Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

Background

Among the services that the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC) currently constitutes, the Genebank and Herbarium Service, is the oldest and adequately organized one. The service maintain collections of plant material-with the aim of keeping them alive and preserving their characteristics for their future benefit and the environment. The plants maintained include economically important food crops (mainly primitive cultivars their weedy and wild relatives as well as modern cultivars), horticultural plants, forages, medicinal plants and trees.

The Genebank and Herbarium Service of Institute of Biodiversity is set up to undertake:

1. Long-term conservation of national plant genetic resources;
2. Regeneration and Multiplication of conserved Germplasm;
3. Introduction of germplasm;
4. National and international exchange of germplasm and information;
5. Training, education, and organization of technical meetings with respect to plant genetic resource conservation.

The mentioned duties of the Service involve a range of activities which make the germplasm more useful to other scientists. Some of these functions are: (1) Acquisition of new germplasm samples, (2) Seed quality and quantity analysis, (3) Seed viability testing, (4) Multiplication/regeneration of germplasm, (5) Documentation and exchange of information on germplasm, (6) Conservation of germplasm, (7) Supply of germplasm, (8) Collaboration with other plant genetic resource centers, (9) Research (e.g. seed physiology).

In order to achieve these duties, the Service constitutes three sections and two laboratories namely, (1) The Seed Physical Purity and quantity analysis laboratory; (2) The Standard Germination laboratory; (3) Seed drying (Equilibration) section; (4) Seed Storage, distribution and quantity monitoring section and (5) Herbarium section. Duties and activities of the Laboratories and the sections is outlined in the next part.

Laboratories and Sections in the Service

Seed Physical Purity and quantity analysis laboratory
Seed Physical Purity and quantity analysis involves: seed cleaning as well as setting limits to the minimum number of seed that has to be accepted for long term storage in the Genebank. It can vary from 3,000 for a homogeneous population sample to 12,000 for a heterogeneous population sample. Important activities are performed in the Physical Purity and quantity analysis, namely determination of purity percentage, determining the proportion of impure seeds as well as the 1000 seed weight of a given sample. The latter one is essential to decide whether the seed sample is sufficient for long term storage. Any fewer seed is refused or multiplication might be recommended for certain types of species.
A total of 8 people are currently serving in the Laboratory. Five of them are mainly working as seed cleaner while the remaining three are involved in quantity determination as well as monitoring activities. The laboratory has a capacity of processing more than 3000 accessions annually. Basic Laboratory Equipment required for seed processing are in place. However, additional Equipment are necessary to process some kind of seeds such as forage and pasture.

Seed drying and packing section
In this section, seeds types exhibiting Orthodox Storage behavior are dried (equilibrated) at 15 percent Relative Humidity (R.H) and Temperature (Tº) of 15 – 20ºc. The drying period of the seeds is predicted from estimates of their initial moisture content. The seeds are prepared for drying and subsequently dried. The moisture content is determined again; if it is not low enough or stable, the seeds are dried for a longer period. The Oven dry method and direct moisture testing using equipment are used for determining the moisture content.

Whenever the seeds are sufficiently dried or equilibrated at the indicated R.H and Tº., they will be taken out from the drier room. The dried seeds are then subdivided into 8 parts (5 parts for active collections while the remaining 3 are for base collections). Finally seeds are packed in such a way to prevent absorption of water from the atmosphere. Two seed drier rooms with a capacity of more than 4500 accessions annually are managed by the section. One junior researcher, one laboratory technician and two laboratory assistances are currently working in the section. Together with seed drying and packing activities, the section is also planning to participate in the seed physiology studies.

Seed viability testing Laboratory
It is essential that the curator is able to assess accurately the initial viability of accessions prior to storage and then to monitor the viability of them during storage. Initial viability (before storage) and monitoring viability of stored seeds is undertaken in this Laboratory. Standards set by FAO/IPGRI, 1994, for viability monitoring in genebanks are generally used. Two laboratory technicians along with two laboratory assistances are serving in the section.

The Laboratory has a capacity of testing about 3600 seed samples of field crops annually. In the future seed samples from species requiring dormancy breaking and those samples taking long period of time for germination (e.g. Forest seeds) are expected to rise. Thus the laboratory is working to build capacity both in terms of skilled personnel as well as laboratory facilities.

Seed storage, distribution and quantity monitoring section
Genebank curators have interest in the conservation of plant genetic resources because of the potential uses of this germplasm. Genebanks are biodiversity reservoirs and sources of alleles for sustainable genetic enhancement of plant crops. The Institute has made effort to collect mainly landraces, in some cases wild species and improved cultivars. Cultivars that are becoming obsolete will also be conserved in the near future. More than 60000 accessions are so far conserved in the Genebank (Fig. 1). Vast majority of these accessions are landraces.

The section is also promotes the broad utilization of plant genetic resources both within the country as well as at International levels. About 78000 seed samples (Fig. 2) are so far distributed from the Genebank holdings. Ninety percent of the distributed sample is for local research organizations involved in crop improvement while the remaining is distributed worldwide. Germplasm supplied by the Institute helped the generation of improved crop cultivars constituting valuable traits conferring increased yield, resistance to biological and environmental stresses.

Four cold rooms running at -10ºc with capacity of nearly 350m3 are currently used for long term storage. In the year 2007-2008, the Institute is planning to install new cold room with capacity of at least 100m3 which will noticeably boost the long term storage capacity of the Genebank. One researcher, three Laboratory technicians and two laboratory assistances are currently dealing with all the conservation and distribution activities.

Herbarium section
The Herbarium section is less organized both in terms of skilled personnel and facilities such as sufficient working places. Thus, it is less functional compared to other Laboratories and Sections in the Service. However, some activities (e.g. identification of taxa) are performed in collaboration with National Herbarium (NH), Addis Ababa University. In the future the Institute is planning to improve the section both in skilled personnel and required additional facilities.

Main constrains and/or challenges

The Flora of Ethiopia is estimated to be nearly 70000 which constitute the major species used for food and agriculture. The country is also center of origin/domestication for globally important plant species. Though the Genebank of the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation has made a remarkable effort in conserving germplasm of major food crops, there are still a lot that need to be conserved in the ex-situ (Genebank). A number of species (suspected of having seeds exhibiting Orthodox storage behavior) are in the short term storage awaiting long term storage. A large majority of these seeds species are from horticultural, forages, medicinal and trees species. Major constrains/challenges for not being able to build up the Genebank’s Long term holdings in terms of number of species are:
(a) Lack of adequate information on germination related problems (e,g. dormancy breaking mechanisms, storage behavior).
(b) Lack of alternative storage facilities for the existing conventional cold store, as for example, In-vitro and Cryo-preservation methods

It is therefore, a collaborative research involving the IBC Genebank and the International institutes working on plant genetic resource conservation is highly encouraged. The Institute is trying its best to use alternative storage methods other than the conventional Seedbank. Participation with the capacity building for In-vitro and Cryo-preservation storage methods, both in terms of training specialists and supporting with facilities is also highly esteemed.