PRESERVING OUR FRUIT HERITAGE

The first step in our fruit heritage conservation project was to draw up an inventory of surviving heritage varieties. The second step was collecting samples, taking pictures, and creating a database containing the detailed information about every variety collected in the course of a systematic field study. In the next stage we plan to propagate endangered varieties, enhance public awareness by means such as visiting local schools, undertake genetic analysis of each variety, register them under their local names, and investigate potential marketing methods.

Setting up a model appropriate for applying to other regions of Turkey is an important aspect of this pilot project. It is also hoped that as Turkey prepares for joining the European Union, the project will contribute to knowledge of the country's agricultural biodiversity and to the evaluation of local resources. As the proportion of the population engaged in agriculture diminishes in accordance with EU targets, fields and gardens are being left untended, and the younger generation is migrating to the cities in hope of a better future. This means that the number of people acquainted with traditional horticultural methods and the tastes of local fruits is rapidly diminishing. If we wish to conserve our fruit heritage, it is a matter of urgency to spread awareness of the value of these traditional fruits still growing in the gardens and orchards of small farmers in rural areas, and restore their economic value.

DATABASE AND INVENTORY

The database created for the Muğla pilot project includes detailed information about each heritage fruit based on answers to questionnaires conducted during field surveys. Information both about the tree itself - location (including GPS coordinates) and altitude, grafting method and season, crop yield, water and fertiliser requirements etc. – and the characteristics of the fruit – size, taste, suitability for packing and transportation etc. - is collected. Photographs of the tree, fruit and leaves of each variety are attached to the relevant page. In addition the database includes an inventory compiled from written sources, both historical and modern, and oral accounts by local people; and information about each interviewee. The File Maker Pro 6/7 programme has been used to create the database.

in situ conservation

One of the most important steps in conserving heritage varieties is propagating endangered varieties by means of grafting onto suitable stock in the locality.

In April-May 2008 at least 20 endangered varieties will be grafted in villages in the area and a further 10 varieties will be grafted onto wild pear and wild olive stock growing in the TEMA Foundation's Asım Kocabıyık Conservation Area at Türkbükü in Bodrum.

It is also planned to establish local grafting targets at a meeting with small farmers in the area. The grafted trees will be labelled, and cared for by the TEMA staff and individual orchard owners.

ex situ conservation

Conservation outside the locality is of secondary importance, but may be of use in acquainting people in other areas with their country's heritage fruits. As part of the Muğla project it is planned to select some endangered varieties thought capable of surviving in northern Turkey and grow them at the Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden in Istanbul. The reason for choosing this location, is that the botanical garden organises an educational programme for local primary school children. 

Scions taken from at least four citrus fruits, including the Mazı orange, Dilimli orange, Bodrum mandarin orange and Bodrum bergamot, will be grafted in the orchards of the Western Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM) in Antalya. These will be included in the institute's ongoing Turkish Citrus Fruit Varieties Genetic Analysis Study.

Similar ex situ conservation may be carried out at other research institutes, botanical gardens and organic farms. In all these cases it is important that the origin and local name of each fruit is clearly marked. 

EDUCATIONAL PRORAMME

During 2008 it is planned to visit primary schools in the districts of Datça and Bodrum to carry out an educational programme in cooperation with teachers and families. First a talk about local heritage fruits illustrated with slides will be given to classes selected by each school, and then pupils will be given a form consisting of questions about local fruits to ask older members of their family, preferably grandparents. Participation in the survey will be voluntary. A similar questionnaire concerning uses of local plants distributed in village schools in Bodrum produced very successful results. Although the school programme is intended in part to make children aware of the importance of heritage varieties, the real aim is to get children to learn local knowledge from their own grandparents. This is a way of rebuilding contact between generations, making children aware of local values and encouraging grandparents to transmit oral traditions to their grandchildren.

After the forms have been collected and read, interviews will be conducted with those people who mention fruit varieties that are not already in our inventory.


All activities carried out in primary schools will result in the project becoming known to all the families in the schools catchment areas, and being discussed in the community. They will put us in touch with local people able to make a contribution to the project, and the increased numbers of people who know about the project will facilitate field research and expand local contributions to conservation efforts.

GENETIC ANALYSES

Genetic analysis is being carried out at Boğaziçi University Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics by Prof. Dr. Neş'e Bilgin and her team, who earlier conducted a similar study on Galanthus (snowdrop) species in Turkey.  Fresh leaf samples from fruit trees, whose locations are identified by GPS coordinates are sent to the university laboratory, where they are processed immediately. Fresh leaf samples are cut into small pieces and pulverized under liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C ready for DNA isolation. During the summer season of 2007 more than 200 fruit tree samples were gathered and processed this way. Using oligonucleotide primers designed for the selected regions of  genomic and the chloroplast  DNA  appropriate for taxonomic analysis, the gene regions will be amplified by the polymerase chain reaction method (PCR) and DNA sequence analyses carried out.

SURVEYING LOCAL MARKETS

Weekly markets in every town remain the most important outlet for producers of local varieties of fruit and vegetables to sell their crops directly to local people who are familiar with these varieties. In some cases these fetch more than commercial varieties. However, they constitute only a very tiny percentage of total produce sold, and there are many varieties that never reach the market at all: some do not travel well, some are unattractive in appearance, some are considered unlikely to find purchasers, and some are only grown for home consumption. 

Within the scope of the project we pay regular visits to local markets in the province, and record which heritage fruit varieties are on sale, their village of origin and the grower. When this work is completed we plan to hold a meeting with cooperatives, local municipalities, growers, local restaurant owners, NGO representatives and other groups interested in the issue to discuss alternative marketing possibilities for heritage varieties.