Genetic improvement of plants at the Diputació de Barcelona, the Escola Superior d’Agricultura de Barcelona, and the Fundació Miquel Agustí: one hundred years of history

Abstract

The genetic improvement of living organisms is a slow procedure that needs a permanent investment of resources. The organization of the structure required by a breeding programme is complex. Accordingly, tenacity is needed to maintain this structure over time since repeated resets lead to decreased efficiency. In connection with the Diputació de Barcelona (Barcelona Provincial Council), the Mancomunitat de Catalunya (Commonwealth of Catalonia) and the Escola Superior d’Agricultura de Barcelona (ESAB, Barcelona School of Agricultural Engineering), breeding programmes of cultivated plants have been carried out over the last hundred years. Wheat was mainly involved at first, with the firm will of the leaders of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government) to supply farmers with the best genotypes in order to increase yields (1912-1936). Unfortunately, political changes put an end to the continuity of this modernizing process. Recently, the Fundació Miquel Agustí (Miquel Agustí Foundation) has continued the tradition of the genetic improvement of plants at ESAB, with the aim of increasing the availability of varieties of vegetables with high sensory value for our farmers. The exploration of improved materials in other countries as candidates for cultivation in Catalonia; the inventory, characterization and selection of autochthonous material; and the crossing of autochthonous material with foreign material to generate variability for the start-up of selection programs are strategies that have been followed repeatedly with different species in Catalonia. Now we must strive to avoid losing the work carried out and, as is already being done, it is necessary to incorporate the full capacity of the new biotechnologies to consolidate our agriculture. The bold vision of the policy-makers at the beginning of the past century should inspire us to be courageous in accepting the innovations that today’s technology offers in the field of plant breeding.

Keywords: genetic improvement, wheat, forage maize, vegetables, alfalfa, history.