A FORAGE GRASS AND SMALL-GRAIN LEGUME PLANT COLLECTING EXPEDITION IN SOUTH EAST POLAND, 1990

The Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Welsh Plant Breeding Station (IGER, WPBS), UK, and the Plant Genetic Resources Section of the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (PBAI), Poland, carried out a joint collect ing expedition in Poland between 25 August and 7 September 1990. The e xpedition was unique in that it was the first time that vegetative sam pling had been applied to the perennial forage grass and legume popula tions of south east Poland. The expedition focused on seminatural vege tation in agriculturally managed situations and detailed collection si te data on management systems was obtained from landowners. Samples we re collected from 62 sites. Vegetative collections of Lolium spp. (37 populations) and Trifolium spp. (56 populations), and seed collections of Festuca spp. (32 populations) were made by the IGER team (Table 2) . The PBAI team made 59 separate seed collections, mainly of Leguminos ae. The expedition covered four geographical subregions of south east Poland. (See Fig. 1). These were the Nizina Mazowiecka south of Warsza wa, the Wyzyna Malopolska with the town of Kielce at its centre and th e Beskidy Zachodnie and Beskidy Wschodnie regions of the Carpathian mo untains. A diverse range of habitats was sampled covering a broad rang e of altitude agricultural management systems and ecological condition s. Polish agriculture is faced with the problems of a rapid orientatio n to a market economy and it is likely that the diverse range of habit ats encountered will be reduced as agricultural practices change. This will lead to genetic erosion of the unique forage grass and legume po pulations to be found in Poland.