Crop diversity possess valuable traits for crop breeding, such as pest and disease resistance. Some 6% of wild relatives of cereal crops such as wheat, maize, rice, and sorghum are under threat, as are 18% of legumes (Fabaceae), the wild relatives of beans, peas and lentils, and 13% of species within the botanical family (Solanaceae) that includes potato, tomato, eggplant (aubergine), and peppers ("Capsicum"). In 2016, 29% of wild relative plant species were completely missing from the world’s genebanks, with a further 24% represented by fewer than 10 samples. Over 70% of all crop wild relative species worldwide were in urgent need
Cereal leaf beetle Cereal leaf beetle The cereal leaf beetle ("Oulema melanopus") is a significant crop pest, described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. One generation of this beetle is produced a year. Adults feed before winter and spend most of their overwintering time in protected areas such as wind rows, crop stubble, and tree bark crevices. Adults mate once the temperature warms to above 9–10 degrees Celsius (or 44.6 degrees F) and females have a relatively long laying period (about 45–60 days), when they deposit eggs on the undersides of leaves. The larvae hatch in 7–15 days, and start the most damaging eating