Climate Change and Food Production
- Climate change is causing radical environmental changes, leading to lower productivity and higher food prices.
- Agrobiodiversity conservation is crucial for food security and the availability of diverse and affordable food.
Plant Conservation Strategies
- In situ conservation preserves plants in their natural environment or where they are traditionally managed.
- Ex situ conservation preserves plants outside their natural environment in genebanks, which are repositories of plant diversity under controlled conditions.
- Germoplasma refers to specialized cells containing hereditary genetic material passed down through generations.
- Different conservation strategies are used depending on the plant species and their reproductive characteristics.
Seed Conservation
- Seeds that can withstand dehydration and freezing are preserved in cold chambers at -20°C and can survive up to 100 years.
- Plants that cannot be conserved as seeds, such as potatoes and cassava, require different conservation methods like field conservation, in vitro conservation, and cryogenics.
- Cryogenics involves preserving plant cells in liquid nitrogen at -196°C, allowing them to survive for centuries.
Seed Banks
- The International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru, is part of an international consortium focused on preserving plant diversity and ensuring food security.
- Nikolai Vavilov established the world's first national seed bank in 1922 to preserve crop diversity and address food production challenges.
- Currently, there are over 1500 seed banks worldwide, preserving millions of plant varieties for food and agriculture.
- Seed banks play a crucial role in preserving crop diversity and providing access to researchers for developing new varieties adapted to changing environmental conditions and resistant to diseases.
- The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure facility located in the Arctic that stores backup copies of seeds from around the world.
Challenges and Successes
- Seed banks face challenges, such as the loss of seed banks in Afghanistan, Syria, and the Philippines due to conflicts and natural disasters.
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions to seed banks, leading to the loss of biodiversity.
- The International Seed Bank of Syria was able to preserve its collection by having a backup deposit at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
- CIP conserves over 5000 varieties of potatoes, repatriating lost varieties to farmers affected by climate change and supporting food security.
- CIP also distributes germplasm to over 100 countries and conducts research on biofortified crops, such as vitamin A-enriched sweet potatoes, to address malnutrition.
Cryogenic Preservation
- Crops that cannot be preserved as seeds, such as potatoes, yams, and cassava, are being conserved through in vitro and cryogenic preservation at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru.
- CIP is building a new facility called the Cryo Vault to serve as a backup repository for clonal crops from Latin America.
