Terminology used by authorities and breeders:
Breeder's material: The smallest unit used by the breeder to maintain the variety and from which all the seed of the variety is derived through one or more generations.
CIAT Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (also Alliance Biodiveristy & CIAT): This alliance was established by two international players - CIGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) and Biodiversity International (formerly International Board for Plant Genetic Resources IBPGR).
CIGIAR: Deliver science and innovation that advance the transformation of food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.
ECPGR The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resoruces: Is a collaborative programme among most European countries aimed at ensuring the long-grem conservation and facilitating the increased utilization of plant genetic resoruces in Europe.
EUFGIS European Information System on Forest Genetic Resources
EURISCO European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources
Evolutionary seed
Ex situ: Preservation of plant genetic resources outside the original production environment, that is storaged as dried seeds in deepfeezers or in the form of micro propagation.
Finnish Food Authority: The Finnish Food Authority works for the good of humans, animals and plants, supports the vitality of the agricultural sector, and develops and maintains information systems. Ruokavirasto in Finnish, old name EVIRA.
Organic Heterogenous Material (OHM, sometimes also called evolutionary sort). Plant material (i.e. a seed lot or growing crop) that displays diverse or dissimilar characteristics within a set population. Heterogeneous material should be the result of specific production techniques. The terminology organic heterogenous material has been developed in EU in order to develope seeds suitable for organic farming. This is the opposite of a modern sort, also refered to as homogenous plant material.
Homogenous Material (or homogenous plant material) is usually a comercially breeded sort.
In situ: Preservation of plant genetic resources in the original production environment, that is growing on fields, gardens or forests
ITPGRFA International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Landrace (native, heriloom, heritage) plant refers to a strain or cultivar of a useful plant that has not been scientifically bred and has been cultivated for several decades. They have developed as a result of the conscious or unconscious choice of the masters and mistresses who cultivated them and in the cultivation conditions they chose. There are plants suitable for a wide range of cultivation conditions and uses in the field crops. Landraces are plants that has for a long time has been grown on the same farm or in the same region, which at least for the most part is of a different origin than the scientifically bred, known old commercial cultivars. Within landraces two groups can be distinguished: landrace strains and landrace cultivars.
Landrace cultivars are more uniform compared to landrace strains due to long cultivation and sorting. The quality of the seed has been taken care of because of the good cultivation properties of the crop. At the beginning of the 20th century, such well-known, recognized and more widely cultivated were, for example, "Waasa ruis", "Tasku wheat" and "Siberian wheat". This group also includes landrace varieties with good cultivation characteristics that were brought back into trial cultivation in the 2020s, for example "Kerimäkeläinen", "Sarkalahti", "Vehmaa" stringy spring wheat, "Rusutjärvi", "Jokikylä" white oats and "Savitaipale" black oats. The names of the landrace cultivars are marked with double quotation marks.
Landrace strains are diverse for genetic or agricultural reasons. For example, the use of a common dryer or uncleaned combine harvesters can introduce different seeds into the stock. Landrace strains are local strains, often unknown, unstudied, without an established name. These include samples recovered from farmers' fields, some of which are in the gene bank in long-term storage and some of which are still on farms. The names of these are entered without apostrophes, such as Lohja wheat, Ohtaanniemi rye and Järvenkylä oats. Through selection, the landrace strain can become more uniform, in which case it becomes a landrace cultivar. A landrace cultivar can be registered as a native plant variety and if it is sufficiently distinctive, uniform and permanent, it can be registered as a variety. The Finnish authorities separate the plants into varieties, heritage varieties, old trade varieties and old strains of the trade varieties. Gene banks separate plants into cultivars (varieties) and landraces.
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) Luke is a research organisation that builds sustainable future and well-being for renewable natural resources. Luonnonvarakeskus in Finnish. Old names MTT Agricultural and Food Economy Research Center) and MTTL.
NordGen: NordGen is the joint Nordic seed bank and genetic resources expertise center.
Old (commercial) variety: An old commercial variety is a species scientifically born as a result of commercial breeding and commercially in trade, which is no longer in the official list of commercial varieties.
Reference sample: An official representative sample is taken from the field-tested maintenance lot of the variety, which is submitted to the Food Authority. At the seed inspection department, the sample is designated as a reference sample, which is considered representative of the variety and corresponds to the variety description. The reference sample is used to sow seed for field test inspections.
Seed mix. Seed mixes are a mixture of already certified single varieties.
Strain of an old commercial variety: An old commercial variety strain has been cultivated for a long time and the old commercial variety that has changed from its original characteristics and possibly adapted to the environment.
UNDP United Nations Development Program: Help countries develop policies, leadership skills, partnerships and institutional capabilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Variety (sort, cultivar) is characterized by a distinctive, uniform and permanent characteristic. A variety has been registered and is commercially sold. Varieties, old commercial carieties and varieties registered as conservation varities are marked with simple loan tags, e.g. 'Hopea'.
Variety authenticity: A sample that represents a certain variety and is sufficiently uniform, i.e. variety pure