Discussion by Russell T. Johnson of a project envisaging a number of committees devoted to the genetic diversity of particular crops, and to assessing the adequacy and requirements of existing germplasm collections, documenting the collections in a way accessible throughout the world to scientists working on those crops, and planning for the long term preservation of germplasm. Four such committees were already extant for Wheat, Barley and Rye, Maize, Sorghum and Millet, and Rice. Agenda item presented at TAC Second Meeting, October 1971

Johnson, Russell T.

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PAB: IAR/'71/17 13 October 1971 L CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMh1ITTEE Second Meeting, Rome, October 19-22, 1971 COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF FOOD CROP GERM PLASM WITH WIDE GEXETIC DIVXRSITY (Agenda Item 13.a) TAC SGCRETARIAT FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF TRE= UNl?I'ED NATIONS ROME 1971 COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF FOOD Ci+OP GEiliyI PLASM WITH GIIDS GENETIC DIVEKSI'I'Y The objective of this projec t i,s to preserve for the fugure the resources of diverse germ plasm to provide current and future plant breeders a possible genetic source of characteristics they may need in the development of food crop plants. For the most important crops, at least, it seemed,,the objective could best be achieved by selectiny for each crop one man (a recognized aLthor- ity on that specific crop) who, in turn, would select a small group ,. also 'kno-zledgeable about the crop, and together they would act as a committee to: 1) Determine the status (extent and viability) of existing col- lections; 2) Assess the need for supplementing existing collections; - 3) Devise a scheme of documentation that would be understandable and could be usable thro*uzholut the world on the crop; Recowend a plan that would satisfactorily provide for long- terii! -7 preservation of the germ p1;1sm; 5) If necessary and where possi ble, make recomrnondations for sup- To 1) 2) The committees are comprised somewhat differently. The first three are organized. The corn and sorghum committees have met once and the wheat committee twice. The rice.committee >on- sists, at present, of only Dr. Chang. I have attended the four meetings which have been held. l:Jhile this group of committees covers a relatively small number of crops produced in the world, the crops they represent comprise 7&ell over half of the worldts f' cultivated acreage. The first question that seems to confront the committees is deteralning a satisfactory description of what constitutes an adequate germ plasm resource. All realize that all existing genetic diversity is not going to be preserved in collections, but practical considerations appear to evolve into the follow:- ing consensus: 1) Collections should provide, where they are available, prini- tive cultivated varieties as well as ::rild relatives, depend- ing on the imminent danger to their respective existence. In this respect, the primitive culti.vars appear to be more threatened than wild or rr!eedy relatives. 2) Collections fo r long term storage should include samples of modern reprod. rlilcible mate$ial or material considered to have special genetic value. 3) Collections of this typo should not include the full scope of breeders' lines or special genetic stocks. 2. Status of Existing Collections: The discussion of this topic InvarLably ran into some problems. Even iqith the groups involved with specific crops where&the in- dividuals had wide knowledge of the crops, there appeared to be a lot yet to learn about the nature of existing collections. The entries in many collections are not well documented regard- ing the ultimate origin. Many items included in collections i around the world are shown to have originated from a certain country when, in reality, that country was only a transient re- pository for the material which had actually originated in some other country. Thus, there are many overlaps and duplications, which is understandable, but at this time unidentified. Except in some cases, viability of the collections is not well defined. Conditions for long term storage are not generally good, so viability of many collections is CorrespondinQy not good. Plans are under tray, however, in several parts of the world for exceptionally good storage facilities which will be completed in the immediate or near future. The best single source of information on existing collections throughout the v!orld at this time appears to be F.A.O., and this source has definite limitations in understanding what matcric?i is available in these collections. In some of their compilations, it appears that plant breeders may have cnter;d the n~15cr of iinos with which tbcy arc wor;i.inG, a number which, from a GenetIc resources viewpoint, could be extremely mi:;l.ead-- Ins. Nzny gs&. collcctlons arc available, hot:ever. Interch:?nC;c - .- of maI;!:rl.als seems to be general.ly good, 3. Plans for continued maintenance of these existing collections appear to vary with crop, country, and individual in charge of the collection. Outside the so-called world, centers, or in some cases, national centers for specific crops, plans for continued maintenance is not generally good, being dependent primarily upon the continuing interest of an individual or a small group of individuals. Security measures are not generally good and . .- a rather small amount of informatio; is available regarding the longevity of seed under ex-lsting conditions. ' AssessFng the Need for S-lementing Existing Collections: Priority in this category generally seemed to be on supplementing and preservin g those collections of remaining native cuitivars of the crops involved. Improved transportation and communication are implementins rapid transfer of new varieties of these crops ; around the world, and in many cases supplanting and e1imi.natin.S ti old native cultlvars. This is particularly true in wheat, natze and sorghum. The wild and weedy species of these crops, >ihcre they are kno2Jn to exist, were generally of second priori.ty for two reasons: (1) tile g eneral belief that there was less threat to the COH- tinucd exis';ence of this material than to the native cultivars; and (2) their potcntia3. importance, Geographical areas not known to be adequately represented In exist-j.ng collcctj.ms were recommended as avenues to explore further in supplcincntin~ existing collections. The question of what is required to adequately represent a geographiczl. area In a germ plasm bank, like that of what‘constitutes an adequate collection, becomes difficult to answer In finite 'terms.