Chapter 8: Sources of information on existing germplasm collections

E. Bettencourt
Genetic Resources, Ecophysiology and Plant Breeding Unit, Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos, I.P. (INRB, I.P.),
Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária (INIA), Oeiras, Portugal. (currently on leave of absence)
E-mail: eliseu.bettencourt(at)gmail.com

This chapter is a synthesis of new knowledge, procedures, best practices and references for collecting plant diversity since the publication of the 1995 volume Collecting Plant Diversity; Technical Guidelines, edited by Luigi Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and Robert Reid, and published by CAB International on behalf of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) (now Bioversity International), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The original text for Chapter 8: Sources of Information on Existing Germplasm Collections, authored by M. C. Perry and E. Bettencourt, has been made available online courtesy of CABI. The 2011 update of the Technical Guidelines, edited by L. Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and E. Goldberg, has been made available courtesy of Bioversity International.

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	Bits and pieces from different sources combine to create reliable sources of information. (Photos: E. Bettencourt; except photo lower left corner: F. Rocha/BPGV, Portugal.)

Abstract

This update of chapter 8 of the Technical Guidelines, on sources of information on existing germplasm collections, looks at new developments in information technology and available data, supplementing the information in the original chapter. It takes into account two types of data sources: data maintained in electronic storage-and-retrieval systems at the institutional, national, subregional, regional and global level; and data made available in the specialized scientific literature. This review and update does not pretend to be exhaustive but, rather, to identify examples that will give users an idea of the situation regarding information on plant genetic resources, from which they can extrapolate to identify and explore other ways of finding, identifying, analysing and making use of the information available.

Introduction

Information technology is a rapidly evolving field where news of technological innovations, new tools and breakthroughs has a permanent place in the headlines. Even if we don’t realise it, information technology is, for better or for worse, inextricably associated to our day-to-day life. For those who deal with large amounts of data and have the need to store, retrieve, analyse and use information, information technology is a blessing that cannot be praised highly enough.

The planning, organization and carrying out of missions for collecting germplasm started, in a scientific manner, in the 1920s. These missions have been based on an understanding of the importance of biodiversity in the production of more and better foods – and more recently, a realization of the important role that biodiversity plays in helping to address the challenges of climate change and constantly evolving pests and diseases, by providing a source of new materials and knowledge.

The total number of germplasm accessions maintained in ex situ collections worldwide is estimated as 7.4 million, but in spite of this apparently vast genepool, it is estimated that fewer than 30% (1.9 to 2.2 million) of this total are unique accessions (FAO 2010). The need for further diversity is a reality, and collecting must continue in order to fill in the diversity gap in existing germplasm collections.

Since the 1995 publication of these Technical Guidelines, a great deal of germplasm has been collected: approximately 240,000 new accessions (FAO 2010). And new technologies for recording, storing, managing and retrieving data have become available.

This update of the chapter on sources of information on existing germplasm collections attempts to synthesize these new developments and to supplement the information in the original chapter.

Current status

Despite data being available in greater quantity and quality than ever before, it is not always recorded and maintained in a format that makes it easily, readily and universally available. However, “if there's a will, there's a way”, and provided that the data exists, there will be always a way to make the most of it.

In this update, two types of sources are considered:
1. data maintained in electronic storage-and-retrieval systems at the institutional, national, subregional, regional and global level
2. data made available in the scientific literature

Presently, many institutions maintaining germplasm collections have the information concerning their holdings online. If one wants to collate information about a particular geographical area or a specific species, it may be worth starting with a search of the holdings of either genebanks located in the target region or genebanks for which the target species is the focus of their research.

Sources of information at the accession/sample/species level

At the genebank level

The following genebanks have information on their holdings online:

• Centre for Genetic Resources, Plant Genetic Resources (CGN-PGR), the Netherlands (www.cgn.wur.nl/UK/CGN+Plant+Genetic+Resources)

• Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany (www.ipk-gatersleben.de/Internet)

• Centro de Recursos Fitogenéticos (C.R.F.), Spain (wwwx.inia.es/webcrf/CRFing/PaginaPrincipal.asp)

• N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), Russian Federation (www.vir.nw.ru/data/dbf.htm)

• Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia (EMBRAPA), Brazil (www.cenargen.embrapa.br)

• ISOPlexis, Universidade da Madeira, Portugal (http://www3.uma.pt/isoplexis/index_eng.html)

• Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, UK (http://data.kew.org/sid/about.html)

The information systems of these genebanks allow the user to browse, search and view information on their germplasm holdings. Many offer the possibility to download the search results, and some include a function for requesting germplasm samples.

At the national level

Many countries have established national inventories on plant genetic resources that are freely and widely available online. This enables participating countries to contribute to their biodiversity and conservation obligations at the national level and to meet the requirements of international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GPA), the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“the Treaty”) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

• Australian Plant Genetic Resource Information Service (AusPGRIS) (www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/extra/asp/auspgris)

• National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Austria (www.genbank.at)

• Genetic Resources Institute of the National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan (www.cac-biodiversity.org/aze/aze_instgen.htm)

• Canadian Plant Germplasm System (PGRC) (http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/about-propos_e.html)

• Plant Genetic Resources Documentation (EVIGEZ), Czech Republic (http://genbank.vurv.cz/genetic/resources)

• Estonia (www.sordiaretus.ee)

• Bureau des Ressources Génétiques (BRG), France (www.brg.prd.fr/index.php)

• Informationssystem Genetische Ressourcen (GENRES), Germany (www.genres.de/pgrdeu)

• Japan National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) Genebank (www.gene.affrc.go.jp/databases_en.php)

• Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (www.lzi.lt)

• Centre for Genetic Resources, Plant Genetic Resources (CGN-PGR), the Netherlands (www.cgn.wur.nl/UK/CGN+Plant+Genetic+Resources)

• Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) (www.nordgen.org/ngb)

• Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR), Poland (www.ihar.edu.pl/gene_bank)

• N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) (www.vir.nw.ru/data/dbf.htm)

• Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (www.kis.si/pls/kis/!kis.web)

• Centro de Recursos Fitogenéticos (CRF), Spain (wwwx.inia.es/webcrf/CRFing/PaginaPrincipal.asp)

• USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Genetic Resources Program (NGRP), USA (www.ars-grin.gov)

These national inventories collate information from different data sources (germplasm collections) and constitute a network of centres and people dedicated to conserving the genetic diversity of crop plants and their wild relatives.

