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

Plant germplasm coming from abroad undergo quarantine tests at one of the 7 introduction quarantine
nurseries. After that, accessions are forwarded to the Plant Resources Department. These departments are
organized according to the principle of closely related crops. For example, wheat and triticale are studied
at the Department of Wheat; maize, rice, buckwheat, sorghum, etc. - at the Department of Maize and
Small Grains; clover, alfalfa, timothy and other grasses - at the Department of Fodder Crops, and so forth.
The experts of each department perform primary evaluation of the received accessions and hand them
over to the methodological laboratories engaged in studying plant immunity, physiology, cytology,
molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics. By the results of these studies, most promising samples are
selected.
To study accessions from different countries in the most appropriate climate and soil conditions, the
Institute operates a network of experiment stations. They are spread from Kola Peninsula (Polar Region)
to the Caucasus (subtropics), and from the European part of Russia to the Far East. At these statons the
collections undergo two conventional stages of assessment: (1) field evaluation, and (2) laboratory
evaluation.
During the field assessment of germplasm VIR's experts examine peculiarities of plant biology and
morphology or, in other words, phenological phases of vegetation, duration of the vegetation period,
yield, disease and pest resistance, heat and frost tolerance, resistance to draught, excessive moisture and
other environmental stress factors. Afterwards the morphological description of plants is made. All this
work is performed by appropriate techniques and against the background of commercial (standard)
varieries. Finally every accession acquires a passport, where all importnat biological and morphological
characters are registered, and the deviations from the standard (i.e. positive and negative features) are
included.
The experts of each experiment station, department or laboratory examine definite aspects of the life of
plants, which correspond to their field of research. This makes it possible to obtain maximum information
about the value of accessions preserved in the collection, and so to extend the passport data accumulated
by the researchers from the Plant Resources Departments.
The studied germplasm is further made available for breeding centres and is used in national breeding
programmes.
The most crucial goal of the Vavilov Institute is to conserve the entire collection, which may be classified
into four groups:
- genetic diversity from the centres of origin;
- landrace populations of folk breeding;
- cultivars of modern breeding, and
- genetic lines, introduced mutants and other new forms obtained experimentally.
The Institute has a special Laboratory of Seed Testing, which controls seed germination and viability, and
a long-term storage facility at the Kuban Experiment Station near Krasnodar, where 200,000 seed
accessions are now conserved in sealed containers at the temperatures between +1° C and +4° C. The longterm
storage experts pursue the task of raising the level of investigations for further improvements of
storage techniques and, ultimately, increasing the safety of the plant germplasm under storage.
The staff of VIR consists of 400 employees. Among them there are 220 researchers and 180 technical
staff workers including loboratory assistants with higher agricultural education. The staff of VIR's
experiment stations consist of 1,400 people, 540 of which are researchers.
The collection of the world's plant genetic diversity, founded by Vavilov himself, his associated and