Indian Plant Germplasm on the Global Platter: An Analysis

<div><p>Food security is a global concern amongst scientists, researchers and policy makers. No country is self-sufficient to address food security issues independently as almost all countries are inter-dependent for availability of plant genetic resources (PGR) in their national crop improvement programmes. Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR; in short CG) centres play an important role in conserving and distributing PGR through their genebanks. CG genebanks assembled the germplasm through collecting missions and acquisition the same from national genebanks of other countries. Using the Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources, the World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other relevant databases, we analysed the conservation status of Indian-origin PGR accessions (both cultivated and wild forms possessed by India) in CG genebanks and other national genebanks, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) genebanks, which can be considered as an indicator of Indian contribution to the global germplasm collection. A total of 28,027,770 accessions are being conserved world-wide by 446 organizations represented in Genesys; of these, 3.78% (100,607) are Indian-origin accessions. Similarly, 62,920 Indian-origin accessions (8.73%) have been conserved in CG genebanks which are accessible to the global research community for utilization in their respective crop improvement programmes. A total of 60 genebanks including 11 CG genebanks have deposited 824,625 accessions of PGR in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as safety duplicates; the average number of accessions deposited by each genebank is 13,744, and amongst them there are 66,339 Indian-origin accessions. In principle, India has contributed 4.85 times the number of germplasm accessions to SGSV, in comparison to the mean value (13,744) of any individual genebank including CG genebanks. More importantly, about 50% of the Indian-origin accessions deposited in SGSV are traditional varieties or landraces with defined traits which form the backbone of any crop gene pool. This paper is also attempting to correlate the global data on Indian-origin germplasm with the national germplasm export profile. The analysis from this paper is discussed with the perspective of possible implications in the access and benefit sharing regime of both the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the newly enforced Nagoya Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p></div

Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in CGIAR genebanks.

<p>The table lists the number of accessions of Indian-origin, conserved in the 11 CG genebanks. The genebanks are listed by ‘No. of accessions of Indian origin’ in descending order.</p><p>Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in CGIAR genebanks.</p

Year-wise export profile of Indian-origin germplasm from India to other countries.

<p>The bar graph data represents a total of 91, 403 accessions exported by India. The superimposed line graph represents the number of export indents received by India.</p

Crop-wise details of accessions listed in Genesys portal.

<p>The table lists the details of 16 crops having the maximum representation in the Genesys portal. The crops are arranged in the decreasing order of percentage of Indian origin accessions in the total accessions list of Genesys Portal. Indian-origin accessions have been also derived separately for total accessions conserved by CG genebanks, from the same portal.</p><p>Crop-wise details of accessions listed in Genesys portal.</p

Global distribution of Indian-origin germplasm conserved by national and international genebanks.

<p>The radius of each circle is relative to the number of Indian-origin accessions conserved, and the circle sizes were partitioned into 10 size classes. Circles with red indicator represent the CG genebanks.</p

Year-wise profile of number of beneficiary countries that received germplasm from India.

<p>Year-wise profile of number of beneficiary countries that received germplasm from India.</p

Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in major national genebanks.

<p>The table lists the number of accessions of Indian origin, conserved in the major national genebanks. The genebanks are listed by ‘No. of accessions of Indian origin’ in descending order.</p><p>Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in major national genebanks.</p

Evaluation of 19,460 Wheat Accessions Conserved in the Indian National Genebank to Identify New Sources of Resistance to Rust and Spot Blotch Diseases

<div><p>A comprehensive germplasm evaluation study of wheat accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank was conducted to identify sources of rust and spot blotch resistance. Genebank accessions comprising three species of wheat–<i>Triticum aestivum</i>, <i>T</i>. <i>durum</i> and <i>T</i>. <i>dicoccum</i> were screened sequentially at multiple disease hotspots, during the 2011–14 crop seasons, carrying only resistant accessions to the next step of evaluation. Wheat accessions which were found to be resistant in the field were then assayed for seedling resistance and profiled using molecular markers. In the primary evaluation, 19,460 accessions were screened at Wellington (Tamil Nadu), a hotspot for wheat rusts. We identified 4925 accessions to be resistant and these were further evaluated at Gurdaspur (Punjab), a hotspot for stripe rust and at Cooch Behar (West Bengal), a hotspot for spot blotch. The second round evaluation identified 498 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts and 868 accessions potentially resistant to spot blotch. Evaluation of rust resistant accessions for seedling resistance against seven virulent pathotypes of three rusts under artificial epiphytotic conditions identified 137 accessions potentially resistant to multiple rusts. Molecular analysis to identify different combinations of genetic loci imparting resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and spot blotch using linked molecular markers, identified 45 wheat accessions containing known resistance genes against all three rusts as well as a QTL for spot blotch resistance. The resistant germplasm accessions, particularly against stripe rust, identified in this study can be excellent potential candidates to be employed for breeding resistance into the background of high yielding wheat cultivars through conventional or molecular breeding approaches, and are expected to contribute toward food security at national and global levels.</p></div

Diversity among rust resistant genotypes based on profiles of linked molecular markers.

<p>Diversity among rust resistant genotypes based on profiles of linked molecular markers.</p

Seedling resistance in wheat accessions.

<p>These genebank accessions were identified as resistant in the primary field evaluation at the hotspots. The seedling resistance was recorded as resistant either to only one rust disease (leaf, stem or stripe) or a combination of two or all the three rust diseases. Seedling resistance screening was carried out under controlled condition at the Regional Station of Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Flowerdale, Shimla. Accession-wise details are provided in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0167702#pone.0167702.s003" target="_blank">S3 Table</a>.</p