At the regional/subregional level

At the regional and subregional level, there are initiatives to collate and make available data on national holdings. These initiatives are normally undertaken to assist countries in meeting their national, regional and global commitments regarding documentation and information on their plant genetic resources.

An example of such a regional initiative is EURISCO (http://eurisco.ecpgr.org/home_page/home.php), a web-based catalogue that provides information about ex situ plant germplasm collections maintained in Europe. The EURISCO catalogue contains passport data on more than 1 million accessions of crop diversity from 41 countries, representing 5,396 genera and 35,235 species (genus-species combinations including synonyms and spelling variants). EURISCO is hosted at and maintained by Bioversity International on behalf of the Secretariat of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR).

ECPGR also maintains a series of European central crop databases established through the initiative of individual institutes and of ECPGR working groups. The ECPGR Central Crops Databases (ECCDBs) (www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/germplasm_databases/list_of_germplasm_databases/crop_databases.html#c5509) include the following:

• Cereals: Avena, Barley, Maize, Secale, Triticale, Wheat

• Forages: Dactylis, Festuca, Lolium, Phleum, Poa, Medicago (annual and perennial), Minor Forage Grasses (Agropyron, Agrostis, Alopecurus, Arrhenatherum, Bromus, Phalaris, Trisetum), Minor Forage Legumes (Astragalus, Anthyllis, Coronilla, Desmodium, Hedysarum, Lotus, Melilotus, Onobrychis, Ornithopus, Physanthyllis, Tetragonolobus, Vicia), Trifolium spp., Trifolium subterraneum, Vigna

• Oil and Protein Crops: Arachis, Cicer, Glycine, Lathyrus, Lens, Lupinus, Phaseolus, Pisum, Vicia faba, Vigna

• Sugar, Starch and Fibre Crops: Hemp, Beta, Flax, Potato (cultivated), Potato (wild bearing tubers)

• Temperate Fruits: Malus, Prunus, Pyrus, Ribes/Rubus, Vitis, Minor Fruit Trees

• Vegetables: Allium, Brassica, Chicory, Cucurbits, Cyphomandra, Physalis, Eggplant, Lactuca, Beta, Lettuce, Minor Leafy Vegetables, Pepino, Pepper, Potato (cultivated and wild), Spinach, Tomato, Umbellifer

The databases hold passport data and, to varying degrees, characterization and primary evaluation data of the major collections of the respective crops in Europe.

The Eastern Africa Plant Genetic Resources Network (EAPGREN) is a regional project of the national agricultural research systems of Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda, aimed at strengthening collaboration, networking and linkages between the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources at both the national and subregional level.

The objective of the EAPGREN data portal (www.nordgen.org/portal/index.php?scope=eapgren&PHPSESSID=4pa906im0ghl5ll2il8u80l5d1) is to publish passport data of all the documented accessions in the EAPGREN countries. This information is published according to the List of Multi-crop Passport Descriptors (MCPD). The data set contains 3,932 records searchable through a simple search form.

An example of a subregional network can be illustrated by the South East European Development Network on Plant Genetic Resources (SEEDNet) (www.seednet.nu), a network of 13 countries of the Balkan region. The available data (199,325 records) can be searched for accessions either originating or stored in the SEEDNet region.

There are a number of regional networks for plant genetic resources in all continents. Although they do not have a centralized online system with information about the participants’ germplasm holdings, they are an important entry point for finding information. Some examples are given below.

The Mesoamerican Plant Genetic Resources Network (REMERFI), was established in the early 1990s by seven Mesoamerican countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama), aiming at strengthening the national programmes for plant genetic resources of Mesoamerican countries through collaborative research and training. The network serves as a platform for countries to address key issues on the conservation and use of their plant genetic resources at the regional level. Information can be sought by contacting the regional coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (IPGRI 2001).

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have pooled their resources and established the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) (www.sadc.int/fanr/agricresearch/spgrc/index.php) in Lusaka, Zambia, where the base collection for long-term storage is maintained and activities for the region are coordinated. The individual national plant genetic resources centres (NPGRCs) maintain active collections for short-term storage for immediate use in crop improvement.

The genebank information for the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Network has been standardized through the development of the SPGRC Documentation and Information System (SDIS) at SPGRC and installed at all the NPGRCs. In addition, an assessment of existing collections that are held by plant breeders and in genebanks in the various countries has been carried out, together with herbaria surveys of important indigenous crops and their wild relatives. However, the information is not centralized and is maintained and managed by each of the individual member countries.

The Genetic Resources Network for West and Central Africa (GRENEWECA) was created in 1998 and comprises the national programmes for the genetic resources of West and Central Africa, regional or international institutions of research, and nongovernmental organizations in the subregion. One of the main duties of the network is to “facilitate the circulation and exchange of information within as well as among member countries and those outside the network”. More information can be obtained from the network coordinator: R. S. Vodouhe, Bioversity International (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

ECPGR maintains a list of PGR regional networks, which can be consulted and accessed through the following link: (www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/networks/inter_regional_coop/pgr_regional_nw_coordinators.html).

At the global level

As its germplasm information-exchange network, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and its partners implemented the System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER) (http://singer.cgiar.org), which provides easy access to information about the diversity maintained by SINGER members, covering more than half a million accessions of crops and wild relatives.

As a result of the collaboration between Bioversity International on behalf of the CGIAR, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Secretariat of the Treaty, a global portal to information about plant genetic resources has been established, bringing together data from SINGER, EURISCO and the US Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). The portal, GENESYS (www.genesys-pgr.org), is a gateway through which germplasm accessions from genebanks around the world can be found and ordered directly through the web interface. In addition to passport data, the system provides access to characterization and evaluation data as well as to environmental information associated with the accessions’ collecting sites.

