Germplasm conservation and evaluation of Diospyros kaki L. within the European project 'minor fruit tree species conservation'.

In the frame of the "European Community programme on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture", the Project "Conservation, evaluation, exploitation and collection of minor fruit tree species" have been selected for financial support. The main objective is to establish by a common strategy a basis for the conservation and utilisation of minor fruit tree species of the Mediterranean Basin, to create an European inventory and to develop a first database on germplasm collections comprehensive of both first and advanced characterisation descriptors, also linked to the agronomic evaluation of collected material. Among 16 minor fruit tree species involved in the Project, Japanese persimmon is already collected by three European Institutions. The draft Descriptor List to be used and the list of already collected introduced cultivars and local varieties are reported.