Improving the identification, handling and storage of “difficult” seeds ...

IPGRI’s Vision
People today and in the future enjoy greater well-being through increased incomes, sustainably
increased food security and nutrition, and greater environmental health, made possible by the
deployment of agricultural biodiversity on farms and in forests.
Strategic areas:
▪ Demonstrating the benefits - demonstrating the social, economic and environmental benefits of
agricultural biodiversity
▪ Biodiversity for food security - ensuring that agricultural biodiversity is maintained,
characterized and used to improve productivity
▪ Researching agricultural biodiversity - generating knowledge about agricultural biodiversity and
making such knowledge available
▪ Enabling and empowering - developing human and institutional capacity to conserve and make
use of agricultural biodiversity
▪ Supportive policies - fostering a policy environment that supports the conservation and use of
agricultural biodiversity
▪ Getting the word out - raising awareness of the value of agricultural biodiversity
IPGRI’s role in PGR conservation
▪ Global coordinating centre for collection and conservation of threatened PGR
▪ Early research (1970s and 1980s) focused on ex situ conservation technologies mainly on
cereals and food legumes:
- seed physiology of orthodox seeds
- seed storage methods and procedures
- genebank design and operation
- genetic diversity research
- characterization and evaluation
- information management
▪ Publication of a series of handbooks for genebanks
▪ In 1980s, ex situ conservation research included non-orthodox seeds and vegetatively
propagated
▪ Research on germplasm health and transfer procedures - SMOGS
- techniques for storing seed in imbibed conditions
- in vitro techniques, especially tissue and embryo culture
- cryopreservation, which permits the long-term storage of seed and tissue
- management of germplasm in living collections (field genebanks)
▪ Establishment of IPGRI in 1993 - work expanded
- Forest genetic resources
- On farm (in situ) conservation
- Legal issues and policies
- Cryopreservation protocols
- Recalcitrant Seed storage behaviour
▪ Management and use of ex situ collections
▪ Development of manuals and tools for conservation and use of PGR
▪ Training courses - capacity building
Seed conservation
▪ Long term conservation – genetic diversity and integrity. The purpose of any conservation
activity is to conserve material as long as possible in a viable state and in good quality.
▪ Conventionally PGR has been conserved as seeds which the are the most convenient form for ex
situ conservation. However different species have seeds which behave differently under
conventional storage systems.