From 1974 to 2003, Bioversity International (under its previous names of IBPGR and IPGRI) supported germplasm collecting missions around the world. The IBPGR/IPGRI Supported Missions Database (http://singer.cgiar.org/index.jsp?page=coll-sample-data) gives access, at a sample level, to passport data for about 130,000 samples, as well as access to 27,000 original reports, collecting forms and other documents in PDF format.

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm;jsessionid=37820DBEE26CAA62FAB10ADD1EE5B67D) is focused on making biodiversity data available online for scientific research, conservation and sustainable development. Enabling access to 293,485,946 data records, the GBIF information infrastructure is an internet-based index of a globally distributed network of interoperable databases that contain primary biodiversity data: information on museum specimens, field observations of plants and animals in nature, and results from experiments. The search interface also supports searches about the occurrence of species at particular times and places.

Sources of information at a metadata level

The FAO World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS) (http://apps3.fao.org/wiews/wiews.jsp) is both a dynamic worldwide mechanism to foster information exchange and an instrument for the periodic assessment of the state of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

WIEWS maintains information on country profiles, including the structure of 190 national programmes and activities for plant genetic resources, as well as information on worldwide ex situ collections, containing summary records (metadata) of germplasm holdings on 7,184,418 accessions of 53,109 species, reported by more than 1,500 national, regional or international genebanks.

There are over 2,500 botanic gardens worldwide, maintaining 80,000 plant species, representing nearly one-third of all known plant species (FAO 2010). Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) was established in 1987 as a small secretariat under the auspices of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Today, BGCI is an international organization with over 700 members and other partners from 118 countries worldwide and has the mission “to ensure the world-wide conservation of threatened plants, the continued existence of which are intrinsically linked to global issues including poverty, human well-being and climate change”. BGCI maintains a database, PlantSearch (www.bgci.org/plant_search.php), which can locate rare and threatened plant species in cultivation around the world. The database, presently including over 575,000 records, is compiled from lists of living collections submitted to BGCI by the world's botanic gardens. It also maintains a database, GardenSearch (www.bgci.org/garden_search.php), with over 2,826 records, that can find a botanic garden (member or not) anywhere in the world.

Globally, there are approximately 3,400 herbaria with approximately 10,000 associated curators and biodiversity specialists. These herbaria, collectively, maintain an estimated 350,000,000 specimens. The Index Herbariorum, a Global Directory of Public Herbaria and Associated Staff (http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp), keeps records for each herbarium on street and web address, number and type of specimens and history as well as names, contact information and areas of expertise of associated staff.

Sources of information in the scientific literature

Although not specifically addressing plant genetic resources, there are other tools that can help to unearth data from web-available sources.

Zanran (www.zanran.com) is a good example of such tools. Zanran is a search engine that unearths data in charts, graphs and tables. It indexes and maps the numerical content on the web, finding “semi-structured” data, which could be anything from a graph in a PDF report, a table in an Excel spreadsheet or a bar chart shown as an image on an HTML page. In the near future, it will also process PowerPoint and Word documents. The system examines millions of images and determines whether they are a graph, chart or table and if they have numerical content.

A test search made using the indicator “germplasm” yielded 1,753 matching results. Hovering the mouse over the PDF icon on the left column opens a document-preview window, facilitating the identification and selection of desired documents.

The test search results varied from data on germplasm characterization and germplasm duplication to germplasm distribution and the holdings of germplasm collections.

Besides source data housed in electronic storage and retrieval systems, there are enormous amounts of valuable data made available in the scientific literature as well as through “grey literature” like the reports of collecting missions and field notebooks. In spite of its value and importance, such information is not in a format that makes it easily, readily and universally available. The need for recording and maintaining data in a way that is easily, readily and universally available has prompted initiatives to digitalize and make available original collecting reports.

In addition, many accounts of germplasm collecting trips have been published in specialized journals like the FAO/Bioversity International Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter. An index of articles from issues 25 to 100 of the Newsletter and from issues 1 to 24 of the FAO Plant Introduction Newsletter (the previous title of the publication) has been published, facilitating the search and selection of information, although they are not available online at this time.

ECPGR publishes the Newsletter for Europe (until recently on hard copy and now in PDF format) and Bioversity International publishes a series of regional or network-related newsletters, which, in many issues, carry articles and notices on the results of germplasm collecting missions.

Bioversity’s website (www.bioversityinternational.org), under the label “publications”, offers a search facility that provides access to a number of these newsletters in PDF format.

Other sources of information

As pointed out by Lister (2011), natural history collections comprise not only the products of opportunistic collecting but are also repositories of major surveys, particularly in the major national museums and institutions. Coupled with the availability of accurate provenance data on the material, they can provide a rich source of data.

Museum specimen labels and registers ideally indicate the place and date of collection. However, even when such information is available, considerable work may be required to make it accessible for research, for example, by georeferencing obscure place names and entering all records onto an electronic database.

Although data on material held in natural history collections is sometimes not in a format that is easily, readily and universally accessible, this information represents an invaluable source of data and can prove to be extremely useful in collating information on past plant surveying and collecting as well as being an important repository of environmental and ecological information.

University museums contain some of the richest and most extraordinary collections in the world, and historic collections provide historical snapshots of past biodiversity. They are a rich source of material for studies in phylogenetics, population dynamics and conservation biology (MacDonald and Ashby 2011). Again, in many cases, the existing data may not be in a readily usable format but, nevertheless, it is of great importance and worth consulting and analysing.

Future challenges/needs/gaps

It is estimated that a considerable amount of information still lies on genebank shelves in the form of field notebooks, reports of collecting missions and collectors’ notes. It is certainly a challenge but also necessary to have that valuable data analysed and recorded in a way that facilitates access to it, thus promoting the use of the germplasm with which this information is associated.

