This document summarizes a presentation on germplasm collection activities. It discusses the importance of germplasm collection for conservation and breeding purposes. It describes different sources and types of germplasm collection, as well as methods, components, and techniques for collection. Key institutions for germplasm storage in Pakistan and internationally are also outlined. Both merits such as conservation of genetic diversity and risks like disease entry are reviewed. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of collection to avoid loss of indigenous germplasm.

1. Germplasm collection activities
Presented to: Dr Zahid Akram
Course:PBG-508

2. Presentation content
Topic Presenter
Introduction & Why we collect germplasm Rana Asif Abbas (Group leader)
Sources of germplasm &Types of collection Ali Hassan khan & Qurat-ul-ain
Methods of germ plasm collection Ahsan Ali
Components of collection(planning) Bisma Wahab Khan
Components of collection(Implementation) Samna Munir & Shaista Hussain
Collection techniques for germplasm
Documentation of germplasm
Processing of germplasm
Mazz Hassan & Asfand Yar
Germplasm collecting institutions Ibrar Khan & Tanveer Ahmad
Merits and demerits of germplasm collection Aneesa Noor
Concluding remarks Aneesa Noor

3. What is Germplasm
 It is Sum total of genes in a crop species so act as Library of all different types of
alleles of a crop species
 It is basic material which can be used to start a breeding program
Germplasm is living tissue from which new plants can be grown. It can be a seed or another plant
part – a leaf, a piece of stem, pollen or even just a few cells that can be turned into a whole plant.

4. Why we Need to collect germplasm?
 To save a genetic eroded species or species which is subjected to extension.
 A species which is needed for study at national level or international level.
 When we need to know more about a crops germplasm.
 A species is required in a breeding program.

5. Sources of collection
Center of
diversities
Gene bank
Gene
sanctuaries
Seed
companies

6. Chinese Center:
 It is largest and oldest center.it contains region of central and western china.
 Crops of this center are soybean, leaf mustard, orange, china tea etc.
Indian center:
 It includes assam , Burma , Malaya , Philippines and Sumatra.
 Rice ,chickpea, brinjal, jute ,African millet etc. are major crops of this center.
Center of diversities:
 It is geographical area where a group of organism first develop its distinctive properties

7. Central Asiatic center:
 It includes Afghanistan, north west India,
tajikstan.it is also known as Afghanistan
center of origin.
 Bread wheat, club wheat, lentil, pear,
sesame, safflower, flax, radish, walnut and
apple.
Asia Minor center:
 This is also known as near east or the Persian
center of origin.
 it includes durum wheat,, bread wheat, two
row barley, rye etc.

8. Gene bANKS
 It is place where germ plasm can be preserved/stored in the form of seeds, pollen or in vitro cultures.
Merits:
 A large number of germplasm can be stored at a small space.
 It is easy to handle germplasm in a gene bank.
Demerits:
 Failure of power supply may be lead to loss of germplasm.
 Seed of some recalcitrant species cannot be stored.
Field gene banks:
 The plants that do not produce seeds readily are stored as a permanent living collection.
 They are used as source of germplasm for species ;like coconut, rubber, mango, yam and cocoa.
 Malaysia oil palm has been conserved on 500hectares.
 Indonesia coconut and other perennial crops have been conserved on 1000 hectares.

9. Gene sanctuaries
 They are the areas in natural habitats that have great genetic diversity and are saved
from human intervention. E .g natural parks and biosphere reserve.
 In these centers the crop species cannot be preserved as it maintenance and
establishment is hard task.
 India Develop first gene sanctuary in the garo hills of assam for wild relatives of citrus.
 In Ethiopia gene sanctuaries for conservation of the wild relatives of coffee was setup in
1984.

