Taina, Taiwan
April 9, 2010

Source: Newsletter of the World Vegetable Center
by Andreas Ebert, Global Theme Leader - Germplasm, AVRDC Genetic Resources and Seed Unit

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, and AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is part of the celebration and the ongoing discussion. Take a moment to consider the Center’s contribution to global food and health security through the conservation of diverse vegetable germplasm and the promotion of vegetable consumption.

The world’s current food production system is challenged by greater weather variability, higher average temperatures, increased numbers of extremely hot days, shorter growing seasons, increased
moisture stress, added salinity from salt water intrusion and irrigation systems, and new combinations and strains of pests and diseases. Future food security will rely on the germplasm stored in international, national, and regional genebanks, where plant breeders will discover the traits to develop a new generation of resilient, climate ready crops as the base for farming systems that capture more carbon and emit fewer greenhouse gasses.

Among major crop groups held in ex situ collections by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and regional or national institutes and programs, vegetables come in fourth place with 7%, after cereals (45%), food legumes (15%), and forages (9%).

When AVRDC was founded in 1971, the Center started off with a modest collection of 570 accessions. By 1995, the genebank had grown to 43,205 accessions, comprising 63 genera and 209 species. To date, the Center has accumulated 57,230 accessions comprising 168 genera, 420 species from 154 countries of origin, a growth of 32.5% in number of accessions, 166.7% in number of genera, and 101% in number of species. AVRDC’s vegetable germplasm collections, held as an international public good for the world community, are growing in genetic diversity.

The Center actively exchanges genetic resources and expertise with national programs, regional organizations, and the private sector. Since its founding the Center has distributed more than 591,000 seed samples to researchers and breeders in 201 countries, which has led to the release of hundreds of different vegetable varieties throughout the world with particular impact in developing countries. The web-based AVRDC Vegetable Genetic Resources Information System (AVGRIS) documents the passport, characterization, and evaluation data for the vegetable genetic resources in our collections.

Hunger, malnutrition, climate change, water shortages, loss of biodiversity, rising energy and food prices: The challenges are many, and will demand a diversity of responses— including vegetables.

More information:
Food and Agriculture Organization, Draft Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, October 2009
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/017/ak528e.pdf

In the AVRDC genebank

For the following vegetable crops, AVRDC is among the seven largest ex situ collection holders:

• Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) 
  AVRDC is the largest holder of tomato germplasm worldwide, holding 9% of the 83,680 accessions held worldwide.
• Capsicum (pepper)
  AVRDC is the largest holder of Capsicum germplasm worldwide, holding 11% of the 73,534 accessions existing worldwide.
• Solanum melongena (eggplant)
  AVRDC is the second largest holder of eggplant accessions worldwide, holding 14% of the 21,032 accessions held worldwide.
• Glycine (soybean)
  AVRDC is the fourth largest holder of soybean germplasm with 7% of the 229,947 accessions held worldwide.
• Legumes (forage crops)
  AVRDC is the fourth largest holder of legume crops worldwide, holding 6% of the 183,145 accessions held worldwide.
• Brassica (rape)
  AVRDC is the sixth largest holder of Brassica germplasm worldwide, holding 4% of the 25,557 accessions held worldwide.
• Corchorus (Jute)
  AVRDC is the sixth largest holder of jute accessions, holding 1% of the 11,708 accessions held worldwide.
• Allium
  AVRDC is the seventh largest holder of Allium germplasm, holding 4% of the 29,954 accessions held worldwide.

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: April 9, 2010