The existing and available information systems on plant genetic resources are priceless sources of information, although data on characterization and evaluation tend to be poor or absent. Closing this gap by adding this information, thus fostering the use of germplasm, would represent a giant step towards addressing the threats these resources and agriculture are facing, from changes in climate and constantly evolving pests and diseases.

Conclusions

During the time since the publication of the Technical Guidelines in 1995, the dissemination of information through the internet has increased tremendously in both quantity and quality.

Today, there is more information available than ever before and, despite the fact that it is not always recorded and maintained in a format that makes it easily, readily and universally available, the user has access to an enormous number of data sources.

This review and update of the chapter 8, on sources of information on existing germplasm collections, does not pretend to be exhaustive but, rather, to identify examples that can give the user an idea of the actual situation in the field of information on plant genetic resources.

The user will be able to extrapolate from these examples, to go on to identify and explore other ways of finding, identifying, analysing and making use of information on past germplasm collecting missions and to build on this information in the planning and implementation of future explorations and collecting missions.

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References and further reading

FAO. 1996. Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Available online (accessed 29 September 2011): www.globalplanofaction.org/servlet/CDSServlet?status=ND1ncGEmNj1lbiYzMz0qJjM3PWtvcw~~.

FAO. 2010. The Second Report on The State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Available online (accessed 29 September 2011): www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1500e/i1500e.pdf.

IPGRI. 2001. REMERFI: A platform to use agrobiodiversity in Mesoamerica. Newsletter for the Americas 7(1):6–7.

Lister AM, et al. 2011. Natural history collections as sources of long-term datasets. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26(4): 153–154.

MacDonald S, Ashby J. 2011. Campus treasures. Nature 471:164–165.

Sharrock SL. 2011. The biodiversity benefits of botanic gardens. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26(9):433.

Internet resources

Agricultural Institute of Slovenia: www.kis.si/pls/kis/!kis.web

Australian Plant Genetic Resource Information Service (AusPGRIS): www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/extra/asp/auspgris

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), GardenSearch: www.bgci.org/garden_search.php

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), PlantSearch: www.bgci.org/plant_search.php

Bureau des Ressources Génétiques (BRG), France: www.brg.prd.fr/index.php

Canadian Plant Germplasm System (PGRC): http://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/about-propos_e.html

Centre for Genetic Resources, Plant Genetic Resources (CGN-PGR), the Netherlands: www.cgn.wur.nl/UK/CGN+Plant+Genetic+Resources

Centro de Recursos Fitogenéticos (C.R.F.), Spain: wwwx.inia.es/webcrf/CRFing/PaginaPrincipal.asp

CGIAR System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER): http://singer.cgiar.org

EAPGREN data portal: www.nordgen.org/portal/index.php?scope=eapgren&PHPSESSID=4pa906im0ghl5ll2il8u80l5d1

ECPGR Central Crops Databases (ECCDBs): www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/germplasm_databases/list_of_germplasm_databases/crop_databases.html#c5509

ECPGR list of PGR regional networks: www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/networks/inter_regional_coop/pgr_regional_nw_coordinators.html

Estonia: www.sordiaretus.ee

EURISCO: http://eurisco.ecpgr.org/home_page/home.php

FAO World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS): http://apps3.fao.org/wiews/wiews.jsp

GENESYS: www.genesys-pgr.org

Genetic Resources Institute of the National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan: www.cac-biodiversity.org/aze/aze_instgen.htm

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm;jsessionid=37820DBEE26CAA62FAB10ADD1EE5B67D

IBPGR/IPGRI Supported Missions Database: http://singer.cgiar.org/index.jsp?page=coll-sample-data

Index Herbariorum, a Global Directory of Public Herbaria and Associated Staff: http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp

Informationssystem Genetische Ressourcen (GENRES), Germany: www.genres.de/pgrdeu

ISOPlexis, Universidade da Madeira, Portugal: http://www3.uma.pt/isoplexis/index_eng.html

Japan National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) Genebank: www.gene.affrc.go.jp/databases_en.php

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, UK: http://data.kew.org/sid/about.html

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany: www.ipk-gatersleben.de/Internet

Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture: www.lzi.lt

N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), Russian Federation: www.vir.nw.ru/data/dbf.htm

National Genetic Resources Program (NGRP), USA: www.ars-grin.gov

National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Austria: www.genbank.at

Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden): www.nordgen.org/ngb

Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR), Poland: www.ihar.edu.pl/gene_bank

Plant Genetic Resources Documentation (EVIGEZ), Czech Republic: http://genbank.vurv.cz/genetic/resources

Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia (EMBRAPA), Brazil: www.cenargen.embrapa.br

SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC): www.sadc.int/fanr/agricresearch/spgrc/index.php

South East European Development Network on Plant Genetic Resources (SEEDNet): www.seednet.nu

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Chapter 19: Collecting and recording data in the field: media for data recording

M. Way
Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, UK
E-mail: m.way(at)kew.org

This chapter is a synthesis of new knowledge, procedures, best practices and references for collecting plant diversity since the publication of the 1995 volume Collecting Plant Diversity; Technical Guidelines, edited by Luigi Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and Robert Reid, and published by CAB International on behalf of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) (now Bioversity International), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The original text for Chapter 19: Gathering and Recording Data in the Field, authored by H. Moss and L. Guarino, has been made available online courtesy of CABI. The 2011 update of the Technical Guidelines, edited by L. Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and E. Goldberg, has been made available courtesy of Bioversity International.

Please send any comments on this chapter using the Comments feature at the bottom of this page. If you wish to contribute new content or references on the subject please do so here.

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	Michael Way, of Kew, collecting Ephedra andina for the Millennium Seed Bank. . (Photo: J. Drori/Board of Trustees, RBG Kew.)

Abstract

While the medium for data recording in the field remains paper forms and notebooks for many genetic resource conservation programmes, the direct capture of geolocation, image and associated data in digital form is increasingly practiced. Portable computers have proven utility for recording field data. They can be preloaded with standardized descriptor lists for a project or mission, enabling swift output of data for checking and uploading to the main project database. This allows for greater standardization, accuracy and completeness of data, as well as potential time savings.

