Unlocking genebanks to ensure food and nutrient security and environmental stability

Germplasm conservation in the manmade genebanks has been an important ex situ conservation method to safe guard genetic diversity of crops for utilization in crop improvement programmes and posterity. Large scale depletion of genetic diversity from nature and farmers field has generated an urgent need to manage the genetic resources and safeguard indigenous traditional knowledge associated with their uses. During last 5-6 decades several genebanks have been established by national systems and CG Centers to conserve plant germplasm. Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR) has taken up extensive program to collect, characterize and conserve the existing genetic diversity of indigenous crops. More than 0.4 m accessions of diverse crops have been conserved in seed bank, cryogenebank and in vitro repository. More than 3000 accessions of citrus, underutilized fruit species and their wild relatives have been collected and conserved in the cryogenebank in the form of seed, embryos and embryonic axes. There has been a greater emphasis by genebanks on adding value to the conserved germplasm to enhance its utilization during last 2-3 decades. In the present paper management of genetic resource in the genebanks, need for utilization and strategies being used by various genebanks for adding value to germplasm by unlocking the vaults have been discussed. The importance of genebank conserved germplasm for food and nutritional security and environmental sustainability have been discussed.