Genebanks

Genebanks are repositories that preserve genetic material of crops, their wild relatives, livestock, and microorganisms for long-term conservation and research. They aim to maintain genetic diversity, support breeding, ecosystem restoration, and sustain agricultural productivity.

The most common are seed banks for orthodox seeds; other forms include cryogenic and in vitro banks for recalcitrant seeds, cuttings, and cell cultures. In microbial genetics, culture collections preserve strains. Genebanks typically store material under controlled conditions, maintain viability by regular viability testing, and repropagate as needed. They also maintain passport data: species, accession number, origin, accession description, and associated agronomic traits.

Management involves collection, documentation, evaluation for diversity, duplication to protect against loss, and legal frameworks for access and benefit-sharing. Data standards and global networks help share information and seeds or materials. Examples of international initiatives: Svalbard Global Seed Vault, CGIAR gene banks, FAO/IBPGR networks, and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. They act as backup repositories for global crop diversity.

Importance and challenges: essential for breeding and resilience to climate change, pests, and diseases; they support food security and biodiversity. Challenges include funding, political instability, seed viability over time, and legal access restrictions. The future of genebanks involves improving cryopreservation, expanding digital catalogs, and strengthening international cooperation.