10.  Seed companies are the major source of germplasm collection.
 They have variety of seeds of each crop.
 The germplasm collection must be done from certified seed companies to avoid any chance of
mishap or contamination in germplasm.
 Some companies are world wide certified to use their germplasm such as
Seedcompanies
SINGER
Crop Wild Relative Global
Portal
WIEWS
EU plant variety database
GENESYS
CIMMYT

11. Types of collection
The germplasm collection of any crop consist of diverse types of collections such as :
1-Derived from canters of diversities:
 Primitive cultivars
 Natural hybrids between cultigen and wild relative
 Wild relatives
 Related species and genre
2-Derived from areas of cultivation:
 Commercial Types
 Obsolete varieties
 Primitive varieties
 Special purpose types
3-Drived from breeding program:
 Pureline from farmers stock
 Elite varieties or hybrids
 Breeding lines
 Mutants
 Interspecific hybrids

12. Methods of collection
Through expedition to the areas
 Collecting methodologies depend on a number of factors, including the biology of the targeted
taxon and the objectives of the expedition.
 Important sites to visit, considerations number of plants in the to field sample, include sampling
number techniques, and the number and type of propagules to sample from each plant
By personal visits
 The other way is you can go out there in field and collect by yourself this one is little bit time
consuming personal visit is good at some point you will be satisfy with your collection
Through
expeditions to
the areas
By personal
visits
Through
correspondence
Through
exchange of
materials

13. Through correspondence
 Samples can be obtained by correspondence if it is known that diversity in an area of interest
was already collected.
 In accordance with Article 15 of the CBD, which clearly states that access to genetic
resources shall be on mutually agreed terms, material should not be acquired until its status
with regard to conservation, distribution and use are clearly defined through formal
agreements with the donors.
Through exchange of material
 If you want to get the germplasm in exchange of something there are some rules and policies
you have to follow such as
 Who owns the germplasm?
 How do we respect the rights of the owner?
 What are those rights?
 What are we allowed to do with it?
 Can we donate it to others?
 Can we use it for breeding and research?
 Can we sell it to others? Can we claim it as ours?
 Can we protect it from others? How do we ensure that we do only what we are allowed?
 How do we assure others that we do only what we are allowed?

14. Components of collection activity
Planning Implementation

15. Planning of collection Mission for farmers maize field:
 The collecting proposal (Why, what, when, where, who and how)
 Eco geographic and diversity surveys (target taxa and area)
 Site selection (plots and layout): treatments (number of samples per trials, control
treatments) and data collection and analysis
 Team size and composition, transport, itinerary, duration and equipment and local
people budget
 Logistical planning (best time to collect, techniques, documentation, maps, languages,
contacts)
 Emphasis by germplasm collecting missions is thus laid on an understanding of
prevalent genetic diversity in different areas/crops and the field tactics involved.

16. Collecting mission proposal
 Justification of the mission by area and species .
 Map showing location of specific target areas.
 Sampling strategy, itinerary, dates, timing and transport
 Description of follow-up activities.
 Administrative arrangements and budget.
Site selection:
 Should be well spread throughout the occurring(wild) or the production(
cultivated species) areas different agro ecological zone)
 Some collection sites should be also selected in marginal production
areas where rare varieties may be found
 Logistics: site accessibility and resources availability

17. Implementation of plan
Sampling procedure
Role of local community
Collection techniques
Sampling Procedure:
 There are 2 types of sampling:
 Random sampling
 Biased sampling
 Random sampling is not appropriate because it will overrepresent abundant clones at
the expense of rare ones.
 A two step procedure involving farmers at both community and individual level is
recommended.
 Make an inventory of morophytes.
 A sample of 50-100 individuals should be collected per site with seeds per plant

18.  There is a valid tool 4-CA use it and classify existing varieties in 4 groups and than involve
farmers.
• Common varieties
• Common but threatened varieties
• Rare but not threatened varieties
• Rare varieties
 Ask farmers to confirm identity of sample before numbering and recording data.

19. Role of farmers:
 Help to understand their preferences.
 Locating target areas and material.
 Deciding what to collect and how.
 Providing valuable traditional knowledge.

20. Collection techniques
For seed collection:
 Collect from 50-100 individual per site.
 If morphological variation is present, make separate samples of each type.
 Take whole inflorescence as well as seed where necessary.
 Take photographs of the specimen.
 Make herbarium specimen where possible.
For vegetatively propagated species:
 These may be cuttings, buds, whole plant, seedlings or tubers.
 Give same collection number if seed come from the same plants as the vegetative samples.
For collecting wild vegetatively propagated species:
 Collect just a single propagule from each 10-15 individuals as a bulk sample.