Current status

For many genetic resource conservation programmes, the medium for data recording in the field remains paper forms and notebooks because of their inherent reliability and flexibility, but the direct capture of geolocation, images and associated data in digital form is increasingly practiced worldwide.

Portable computers

Portable computers now have proven utility for recording field data, and when used to full potential, they can be preloaded with standardized descriptor lists for a project or mission, enabling swift output of data for checking and uploading to the main project database. This allows for greater standardization, accuracy and completeness of data, as well as potential time savings.

Field laptops

Field laptops (specified for their resilience in field conditions) have been useful for data capture in the United States Seeds of Success programme (Byrne and Gordon 2009) when preloaded with collectors’ software developed by BG-BASE, Inc. but the sensitivity of laptops to dust and moisture, together with limited battery life, has limited their use for prolonged fieldwork.

Hand-held computers

More promising has been the use of compact hand-held computers (notably the Portable Data Assistant, PDA). The team from the Embrapa-Cenargen Herbarium in Brazil have used the Newton screen with Elcen software to facilitate the collection and transfer of standardized data from multiple herbarium specimens at a single location (Cavalcanti et al. 1998).

In projects compiling data for the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Species and Specimens Database (http://dps.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/UKOT) a more comprehensive database with extensive dictionaries for vegetation type, threat and habitat characteristics has been loaded into PDAs that include an integrated global positioning system (GPS). In bad weather these devices have been used within protective covers, but the speed of development of PDAs will bring increasingly robust and powerful tools into the market, which can be of practical use for germplasm collecting teams. The most significant obstacle to wider use (the limited battery life of this equipment) can be overcome either by carrying flexible photovoltaic panels that can be deployed at the collection site or by fitting solar panels to the roof of the expedition vehicle for periodic recharging of equipment batteries. Advice on the options available is set out in chapter 13 of the Field Techniques Manual of the Royal Geographical Society (McWilliam et al. 2005).

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References and further reading

Byrne M, Gordon P. 2009. Seeds of Success: Using technology to help build a national collection of native seed. Public Garden 24(3):21–22. Available online (accessed 3 October 2011): www.nps.gov/plants/sos/news/Byrne%20and%20Gordon,%20Public%20Garden,%20vol24%20no%203.pdf.

Cavalcanti TB, Rezende A, Togawa R, Rodrigues P, Favilla LM, Neshich G. 1998. A new field-tested electronic system for gathering, recording, transfer and dissemination via the world wide web. Taxon 47(2):381–386. Available online (accessed 3 October 2011): www.cbi.cnptia.embrapa.br/~neshich/PDFs%20GN/7.8.pdf.

McWilliam N, Teeuw R, Whiteside M, Zukowskyj P. 2005. Field Techniques Manual: GIS, GPS and Remote Sensing. Royal Geographical Society, London. Available online (accessed 3 October 2011): www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/8B549B39-9F2E-4D3B-B856-8A100AE2CCC2/0/Chapter13FieldEquipment.pdf.

Internet resources

BG-Base Collections Management Software: www.bg-base.com

United Kingdom Overseas Territories Species and Specimens Database: http://dps.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/UKOT

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Chapter 22: Collecting vegetative material of forage grasses and legumes

J. Hanson
International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
E-mail: j.hanson(at)cgiar.org

M. van de Wouw
Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN), Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
E-mail: markvandewouw(at)yahoo.co.uk

This chapter is a synthesis of new knowledge, procedures, best practices and references for collecting plant diversity since the publication of the 1995 volume Collecting Plant Diversity; Technical Guidelines, edited by Luigi Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and Robert Reid, and published by CAB International on behalf of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) (now Bioversity International), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The original text for Chapter 22: Collecting Vegetative Material of Forage Grasses and Legumes, authored by N. R. Sackville Hamilton and K. H. Chorlton, has been made available online courtesy of CABI. The 2011 update of the Technical Guidelines, edited by L. Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and E. Goldberg, has been made available courtesy of Bioversity International.

Please send any comments on this chapter using the Comments feature at the bottom of this page. If you wish to contribute new content or references on the subject please do so here.

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References for this chapter

	Different forage grasses and legumes in a field genebank. (Photo: ILRI)

Abstract

Recent literature on forage collection has focused on seed collection, site selection and sampling strategy. New approaches using ecogeographical information and GIS mapping techniques have improved site selection targeting, sampling design and capture of more representative diversity from natural populations.

Introduction

While the reasons outlined in the original chapter for collecting forage grasses and legumes remain valid, a review of current literature comes up with very few references that cover collecting methods for vegetative material of forage grasses and legumes. As mentioned in the original chapter, the collection of vegetative material poses problems related to sample size, speed and transport due to the weight and bulk of vegetative cuttings compared to seeds. In addition, vegetative samples require more careful handling to avoid damage to the material before reaching the home base. This has led most collectors to focus on seed collection whenever possible and to avoid vegetative material by carefully timing collections to coincide with peak seed ripeness before shattering. Vegetative collection is usually restricted to those cases where it is the only practical option, such as for grass species that rarely or never produce seeds or for fodder trees that might take many years to flower and seed or when material is urgently required.

Current status

Recent advances in forage collection have focused on the use of targeting to better identify the areas and timing for collection. For example, the use of modelled ecogeographic attributes has been applied to the collection of forage germplasm in Southern Russia (Hart et al. 1996; Greene et al. 1999). The strategy for this collection was to make decisions on area and taxa for collection using map analysis combined with observations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the sampling design. This approach allowed better targeting of sampling gradients across collection-site habitats in order to acquire forage germplasm adapted to a broad range of environmental conditions. It can be used for either vegetative or seed-producing species.

