Finding Vegetable PGR

WIEWS

There is no proper overview of all germplasm collections in the world. An attempt has been made by the FAO, that created the 'World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS)'. In addition to presenting interesting reading material about PGR conservation, it offers a database of all PGR collections in the world that are known to WIEWS. You can search this database to find which institutes maintain what material.

Svalbard

When describing the genebanks of the world, one has to start with the largest, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. This is a back-up seed vault where since 2008 all genebanks in the world can store a safety backup of their collections in the permafrost of the Norwegian island. It is a facility providing security to the PGR conservation community, a so-called 'Doomsday Vault', but it is not a direct source of material for PGR users since no material can be requested from them.

International Centers: CGIAR / AVRDC

Major genebanks have been created by the centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), 'a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for sustainable development with the funders of this work' as the CGIAR describes itself. Ten of the research institutes organized in the CGIAR manage PGR collections with over 700,000 accessions that are exceedingly rich in farmers’ varieties. These collections focus on staple crops and are generally well managed and readily available, but hardly include vegetable crops. The vegetables that can be found in the CGIAR collections are beans (CIAT), potato and sweet potato (CIP) and legumes (ICARDA, ICRISAT and IITA). These collections can sometimes be accessed via the institute website. However, they can all be found in Genesys, a new database that will ultimately give access to all the world's PGR collections, and currently holds the information of over two million accessions maintained by the CGIAR, USDA and in European national collections.

Associated with the CGIAR is the AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center (formerly known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center). Its collection harbours over 70,000 genebank accessions representing a wide variety of vegetables, the most important being Allium, Brassica, pepper, tomato, eggplant, soybean and several other legumes. The collection can be searched through Genesys, but it is also possible to search the advanced breeding materials through their own website. AVRDC charges handing fees which depend on the organization providing the material and type of material.

National Genebanks

The list of national genebanks is quite large. One of the largest and best accessible is the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) of the USA. It maintains over 500,000 accessions, including vegetables, which can be searched through Genesys, but better through their own system: GRIN. GRIN provides a wealth of associate information, including characterization and evaluation data and taxonomic information. Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) has its own, smaller version of GRIN that gives access to its over 100,000 accessions, also including many vegetables. The GRIN-Global Project also allows the collections of many other countries to be searched through GRIN.

The collections of the European national genebanks can be searched through EURISCO, with over two million accessions. The information in EURISCO can also be accessed via Genesys. Several genebanks have their own website with additional functionalities, such as searching characterization and/or evaluation information, online ordering, searching pictures, etc. See for example NordGen (for the Nordic countries), IPK (Germany), CRI (Czech Republic) and CGN (The Netherlands).

The collections of most national genebanks outside Europe and North America are more difficult to access, mostly because the information is not electronically accessible, not offered in the English language, or not readily available to foreign users. Some of the national genebanks that do not offer information in the English language might offer genetic resources, but you will have to approach the contact persons with your queries. An example is the Chinese genebank operated by the Chinese Academy for Agricultural Sciences, that offers a small part of its website in English.

Obviously, there are exceptions. One of the accessible national genebanks outside Europe and North America is the genebank of Japan maintained by NARO. It lists over 200,000 accessions, of which over seven thousand vegetables of various species. NARO charges handing fees depending on the type and amount of material.