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Global Information on Germplasm Accessions project to ease access to global genebanks

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Rome, Italy
September 29, 2008

A multimillion dollar project is poised to make it much easier for breeders and others to use the material stored in genebanks and, just as important, information about those accessions. The project, called Global Information on Germplasm Accessions (GIGA), specifically addresses the obstacles faced by breeders, crop researchers and others who seek hard-to-find information about germplasm that can provide resistance to pests, diseases and other stresses that reduce productivity and yields.

“GIGA will build on a decade of previous investments to make it simpler for everyone to make better use of the diversity stored in genebanks around the world,” said Michael Mackay, the Bioversity scientist who is coordinating the project.

The GIGA project is helping to implement the rational system foreseen by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture by bringing together Bioversity’s expertise in coordinating the efforts of the CGIAR’s genebanks through the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme with the Global Crop Diversity Trust’s interest in effective and efficient conservation and use. Bioversity and the Global Trust are contributing US$1.7 million each over three years. The Secretariat of the Treaty has pledged at least US$150,000 to include in the system a “shopping cart” that will enable exchange of material and make it easy to monitor and track such exchanges, as required by the Treaty.

The diversity of crop species is vital to ensuring more consistent, abundant and nutritious harvests, especially in developing countries where famine and malnutrition are widespread. But in addition to the diversity, researchers also need access to the information that will allow them to choose the most appropriate diversity to work with. While considerable amounts of diversity are stored in genebanks, particularly those of the CGIAR, information about agricultural biodiversity is both fragmentary and scattered, and is particularly difficult to access in the resource-poor countries where it is needed most.

GIGA will deploy three components to address the difficulties in making greater use of genebank accessions

“We need to develop common information standards to describe the key characteristics of genetic resources, so everyone can communicate effectively,” said Michael Mackay. In addition, GIGA will deploy a new version of genebank data-management software being developed by the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture and will build a user-friendly system to help people find what they are looking for, be it information or samples from the genebanks.

The project will go beyond the 700,000 accessions held in the 11 genebanks of the CGIAR to include the holdings gathered under EURISCO, the web catalogue that lists 1.1 million samples of crop diversity in European genebank collections. Other sources can be added in future.

Emile Frison, Director-General of Bioversity, described the launch of GIGA as “an exciting opportunity”.

“Working together,” he added, “Bioversity and its partners are contributing to the development of a global system of information and exchange for agricultural biodiversity. This will facilitate the wider use of biodiversity, which in turn is the key to agricultural development in a time of increasing food and fuel prices, climate change and water scarcity.”

 

 

 

 

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