Several collections that have been made for forage legumes and grasses over the past 15 years have been reported in the Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter. The most recent of these are reports on collection of forage legumes in Greece (Shackle et al. 2001), Medicago in Kazakhstan (Greene et al. 2005), Centrosema, Stylosanthes and Desmodium in Venezuela (Guenni et al. 2006) and forage legumes and grasses in the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine (Diederichsen et al. 2007). However, most have focused on seed collections, and the reports do not address collecting methodologies. Several do address the use of mapping and GIS to determine sampling strategy and site selection to maximize the capture of genetic diversity within target species. It is now common to use GIS datasets to identify areas with specific soil types or climatic conditions within the distributional range of a species in order to target specific collection sites with a high probability of finding genotypes with specific adaptations to edaphic factors, or to maximize landscape diversity in collections, as described in detail by Greene et al. (2005).

Future challenges/needs/gaps

The major challenge in the collection of forages as vegetative material is to find ways to use new developments in modified atmosphere packing to improve storage conditions during transport and to reduce the weight and bulk of cuttings but to still have sufficient material to increase survival rates during shipping back to base. If this challenge could be overcome, the advantages of collecting vegetative cuttings (which provide more rapid growth and establishment than seeds) could be realized.

Conclusions

Improved targeting using ecogeographical information and GIS mapping techniques have been applied to forage collection to improve sampling design and the capture of more representative diversity from natural populations. However, there have been few advances in the collecting methodology and practical methods of handling vegetative material in the field.

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References and further reading

Diederichsen A, Boguslavskij RL, Halan MS, Richards KW. 2007. Collecting plant genetic resources in the eastern Carpathian Mountains within the territory of Ukraine in 2005. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 151:14–21.

Greene SL, Hart TC, Afonin, A. 1999. Using geographic information to acquire wild crop germplasm for ex situ collections: I. Map development and field use. Crop Science 39:836-842.

Greene SL, Hannan R, Afonin A, Dzyubenko NI, Khusainov A. 2005. Collecting wild crop relatives in the northwestern steppes of Kazakhstan. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 141:1–6.

Guenni O, Calles T, Gil JL, Fariñas J, Rodríguez I, Espinoza F, Sanabria D, Schultze-Kraft R. 2006. Surveying and collecting native Centrosema, Stylosanthes, and Desmodium germplasm in Venezuela. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 148:38–43.

Hart TS, Greene SL, Afonin A. 1996. Mapping for germplasm collections: site selection and attribution. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling. National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Santa Barbara, CA. Available online (accessed 3 October 2011): www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/conf/SANTA_FE_CD-ROM/sf_papers/hart_thomas/thart.html.

Shackle HS, Bennett SJ, Snowball R, Samaras S, Francis C, Maxted N. 2001. The ecogeography and collection of forage legumes in the east Aegean Islands, Greece. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 128:55–63.

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Chapter 24: Collecting in vitro for genetic resources conservation

V. Pence
Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, USA
E-mail: valerie.pence(at)cincinnatizoo.org
F. Engelmann
IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement), Montpellier, France
E-mail: florent.engelmann(at)ird.fr

This chapter is a synthesis of new knowledge, procedures, best practices and references for collecting plant diversity since the publication of the 1995 volume Collecting Plant Diversity; Technical Guidelines, edited by Luigi Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and Robert Reid, and published by CAB International on behalf of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) (now Bioversity International), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The original text for Chapter 24: Collecting In Vitro for Genetic Resources Conservation, authored by L. A. Withers, has been made available online courtesy of CABI. The 2011 update of the Technical Guidelines, edited by L. Guarino, V. Ramanatha Rao and E. Goldberg, has been made available courtesy of Bioversity International.

Please send any comments on this chapter using the Comments feature at the bottom of this page. If you wish to contribute new content or references on the subject please do so here.

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References for this chapter

Internet resources for this chapter

	Alcohol-sterilized shoot tip being placed in a vial of growth medium for transport. (Photo: V. Pence.)

Abstract

Since this topic was reviewed in 1995, a technical bulletin as well as some additional reports using in vitro collecting (IVC) have been published, but the general needs and applications for IVC, as outlined in 1995, remain the same. When seeds or cuttings are not available to a collector or transport is not practical, tissues collected by in vitro methods can provide a valuable tool for obtaining and transporting germplasm. This has been especially useful for the collection of wild, endangered species for propagation for restoration and for tissue banking, particularly for species with recalcitrant seeds or for species making few or no seeds. IVC provides an additional tool for meeting the ex situ conservation and restoration goals of Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.

Introduction

While some additional methods have been demonstrated for use in in vitro collecting (IVC), the basic approaches and principles described in 1995 are the same. IVC is a supplemental conservation tool for obtaining plant tissues of both crop and wild species for in vitro propagation and preservation. It is especially useful when seed collection is not possible or practical. A technical bulletin, edited by Pence et al. (2002a), provides updates on methods, as well as a number of case studies on crop and some wild species. A few further references since that time provide additional applications of this method, and although initially described for collecting germplasm from crop species and their wild relatives, the technique has been used to collect germplasm from wild endangered species as well (Pence, unpublished data; Pence and Charls 2003; Pence et al. 2009; Trusty et al. 2009). Trials on wild rainforest species have also been reported (Pence, 2005). In all cases, the fundamentals of IVC, as described in 1995, have remained unchanged, including its most prominent characteristic: its flexibility.

Current status

In terms of endangered species, IVC remains a valuable part of the conservation toolkit. When courier services are available, rapid and reliable, it is generally more cost effective and equally successful to ship cuttings overnight from the field to the laboratory than to collect by IVC. However, if such service is not readily available, IVC can be used to help maintain viability of the tissue in transit. Also, if the collector is an in vitro specialist and needs to remain in the field for further collections, IVC can be useful for holding the tissue, either in the field or after it is sent back to the laboratory, until the collector/tissue culturist can return to the lab to work with it more fully.

	Leaf disc, collected by IVC, showing early growth response after 10 days in culture. (Photo by Valerie Pence.)

