response to drought stress; and (5) adaptive response to Striga stress. We report that Presently, there are 104 Vigna CWR species in five subgenera, (Ceratotropis, Haydonia, Lasiosporon, Plectotropis, and Vigna,) are distributed mostly in Africa and Asia. Nine species are domesticated while six are threatened. Vigna gene pools still remain poorly understood. Many Vigna CWRs provide various ecosystem services for both human and environmental health. There Attention is now a growingincreasing interest towards in situ conservation of CWRs, within and outside protected areas, taking into account "other effective conservation measures" and complemented by ex situ conservation approaches. Several Vigna CWR taxa exhibit good agronomic traits for potential cultivation and neo-domestication. Many species taxa have demonstrated tolerance to drought stress and race-specific Striga resistance. We conclude that if effectively conserved and used, Vigna CWRs have the potential to contribute tocan contribute to sustainable and climateresilient food systems, either as wild edible plants, as a new profile of plants for neo-domestication or