ABSTRACT
World plant biodiversity, its conservation, and prospects for practical use are becoming an increasingly compelling dilemma in the 21st century. In the Republic of Lithuania, together with the decline of natural meadows, also the habitats of caraway, pea, and vetch shrink; as a consequence, the species biodiversity and genetic resources become sparse. National Centre for Plant Genetic Resources was founded at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture in 1994. The main objective was to develop the national conservation network of plant genetic resources in Lithuania. Since 1996, the researches of genetic resources of the economically valuable species, such as Carum genus: Carum carvi L. (caraway); Vicia genus: V. angustifolia (narrow-leaved vetch), V. hirsuta Grey (hairy vetch), V. villosa Roth (winter vetch), V. cracca L. (tufted vetch), V. sepium L. (bush vetch). The mass productivity traits studies of Vicia and Lathyrus species were carried out in 2004–2008, using the collection of the Experimental Station.
