Government-sponsored exploration for the purpose of collecting new germplasm is coordinated through the NGRL. The primary mission is the planning and implementing of plant explorations, especially in foreign areas (Purdue and Christenson, 1989). Plant exploration is a deliberate effort by the NPGS to seek and acquire specific kinds of germplasm.

Exploration proposals may be developed by one or more individual researchers who submit a formal proposal through the appropriate crop advisory committee, which is an NPGS advisory group specific to a crop. Scientists need not be employees of USDA or the national system to make such requests. Alternatively, proposals may be developed by a crop committee, the NGRL, or ARS National Program Staff. Once proposals are approved, qualified scientists undertake the exploration.

Some U.S. scientists conduct explorations using funds from other government sources, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), or in cooperation with botanical gardens or arboreta. These activities

The grasses native to the Altai region of the south central Soviet Union are surveyed as part of an effort to collect wild rye species for U.S. germplasm collections. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.