One of the first uses of IVC for collecting endangered species was in the U.S. in 1998, for the collection of two rare wetland species: Lobelia boykinii and Rhexia aristosa. Staff from the labs of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) invested significant time and resources to conduct a trip to the site of the plants in North Carolina, with the goal of collecting seed from which to initiate in vitro cultures for propagation. In collaboration with local field experts, the timing of the trip was determined to correspond to the production of seed, but due to weather and other variables, when the site was reached, the seed had already been dispersed into the surrounding water. However, tools for IVC had also been brought to the site, and shoot tips were removed from several genotypes of each species and cultured in small vials of medium. These were brought back to the laboratory, where they were used successfully to initiate cultures, tissues from which were ultimately banked in long-term liquid nitrogen storage in CREW's CryoBioBank (Clark and Pence 1999 and unpublished). This provided an example of the use of IVC when seeds are not available at the time of collecting. Rare species are often in remote areas, and despite the best information available, the timing of the collecting expedition might not coincide with the availability of seeds. Additionally, unexpected species that are of interest but for which seeds are not available might be encountered during an expedition. Having the option of utilizing IVC methods in these circumstances can maximize the time and resources invested in an expedition.

Recalcitrant seeds, because of their sensitivity to desiccation and often short viability, pose challenges for collecting that are similar to vegetative tissues. If courier services or overnight transport is not available or practical, IVC methods for the seed or embryo can be utilized or vegetative materials can be collected as a back-up to seed material (Berjak and Pammenter 2003).

Even when courier service is available, IVC can be useful for collecting multiple genotypes that must be collected over the course of several days at several sites, decreasing the cost associated with multiple shipments of material. It has been utilized in this way for collecting multiple genotypes of the endangered species, Asimina tetramera, from Florida, in the USA. A. tetramera has recalcitrant seeds, and CREW has worked with collaborators in Florida to collect multiple genotypes for tissue cryopreservation. These have been collected from multiple sites over the course of several days using IVC, resulting in tissue lines that are being used for producing plants for restoration, as well as for tissues for cryopreservation (Pence and Charls 2003).

One of the crop species for which IVC is routinely used is coconut. This is especially the case in the framework of a research project entitled "Validation of a Coconut Embryo Culture Protocol for the International Exchange of Germplasm", which is funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and coordinated by Bioversity International. The project includes coconut research institutes in Brazil, Côte d'Ivoire, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea (http://ongoing-research.cgiar.org/factsheets/validation-of-a-coconut-embryo-culture-protocol-for-the-international-exchange-of-germplasm). No new protocols have been published; participants have improved, refined or adapted the existing protocols described in the 1995 version of this chapter to their own needs.

Contamination of initial explants is a challenge for IVC, and its extent will depend upon the species, tissue, environmental conditions and location of the parent plant. A review of some of the approaches to prevent contamination is included in the IPGRI Technical Bulletin (Pence and Sandoval 2002). Tests of antimicrobial agents on non-endangered, wild rainforest species collected in the open air have indicated the usefulness of such methods (Pence 2005). It is particularly helpful if methods can be tailored to specific, targeted species, as was done in developing IVC methods for species of Eucalyptus (Watt et al. 2003). This study showed that methods developed on greenhouse and garden-grown plants could be transferred to species growing in the wild and could provide useful models for developing methods for other species identified as candidates for IVC.

Future challenges/needs/gaps

The success of IVC is dependent on the availability of workable methods of in vitro culture for any particular species. Less than optimal methods for species that are recalcitrant to culture limit the application of all in vitro methods to these species, including IVC. Thus, improvements in the application of tissue-culture methods to a wider range of species will benefit IVC, as well. In addition, although methods for controlling contamination are successful in the majority of cases, improvements in antimicrobial methods should also serve to broaden the applicability of IVC.

Despite its potential, IVC may be viewed as being underutilized as a tool for ex situ plant conservation. There may be several contributing factors to this: first, IVC is largely a method for transport. In locations where overnight shipping services are available and reliable, it might be cost-effective to utilize these in order to get the material to a laboratory as quickly as possible. There, the best methods of disinfestation and culture can be applied quickly, without the constraints that might limit those methods in the field. Much of the in vitro work with wild species has been reported from areas that have had such shipping services or where the distances did not preclude quick return to the laboratory. Much work with endangered wild species is done in-country, also reducing the distances needed for transport.

In addition, the application of in vitro methods for ex situ conservation of wild species has been limited, compared with the use of in vitro methods for commercial applications. Increased efforts in this area are needed, in order to meet the ex situ conservation challenge of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Although many species can be stored by seed banking, there is a subset of species that either have recalcitrant seeds or produce few or no seeds. These exceptional species often require in vitro methods for propagation or long-term ex situ storage by cryopreservation. IVC could play a significant role in assisting in transporting short-lived seeds, embryos, or tissues, thereby providing materials for in vitro propagation and preservation. Further research into the growth of tissues in vitro as well as into the technical aspects of IVC would help facilitate the application of these methods to wild endangered plant germplasm.

Conclusions

In vitro collecting has proven to be a workable and useful tool for collecting plant material for in vitro propagation and ex situ conservation. The needs for IVC are generally unchanged, although the years since 1995 have seen its application broaden to a wider range of species, both cultivated and wild. As conservation efforts increase in the face of continued habitat loss, climate change and other factors, IVC will likely find wider application for collecting plant germplasm for food security and the long-term ex situ preservation of endangered species.

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References and further reading

NOTE: Several of the references in this list refer to chapters in IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7, which is available in PDF format: http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/images/file/learning_space/technicalbulletin7.pdf. (0.6MB)

Berjak P, Pammenter NW. 2003. Understanding and handling desiccation-sensitive seeds. In: Smith RD, Dickie JB, Linington SH, Pritchard HW, Probert RJ, editors. Seed Conservation: Turning Science into Practice. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK. pp. 415–430. Available online (accessed 4 October 2011): www.kew.org/msbp/scitech/publications/SCTSIP_digital_book/pdfs/Chapter_22.pdf.

Brenes Hines A, Tapia VG, Velasco Urquizo E. 2002. Citrus. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:56–60. Background and methods for in vitro collection of Citrus germplasm.

