The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (1991) / Chapter Skim
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4 Prescription for Effectiveness
4 Prescription for Effectiveness
Pages 107-144
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From page 107... ...
These dispersed, sometimes overlapping administrative, advisory, and budgetary components have often confused and hampered the effectiveness of NPGS. The administrative and advisory organization of the National Plant Germplasm System should be structured to provide for efficient national coordination.
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From page 108... ...
Within ARS, management of germplasm activities through the Germplasm Matrix Team and the ARS area directors has been an obstacle to achieving a coordinated nationally focused program. More direct control must be vested in a central, national authority.
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From page 109... ...
The National Plant Genetic Resources Board (NPGRB) would provide oversight and guidance for policies and programs.
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From page 110... ...
Development of methods for the cryopreservation of seeds and tissues by ARS researchers at the National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL) should, for example, lead to improved methods for maintaining materials in longterm storage.
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From page 111... ...
Responsibility for budget, staffing, and program direction would rest with the central office. This change would also obviate the need for the Germplasm Matrix Team, although recommendations on programs could be sought from the National Program Staff as needed to coordinate activities.
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From page 112... ...
The focus of the board's activities must be clearly distinct from that of other advisory bodies, such as the National Plant Germplasm Committee
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From page 113... ...
Private, nonprofit groups with interests in managing and conserving plant genetic resources should also be represented. The National Plant Germplasm Committee should be disbanded.
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From page 114... ...
The Plant GermpZasm Operations Committee should tee given responsibility for advising the leader of the National Plant Germplasm System on management, operations, and priorities. The PGOC has become an effective and responsive advocate for the needs and priorities of site managers in the NPGS.
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From page 115... ...
This will require the NPGS to give continuing attention to quarantine, information management, development of criteria for entry of new accessions, and the problems of managing large collections (Chang, 1989~. Plant Exploration The National Plant Germplasm System should develop a comprehensive plan for plant exploration.
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From page 116... ...
Qu~tine The National Plant GermpZasm System should continue to seek the development of policies, procedures, and cooperative arrangements that promote the safe, yet rapid and efficient, acquisition of germplasm. Quarantine policy, under the regulation of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
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From page 117... ...
The National Plant Germplasm Quarantine Center near Beltsville, Maryland, run jointly by NPGS and APHIS, was established to facilitate exchange and importation and to eliminate a rapidly growing backlog of germplasm materials. However, the center's isolation areas, greenhouses, controlled environment rooms, laboratories, and staff members will be insufficient
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From page 118... ...
The CIAT is an international research center in the CGIAR system. The National Plant Germplasm System should work with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is responsible for quarantine programs, to support research on technologies for rapid and reliable detection and elimination of pests and pathogens.
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From page 119... ...
For example, all of the NPGS sites could be designated as national plant genetic resources centers, and individual collections could be designated as national plant genetic resources collections. These or similar designations will underscore the national focus for germplasm activities.
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From page 120... ...
By fostering the breeding of potentially useful genes into appropriate genetic lines, curators can greatly enhance the use of NPGS collections. Base Collections The base collections at the National Seed Storage Laboratory should reflect all of the seed collections in the national system.
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From page 121... ...
Seeds are kept in cryogenic storage at the National Seed Storage Laboratory. Credit: U.S.
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From page 122... ...
of the available accessions at the Rick Center are duplicated at the NSSL. Genetic Stocks The National Plant GermpZasm System should provide secure, Zong-term storage at the National/ Seed Storage Laboratory for genetic stocks and should assist in the support of collections that are considered importantfor agriculture or basic research.
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From page 123... ...
Mutant stocks often can only survive under very specific conditions and frequently require highly specialized procedures to multiply, identify, and maintain them. Genetic stocks are therefore not generally held in active germplasm collections, such as those of the regional stations.
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From page 124... ...
As collections of plant germplasm around the world have grown over the past 25 years, so has the magnitude of the task of managing them. Concerns have been raised that many major crop collections, such as wheat, barley, and rice, have grown so large and diffuse that they inhibit, rather than promote, effective management and use (Brown, 1989a,b; Holden, 1984~.
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From page 125... ...
This basic information enables the individual accessions in the core subset to be linked to potentially wider diversity in the entire collection. Implementation of the core subsets concept in NPGS collections is presently constrained by practical and scientific difficulties.