+Opinions seem to depend on the interests and purposes of the individuals involved in the discussions. The final report on these crops will include the best assessment the committees can give on what con- stitutes an adequate samplin Q and identifying geographical areas not adequately represented in existin$collections for the specific crops. Perhaps as important as the areas requiring supplemental material for an adequate collection were the discussions involving how these collections should be made. The general consensus seems to be that;, with the evolving improvement in understanding by some indigenous peoples in developing countries, the need is no lor?ger - so great; for foreign collectcrs to make specific collection_ trips. - Trafnir:S people indigenous to an area offers the advantage of familiarity with the language and the area and living in the area all the time. Most people going to a new area specificaily on a collecting trip do not understand the language, are not familiar with %he area, and are in the area only for a limftcd time. Thus, material collected can be only that material 6hicil is mature and collectible at the time t;hEy are there. The disadvantages of col- lections by indigenous people are that they often do not knw what or WI-IS to coll.cct, and If t!lcy do collect, do not under~stand a satls!'actorbF d~zuwntation systetn. Th? ~ICCC~ .he;-e, thenj is dc;i.J<lt:- stratccl for :;ornc type of' trai.nins for indS ze!l<)Vs coll.ectors >ihi ch Documentation: c It appears that everyone involved in collections and doeumenta- tion of them has his own system, developed primarily upon the requirements established by the purpose of his collection. The system chosen affects the information recorded, the method in which it is recorded, and the ability to recall recorded infor- mation,. Systems in use have a great’range in complexity. Per- haps the simplest is that of recording the desired information while collecting, then transferring it to a card which is filed for future use. The most elaborate method described is one in which all recorded data are transferred to computer memory banks from which almost instantaneous recall is available on a.ny char- acterist ic or combination of characteristics Ln a manner as simple .~. as dialing a telephone. - Probably one of the most available and work.able systems of data recording trith the capability of recall is that used. by the United States Department of Agriculture on Iwheat. This is a large collec- tion of over 20,000 entries, well documented, with the information put on IBM punch cards to facilitate rapid recall. The genera 1 corlsensus appears to be that instant iTcall. is not a necessity for plant breeders, but something tti reduce the information to or collections for the same crop arc probnb1.y not essential. as long 2:; the inforir?atI.on from the- dif’i’ercnt sy:;tcII1s is undcrstnnd- able and usable. - Provide Recommendation for Long Term Maintenance and Storage: The unanimous recommendation of all committees.was also tnat two types of collections be maintained. One would-be a long term storage and preservation of material entered. This material would be increased only often enough to maintain satisfactory germination. No general distribution would be made from this I material. The other type of collect& trouid be a working col- lection which would be periodically and regularly. regrown for observation of various characteristics and from which general distribution could be made. Each committee will make specific recommendations on this point. It seems that without exception these committees are recemnend- ing i;hat samples of material for long term storage be placed in the Xational Seed Storage Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colo- . rado. This laboratory has been in existence for approximately ten years, has the capacity for apprcximately twice as many entries. as are nol:r stored there and has excellent facilities for seed preservation in a viable condition. In most cases, if other good storage facilities were ava'ilable, these committees !could like to have the collection duplicated i.n a!lo';her area. In the case of wheat, for example, the 20,000+ entrlcs in the USDA collection menti.oned above arc mai.ntai.zed under good storage conditions at Reltsvj.ile, 14aryland, as ~:cil as the Katio:?al Seed Storage Laboratory at Fort Collins, Colorcdo. l'hc K3"" I ,ing collection concelvatly would .t;c c;rowi1ig in several. - lccaticn:; at any given time. These locations would bc detcrmincd - 7. on a part.icular crop. In general, the true working collection should be grown in areas with an environment somewhat similar to the areas in which they were collected or adapted. Many2f these crops, if transported into an environment foreign to that for which they were adapted, either fail to flower and reproduce at all,. or xhere reproduction is possible, genetic drift may inf'lu- ence the characteristics of the material. ?' A problem that appears to arise in this part of the discussions is the ever tightenLng plant quarantine restrictions that countries seem 'to be imposing-. These restrictions can and do affect imports as trell as exports. An example is that just recently importation into the United States of several species of plants from India has been terminated i'or plant quarantine reasons. Ho+rard Hyland Of fief: Crops Research, USDA, has been contacted about the possi- bility of getting material into a storage facility like the one at F,ori: Collins without going through a long plant quarantine impoundment. Such entries could be labelled in some manner to prevent their distribution other than back to the source from which they came, He informed me they are working on the possi- bility of doing something like that at this tiiile. The reports of the individual. committees will have specific recom- mendations which each believe will storagz as v~eil as maintenance for This memorandum is not intended to crop, but is just to summarize the provide for this long term the respeci;ive crops. be a report on any specific general. discu&, ,/<ion problem:: encountered in col1ectin.g and maintainin_7; germ plasm of varioun crops. Ju!y 3, 1971 

Collection and Preservation of Food Crop Germplasm with Wide Genetic Diversity

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Collection and Preservation of Food Crop Germplasm with Wide Genetic Diversity

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