The ICRISAT genebank collects over 120,000 germplasm accessions that provide genetic resources for crop improvement programs globally. Over 800 varieties developed from ICRISAT germplasm have been released in 79 countries. Several ICRISAT landraces and accessions have been released as varieties that resulted in economic gains and increased yields. The collection also includes over 2,800 wild relatives of mandate crops that are sources of biotic and abiotic stress resistance traits important for agriculture. Evaluation of mini core collections has identified promising sources for traits such as nutritional quality, drought tolerance, and disease resistance.

1. Sept 2012
Impact of Conserved Germplasm
Impact highlights
™™ The ICRISAT collection
of >120,000 germplasm
accessions provides an
insurance against genetic
erosion, making readily available
for present and future crop
improvement programs globally.
™™ NARS partners have released
over 800 varieties in 79
countries utilizing germplasm
and breeding lines from
ICRISAT.
™™ IS 18758, a popular
sorghum landrace from
Ethiopia, was released as
Gambella.
™™ IP 17862, an Iniadi pearl
millet landrace from Togo, is
a promising source used in
developing many varieties at
ICRISAT.
™™ ICC 11879, a chickpea
landrace released in eight
Mediterranean countries.
™™ ICP 7035, a pigeonpea
landrace collected in India,
was released as a variety
in India, China, Nepal,
Philippines and Fiji.
™™ ICP 8863, a
wilt resistant
pigeonpea
landrace
released
as Maruti in
India, resulted
in an economic gain of US$61
million by 1996, with a 65%
internal rate of return.
™™ ICG 12991,
a groundnut
accession
released as
Nematil in
Mozambique,
as Baka in
Malawi, as Serenut 4T in
Uganda, and as Msandile in
Zambia.
™™ IEC 542,
a barnyard
landrace
originating
in Japan,
was
released
as PRJ 1 in Uttarakhand state
of India in 2003. Grain yield
from this variety was 45.4%
higher than that from local
variety VL 29.
™™ Repatriation of native collections
(55,181 accessions) to 9
countries in Asia and Africa has
helped NARS in these countries
to regain access to a precious
heritage that would otherwise
have been lost.
™™ Vegetable pigeonpea has
potential for commercial
exploitation.
™™ Morphological mutants such
as dwarfs and leaf variants
identified in mandate crops
during characterization have
been used extensively in
academic studies.
Wealth from the wild
™™ Crop Wild Relatives contain
a wealth of adaptive
traits and higher levels of
resistance for both biotic
and abiotic stresses.
™™ The ICRISAT genebank
conserves over 2,800 wild
accessions of mandate
crops belonging to 168
species.
™™ Cicer bijugum and C.
echinospermum are
resistant to fusarium wilt.
™™ Twenty Arachis species
were found promising for oil
content, protein and total
sugar content.
Pennisetum
pedicellatum,
a source
for downy
mildew
resistance.
Pennisetum purpureum, a source
for high green fodder yield.
Cajanus scarabaeoides, a source
for early maturity and pod borer
resistance.
Cajanus platycarpus, a source
for extra early maturity and
phytophthora blight, pod borer,
podfly and bruchids resistance.
Cajanus albicans, a wild relative of
pigeonpea, source for high seed
protein.
Arachis cardenasii, a source
for resistance to late leaf
spot and rust diseases.
™™ Strengthening of genebanks
in several countries through
training, networks, information,
and germplasm exchange
helped sustainable germplasm
conservation.
™™ Collections have contributed
to increased productivity and
significant economic benefits.
™™ Sources of high protein, zinc,
iron and ß-carotene (yellow
endosperm) identified in the
collections are very useful for
addressing malnutrition among
the rural poor.
™™ Molecular characterization
of mini core and trait-specific
subsets will further reveal
the usefulness of germplasm
accessions in allele mining.
International Public
Goods (IPGs)
™™ Mini core collections are now
International Public Goods
and serve as a gateway to
access the genetic diversity
by the global research
community.
Genebank as a
treasure trove of genes
™™ Scientists at ICRISAT have
identified several promising
sources for biotic and abiotic
stress resistance, agronomic
and nutritional traits.
™™ Evaluation of mini core
collections at ICRISAT
and by NARS in different
countries also resulted in the
identification of promising
sources.
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Numberofaccessions
Crop
(-) Figures in parenthesis are number of countries where in these accessions
were directly released as cultivars
Sorghum
(17)
Chickpea
(15)
Pigeonpea
(7)
Groundnut
(14)
Finger millet
(1)
Pearl millet
(3)
Barnyard
millet (1)