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From page 126... ...
For collections that already are small or that represent limited geographic distribution, a core subset could be too small to represent the collection's diversity, thus being an inappropriate management strategy. Cooperation win Other Collections The National Plant Germplasm System should seek opportunities for cooperation with other efforts to preserve plant germpZasm.
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From page 127... ...
In Situ Conservation In situ conservation methods should be used to complement the primarily ex situ activities of the National Plant GermpZasm System. These methods include maintenance of wild plant genetic resources where they occur naturally or maintenance of domesticated materials where they were originally selected.
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From page 128... ...
, that are already involved with in situ monitoring of selected species might also be arranged. Efforts should be made to promote in situ conservation for plant genetic resources outside the United States.
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From page 129... ...
Where an NPGS maintenance site does not exist, funds must be available to contract for and inspect grow-outs. Sternal Review Facilities and programs of the National Plant Germplasm System should undergo periodic external review.
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From page 130... ...
While it is not advisable for collections to be moved frequently, the location of collections should be based on scientific considerations and opportunities for cooperation with universities or experiment stations. The selection of reviewers, the development of guidelines, and the evaluation of results and their distribution should be the responsibility of the leader of the NPGS, with direction and advice from the Plant Germplasm Operations Committee, a research advisory committee, or an ad hoc committee assembled to oversee the external review of a site.
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From page 131... ...
Staffing The federal and state partnership for managing plant germplasm should be reappraised and reinforced. Because it is sometimes difficult for ARS employees to supervise state
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From page 132... ...
This has led to "federalizing" sites, such as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository at Corvallis, Oregon. As a result, the system has been perceived as drifting away from the original concept of shared resnonsibilitv and support.
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From page 133... ...
The committee's report on the National Seed Storage Laboratory included recommendations for training facilities (National Research Council, 1988~. Improving these facilities should not add substantially to construction costs when done as part of major expansion or remodeling efforts.
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From page 134... ...
should not be overlooked. THE MISSION OF 11IE NATIONAL SYSTEM The National Plant Germplasm System should develop clear, concise goals and policies that encompass the conservation of plant genetic resources that reflect the world's biological diversity and crop resources of immediate use to scientists and breeders.
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From page 135... ...
International Policies and Cooperation The National Plant GermpZasm System must take a more active role in developing U
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From page 136... ...
I Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry in the USSR, National Institute of Agrobiological Resources in Japan, Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources in the People's Republic of China, and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in India)
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From page 137... ...
[The United States joined in September 1990.] The National Plant GermpZasm System should cooperate with other nations to conserve, collect, maintain, and regenerate germpZasm.
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From page 138... ...
Back-up storage at the National Seed Storage Laboratory of the rice collection from the International Rice Research Institute and the cooperation of the NPGS in designating many of its collections as international base collections are examples of cooperation. There is little formal sharing of computerized passport, characterization, or evaluation data between the NPGS and the CGIAR research centers, and no real attempt to standardize data records between them.
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From page 139... ...
The system's information, which covers collection inventories and germination records to evaluation data and exchange requests, is managed by the Database Management Unit (DBMU) using the Germplasm Resources Information Network.
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From page 140... ...
Plant Germplasm System. An accurate directory, or central database, of all of the holdings of the national system is essential.
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From page 141... ...
Accessibility of Da" The National Plant Germplasm System should continue to seek mechanisms for making the information held in the GermpZasm Resources Information Network more easily accessible to scientists and crop specialists in the United States anal abroad. The network has two basic kinds of clients: those who supply information and those who request it (Mowder and Stoner, 1989~.
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From page 142... ...
Advances in tissue culture and cryopreservation may require basic research into the processes underlying cell physiology, development, and regulation. Such initiatives and research activities must complement the principal objectives of the NPGS to preserve, regenerate, document, and distribute plant germplasm.
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From page 143... ...
One model program was outlined in a report to the National Plant Genetic Resources Board, Basic Research Support Program for the National Plant Germplasm System (an unpublished report of the NPGRB approved in the minutes of its October 9-10, 1985, meeting)
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From page 144... ...
The actions recommended in this report are intended to prepare and equip the National Plant Germplasm System as an effective component of national and international agricultural security.
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