July 2013

Source: AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center newsletter

The AVRDC South Asia office inaugurated its new seed cold store on 3 July 2013 with colleagues from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, the International Water Management Institute and the International Livestock Research Institute.

Regional Director Warwick Easdown officially cut the ribbon to open the seed store following a traditional blessing ceremony and cracking of a coconut led by the office staff. Incorporated into the South Asia office building, the cold store houses AVRDC’s regional germplasm collection of more than 700 accessions of 80 species.

It also contains the AVRDC legume program regional seed stocks and more than 650 kg of leafy vegetable seeds for disaster seed packs.

Tomar Omvir Singh, long time curator of the regional seed collection, led visitors to view the facility, which will play a vital role in supporting AVRDC’s regional research and development work.

Set at 5 °C and 40% humidity, it provides medium-term storage, and replaces the aging refrigerators, desiccators and borrowed shelf space that were used in the past.

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: July 28, 2013