Clark JR, Pence VC. 1999. In vitro propagation of Lobelia boykinii, a rare wetland species. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 35:1105. Abstract of the in vitro work with this endangered species, including collection.

Engelmann F. 2002. Coconut. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:68-71. Background and methods for in vitro collection of coconut germplasm.

Krishnapillay B, Jayanthi N, Engelmann F. 2002. Tropical rainforest trees. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:72-75. Background and methods for in vitro collection of germplasm of tropical trees, focusing on Shorea leprosula.

Montoya Henao LM, Tapia BC, Espadas y Gil FL, Sandoval JA. 2002. Musa. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:52-55. Background and methods for in vitro collection of Musa germplasm.

Pence VC. 1996. In vitro collection (IVC). In: In Vitro Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources. Proceedings of the International Workshop in In Vitro Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources, 4–6 July 1995, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. An overview of the use of some antimicrobials in collecting from rainforest species.

Pence VC. 1999. In vitro collection. In: Bowes BG, editor. A Colour Atlas of Plant Propagation and Conservation. Manson Publishing, London. pp. 87–96. A review.

Pence VC. 2002. In vitro collecting—a tool for wild or endangered species conservation. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:26–29. The need for and application of in vitro collecting for conservation of wild species.

Pence VC. 2002. In vitro collecting: response of leaf tissue from four sites to antibiotics and antioxidants. Poster presentation at the 10th IAPTC&B Congress, Plant Biotechnology 2002 and Beyond, Orlando, Florida, 23–28 June 2002. Collections done in four locations with different habitats (abstract).

Pence VC. 2004. Contamination and growth in cultures of three endangered Florida pawpaws initiated by in vitro collecting. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 40:58A. IVC methods for collecting Asimina tetramera, Deeringothamnus pulchellus and D. rugelii (abstract).

Pence VC. 2005. In vitro collecting (IVC). I. The effect of media and collection method on contamination in temperate and tropical collections. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant 41:324–332. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the leaf punch and needle collection methods and of antimicrobial agents for IVC of tropical rainforest species.

Pence VC, Charls SM. 2003. In vitro collecting and establishment of tissue culture lines of three endangered Florida pawpaws. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 39:19A. Using IVC to collect for the conservation of Asimina tetramera, Deeringothamnus pulchellus and D. rugelii (abstract).

Pence VC, Sandoval JA. 2002. Controlling contamination during in vitro collecting. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:30–40. A review of methods and chemicals used for controlling contamination in collected tissues.

Pence VC, Clark JR, Plair BL. 2002. Wild and endangered species. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:76–82. An overview of the methods used for in vitro collecting tissues from wild, endangered species with examples of US endangered species collected using IVC.

Pence VC, Plair BL, Clark JR. 2000. In vitro collecting techniques for leaf and bud tissues. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 36:32A. Methods of IVC.

Pence VC, Villalobos A VM, Sandoval JA. 2002. The future of in vitro collecting. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:84–86. A consideration of the future applications and needs for in vitro collecting.

Pence VC, Sandoval JA, Villalobos A VM, Engelmann F, editors. 2002a. In Vitro Collecting Techniques for Germplasm Conservation. IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7. Available online (accessed 4 October 2011): http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/images/file/learning_space/technicalbulletin7.pdf. A handbook, outlining the general background and approach of in vitro collecting, as well as case studies of specific species.

Pence VC, Charls SM, Plair BL, Jaskowiak MA, Winget GD, Cleveland LL. 2007. Integrating in vitro methods for propagating and preserving endangered species. In: Xu Z, Li J, Xue Y, Yang W, editors. Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture, 2006 and Beyond. Proceedings of the 11th IAPTC&B Congress, 13–18 August 2006, Beijing, China. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands. pp. 363–373. IVC as one of several in vitro tools for plant conservation.

Pence VC, Winget GD, Lindsey KL, Plair BL, Charls SM. 2009. Propagation and cryopreservation of Todsen’s pennyroyal (Hedeoma todsenii) in vitro. Madrono 56:221–228. IVC used for collecting tissues of a rare species in the Lamiaceae from the south-western US.

Plair BL, Pence VC. 2000. In vitro collection (IVC) as a tool for education. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, San Diego, California. Using IVC to teach about in vitro methods.

Saldana HL, Oicate LM, Borbor Ponce MM, Calderon Diaz JH. 2002. Coffee. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:42–46. Background and methods for in vitro collection of coffee germplasm.

Sandoval JA, Villalobos A VM. 2002. Avocado. IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7:61–64. Background and methods for in vitro collection of avocado germplasm.

Silvanna Alvarenga V, de Bern Bianchetti L, Lopez Gonzalez PE, Sandoval OE, Zacher de Martinez MB. 2002. Cacao. IPGRI Technical Bulletin 7:47–51. Background and methods for in vitro collection of cacao germplasm.

Taylor M. 2002. Taro. IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7:65–67. Background and methods for in vitro collection of taro germplasm.

Trusty JL, Miller I, Pence VC, Plair BL, Boyd RS, Goertzen LR. 2009. Ex situ conservation of the federally endangered plant species Clematis socialis Kral (Ranunculaceae): a collaborative approach. Natural Areas Journal 29(4):376–384. IVC used to collect tissues from an endangered species from the southern United States.

Watt MP, Berjak P, Makhathini A, Blakeway F. 2003. In vitro field collection techniques for Eucalyptus micropropagation. Plant Cell, Tissue & Organ Culture 75:233–240. An account of experiments to develop a workable procedure for IVC for Eucalyptus.

Withers LA. 2002. In vitro collecting—Concept and background. IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7:16–25. A history and introduction to in vitro collecting.

Internet resources

Project ―Validation of a Coconut Embryo Culture Protocol for the International Exchange of Germplasm‖: http://ongoing-research.cgiar.org/factsheets/validation-of-a-coconut-embryo-culture-protocol-for-the-international-exchange-of-germplasm

IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 7: http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/images/file/learning_space/technicalbulletin7.pdf. (0.6MB)

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