21. Germplasm Documentation
The proper documentation of collected plant genetic resource is required to properly conserve,
manage and use biodiversity.
For this purpose international standard descriptors should be used.
Collection data is also known as passport data and refer to the data reported when the sample was
first collected.
The data includes where, when and what was collected?
• Collection date
• Collector’s name, number and institute
• Country, province or state of collection
• Locality, latitude, longitude and altitude of collection site
• Origin of sample (household garden, market or farm)
• State of sample (wild, landraces or advanced cultivars)

22. Germplasm processing
A successful collecting program does not end once the team is back from the field.
Check germplasm samples and prepare them for storage and distribution.
Complete the documentation of the material.
A report must also be written and circulated widely. So, that interested scientists worldwide may be
informed of the availability of potentially useful material.
 Seed and vegetative samples should be checked on a regular basis for insect and fungal attack.
 If seed samples are being dried the silica gel may be have to changed.
 Samples of fleshy fruits in plastic bags will need to be aerated regularly and checked for rotting.
 Drying papers in herbarium presses must be changed every couple of days and dry specimens
should be removed.

23. Follow-up activities
Collectors themselves often follow up their fieldwork with:
 Multiplication
 Characterization
 Evaluation
 Research and breeding

24.  Plant Genetic Resources Institute hosts the sole National Gene bank of Pakistan for
conservation of plant genetic resources and six labs including germplasm exploration lab
1. Seed preservation lab.
2. In vitro conservation lab.
3. Germplasm evaluation lab.
4. Plant introduction and seed health lab.
5. Data management lab.
6. The institute also has green houses and field area for conducting experiments.
Germplasm storing &collecting institutions
Pakistan

25. National Gene bank of Pakistan:
 National Gene bank of Pakistan
at Plant Genetic Resources
Institute has two types of
conservation facilities for the
seed of orthodox crop species at
low temperature and relative
humidity.
 These facilities include active
collection and base collection.
These two types of collections
complement each other.
 The seeds are stored at 10°C
and 40 percent relative humidity
in active collection and at 5°C
and 40 percent relative humidity
for base collection.

26. Other germplasm collection and storing institutions in
Pakistan are :
 Ayub agriculture research center(AARI-Faisalabad)
 National agriculture research center (NARC-Islamabad)
 Central cotton research institution (CCRI-Multan)
 Barani agricultural research institution (BARI-CHAKWAL)

27. International
 Australian Plant Genetic Resource Information Service (AusPGRIS)
 Czech Republic - Information System on Plant Genetic Resources (EVIGEZ)
 Germany - Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
 Italy - CRA
 The Harold and Adele Lieberman Germplasm Bank
 Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement (ICCI)
 New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research
 Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR)
 Sweden - Stored material at the Nordic GenBank
 Switzerland - Conservation of PGRFA – Swiss National Database
 The Netherlands - Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN)
 United States of America - National Plant Germplasm System

28. Merits and demerits of germplasm
collection
Merits:
 Cells and tissues of different plant species can store and cryopreserved for a long time.
 Species that are at the edge of extinction their genetic material can be conserved.
 It helps to propagate the species whenever we need them.
 With the help of germplasm conservation we can collect and conserve disease and insect free
plant material.
 It is an ideal method for long term conservation of cell cultures.
 Recalcitrant seeds can be maintained for a long period of time.
 We can conserve somaclonal variations in culture.
 We can conserve pollens.
 It also helps to share information about different genetic materials on the international level
through germplasm banks.
 It requires small space.

29. Demerits/risks:
 Collection of germplasm can leads to the entry of new diseases or insects especially if taken
from other countries.
 It is a tedious job.
 Cells/ tissues can be damaged during cryopreservation.
 Sometimes when working in remote areas we can encounter wild animals alike snakes lions,
tigers etc. These involve risk of life.
 For conservation of germplasm we need sophisticated facilities.
 They demand greater skills in handling and management.

30. Concluding remarks
 We have seen how to collect different resources
 We have seen Institutions in Pakistan and On international level
 One thing to remember that Collection is starting point of any breeding
program
 Its importance on national level should be recognized.
 We have lost many indigenous germplasm of fruits( muskmelon) we
should make efforts to avoid any further loss.
 As future plant breeders its our duty to take steps in this regard.