Kew Royal Botanic Gardens (London, UK) has held a 5 day international training course entitled “The methods of collecting, processing and protecting seeds relevant to wild relatives of cultivated crops” at the Genetic Resources Institute (GRI) of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. The event was financed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust on the Plant Genetic Diversity and organised with the end of supporting the international project aimed to collection of wild relatives of cultivated crops in Azerbaijan.
The training coursewas ledby three instructors representing the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens’ Millennium Seed Bank -Dr. Laura Jennings, Dr.AisyahFaruk and Ms. Roberta Hope.
16 experts from the GRI and 4 scientists and specialists from the Botanical Garden and Institute of Botany of the Republic of Georgia extended and deepened their knowledge connected with modern methods of preparing expeditions on study of wild relatives of cultivated crops, collecting plant samples, processing for protection of seed samples, drying, preserving, documenting, etc.
One day of the training was dedicated to a practical session on collecting at the territory of Absheron-Gobustan district and one more day to study the GIS software (Georgaphical Information System).
A one-week international training course was an important event from the point of view of mastering necessary knowledge and skills by young specialists, gaining experience in relevant directions, as well as laying the foundation for the future scientific relations.
At the end of the training course the participants received international certificates.