Integration of Conservation Strategies of Plant Genetic ... - Genres

Germany the Gatersleben institute was newly founded in 1992 as Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop
Plant Research including stations in northern (Groß Lüsewitz, Malchow, Güstrow) and southern parts
(Dresden-Pillnitz) of eastern Germany with special collections comprising now nearly 100.000
accessions.
The material in the genebank derived to a large part from collecting missions. After relatively scanty
activities in the first years the Gatersleben genebank carried out an intensive collecting programme in
the 70ies and 80ies (table 3).
Table 3: Collecting missions conducted by the
Gatersleben staff, 1974-1990
Collecting area (year) No. Accessions
Czechoslovakia (1974, 1977, 1981)
Eastern Germany (1975-1984)
Poland (1976, 1978, 1984)
Spain (1978)
Italy (1980-1989)
Libya (1981-1983)
Georgia, former USSR (1981-1989)
Austria (1982, 1983, 1985, 1986)
Ethiopia (1983, 1984)
Korean DPR (1984-1989)
Mongolia (1985, 1987)
China (1986, 1988)
Iraq (1986)
Cuba (1986-1990)
Central Asia, Former USSR (1987,
1988)
Colombia (1988)
Peru (1988)
1.153
694
442
344
2.077
468
2.709
265
186
530
67
67
141
517
141
112
37
Total 9.950
Source: Hammer (1993b)
The material in the genebank is offered to the user community by publishing Indices seminum (table 4).
For the special use of plant breeders since 1981 an extensive supplementum of cultivars is published
every four years (Supplementum cultivarorum). The indices also contain information on the results of
evaluations.
Thus the genebank material is accepted by the users, as can be seen from table 5. The number of
accessions provided directly for plant breeders is relatively low. But we have to consider that material
from genebanks is often of little direct use for plant breeding. In most cases germplasm enhancement is
necessary which is usually done by groups of scientists engaged in breeding research. The material
ordered by these groups has been put into the category "Research institutes, collections etc." in table 5.
Table 6 shows the amount of material which underwent a further evaluation (Blixt and Williams 1982)
in departments of the Gatersleben institute or in other institutes (Hammer 1991c). The evaluation work
reflects the economic importance of the crop groups for plant breeding. Cereals have been intensively