Page 259 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

mic), 34 species of clover (Medicago), 42 species of sainfoin (Onobrychis), 60 species of vetches
(Vicia; 6 of them are endemic) in Türkiye. Türkiye is also a micro-gene center of Amygdalus spp.,
Cucumis melo, C.sativus, Cucurbita moshata, C. pepo, Malus spp., Pistachio spp., Prunus spp., Py-
rus spp. and Vitis vinifera species (Tan, 1998). Additionally, Türkiye is the native land of many
ornamental plants such as tulip and snowdrop.
With the awareness of the importance of agricultural plants, many species and varieties of each
of these genera are grown in Türkiye within the framework of seed production and distribution
programme. Field crops include Wheat, Barley, Corn, Chickpea, Lentil, Common Bean, Sunflower,
Potato, Soya Bean, Peanut, Sesame, Tobacco, Cotton and Sugar Beet; Animal Feeds include Sor-
ghum, Rye, Genista and Meadow Grass. More than 200 plant species are covered by this prog-
ramme. There are also thousands of local varieties, ecotypes and transitional forms that farmers
grow from their own resources.

The total number of cereal varieties developed and recorded in Türkiye over the last three deca-
des using local and imported breeds is 256, of which 95 are wheat, 91 corn, 22 barley, 19 rice, 16
sorghum, 11 oats and 2 rye varieties. While the National Seed Programme is continuously bree-
ding new varieties and thus the number of cultivated species is steadily increasing, field crops
such as Einkorn (Triticum monococcum), Emmer (Triticum dicoccum), Bitter Vetch and Lupine
are not being used as much as before. Therefore, these species have started to disappear.

Horticultural crops include about 50 species and about 100 varieties that are cultivated and
distributed. These include tomato, pepper, aubergine, lettuce, cabbage, radish, onion, courgette,
cucumber, melon, watermelon, beans, vegetable marrow, pea, spinach, carrot, broad bean, leek,
rocket, purslane, fennel, cauliflower, parsley, bean and gherkin cucumber. When local varieties
and varieties obtained from other sources are taken into consideration, it is estimated that the
total number of varieties cultivated in the country reaches 200.

Variety richness is also observed in fruit production. The number of fruit species is estimated to
be around 138, 80 of which are cultivated in Türkiye. Fruit and nut varieties in Türkiye include
apple, pear, quince, cherry, sour cherry, apricot, peach, fig, pomegranate, mulberry, almond, hazel-
nut, walnut and pistachio. Viticulture also has an important place in Turkish agriculture. Anatolia,
which hosts the wild grapevine species (Vitis Silvestris), is also the gene centre of the grape vine
(Vitis Vinifera).

Türkiye is also very rich in terms of forest gene resources. Among the nationally and globally
important native forest trees, there are 5 pine, 4 fir, 20 oak, 8 juniper species, as well as valuable
gene resources of Taurus Cedar, Oriental Spruce and Oriental Beech. Important forest trees are
as follows: Pine Species (Pinus Brutia, P. Nigra, P. Sylvestris, P. Halepensis, and P. Pinea) Fir Species
(Abies Nordmanniana subsp. Nordmanniana, A. Nordmanniana subsp. Bornmulleriana, A. Nord-
manniana subsp. Equitrojani, A. Cilicica subsp. Cilicica, A. Cilicica subsp. Isaurica), Taurus Cedar
(Cedrus Libani), Beech (Fagus orientalis), Spruce (Picea orientalis), Linden (Tilia spp.), Alder (Alnus
spp. 2 species, total 6 taxa), Juniper (Juniperus spp. 8 species), Oak (Quercus about 20 species).

Türkiye is an agricultural country where plants and animals have been cultivated since ancient
times. The Southeastern Anatolia region, also known as Northern Mesopotamia, is considered
to be one of the cultural centres where humans first started settled agriculture. For this reason,
it can be assumed that many indigenous animal breeds obtained by passing civilisations were
raised and spread to other parts of the world from here.

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