Crop Genebank Knowledge Base

Category A

Conserving and making available the collection 

2. Long-term storage and management of the collection according to agreed scientific and technical best practices.
Refer to the FAO/IPGRI Genebank Standards (1994), the crop-specific guidelines pages, the safe transfer of germplasm pages and the regeneration guidelines.

2a.1

Facilities/equipment meet long-term storage standards - Yes/No/In Progress

Long-term storage requirements involve specific temperature, light, moisture control, physical space and use of packaging appropriate for individual crops. For vegetative accessions it involves cryopreservation. 

2a.2

A capital depreciation plan is in place - Yes/No

Capital depreciation is a term used to describe the process of attributing the purchase cost of an asset over its useful life. A capital depreciation plan should provide details of the categories of capital assets held and the time period over which those assets are depreciated.

2b.1 

% of seed accessions stored under long-term conditions

The target for this indicator is 100%. 

2b.2

% of vegetative accessions stored in cryopreservation

The targets are still to be determined for individual crops.

2c

% of seed accessions requiring seed viability testing

Assuming you have a plan for required monitoring of seed viability, state what % of seed accessions still require viability testing. The target is to have no backlogs in seed viability testing.

2d.1

% of seed accessions requiring regeneration to restore viability

Assuming you have a plan for required regeneration, state what % of seed accessions still require regeneration. The target is zero.

2d.2

Are there accessions held in vitro that are in need of being planted out and checking for trueness-to-type? If yes, what % of the in vitro collection?

2e

% of accessions free of quarantine high risk pathogens

3. Safety duplication of the collection

3a.1

% of seed accessions safety duplicated in an off-site storage facility 

3a.2

% of in vitro collection safety duplicated in an off-site storage facility 

3b.1

% of seed accessions stored in Svalbard Global Seed Vault

3b.2

% of cryopreserved collection safety duplicated in an off-site storage facility

4. Characterization of the collection 

4a.1

% of accessions for which at least half of the standard minimum descriptor set has been recorded

For 2008, the standard minimum descriptor set has been taken to be a key subset of the old descriptors, comprising 37 descriptors for sativa and glaberrima and 46 descriptors for wild relatives. A full list of the descriptors is available on request.

4a.2a

% for which at least six isozymes have been recorded

4a.2b

% for which at least 20 isozymes have been recorded

4a.2c

% characterized using current, modern techniques and specify the technique used

5. Documentation of the collection and provision of data in publicly available information systems 

5

% of accessions in your collection with data available (from any institutional source) on the web

For definitions see: http://www.bioversityinternational.org/nc/publications/publications/publication/
publication/developing_crop_descriptor_lists_guidelines_for_developers.html  

5a

     passport data

5b

     characterization data

5c

     evaluation data

6. Distribution of germplasm in accordance with the International Treaty on PGRFA

6a.1

Response rate (%) from customer satisfaction surveys

6a.2

Average rating of customer satisfaction (from surveys) 

Use the scale of response from 1 - 5

6a.3

What % of requests for germplasm were you able to meet? 

6a.4

For those not able to be met, what were the main constraints for the unavailability of germplasm?

Categories for unavailability include: low viability; low stock; diseases; difficult to regenerate; other.

6b

Number of samples distributed outside the host institute

Do not include samples distributed for virus indexing purposes or for providing other conservation-related services.

6c

Number of distinct accessions distributed outside the host institute

6d

Number of new/different accessions distributed outside the host institute (compared to baseline – past four years)

6e

Number of countries distributed to

Category B

Promoting global collaboration in crop conservation

7. Collaboration in crop conservation

7a.1

Number of coordination and/or networking mechanisms the genebank is involved in with regard to PGR conservation and use

7a.2

Please list them 

7b.1

Number of leadership actions the genebank has taken that furthers the implementation of the relevant global crop strategy

7b.2

Please list them

7c.1

How many institutes requested your institute to provide safety duplication services? 

7c.2

How many requests have been made for any other conservation services from external institutes (e.g. tissue culture, multiplication, disease indexing or therapy, etc)?

8. Improving the coverage of the genepool ex situ (including analyzing and filling gaps in collections) in partnership with other genebanks

8a.1

Geographic and/or taxonomic coverage of the collection assessed?- Yes/No/In Progress

8a.2

If yes, what % of the total cultivated genepool does the collection represent?

8a.3

If yes, what % of the genepool of primary wild relatives does the collection represent?

8b

Number of new accessions acquired

8c

Number of collaborative collecting activities for gap filling

9. Providing training and capacity building to others (external to the organization)

9a

Number of people trained and description of key activities

Please categorize trainees, for example: Undergraduate students; postgraduate students; technicians; researcher; farmers; others.

9b

Number of institutes to whom you have provided technical backstopping activities and describe key activities

Technical backstopping activities include: providing specific technical or scientific advice in informal or formal interactions.

10. Developing links to users and promoting use 

10a

Number of germplasm recipients in each of the following categories (please only use one category per recipient):

10a.1

ARIs

10a.2

CGIAR Centre

10a.3

Commercial company (private)

10a.4

Farmer or farmer organization

10a.5

Genebank

10a.6

Germplasm network

10a.7

Individual

10a.8

NARS

10a.9

NGO

10a.10

University

10a.11

Unknown

10a.12

Other

10b

Number of ‘new’ germplasm recipients (compared to baseline – last four years)

10c

Are your publications that include information on Centre germplasm accessions available to patent examination offices via databases, such as the European Patent Office's (EPO) non-patent literature (NPL) database? - Yes/No