Svalbard Global Seed Vault Receives First Deposits from Serbia and Latvia
November 10, 2021| |
In a unique milestone, Serbia and Latvia have made the first-ever deposits of their local varieties into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in October 2021. Serbia deposited 96 accessions while Latvia had 153 seed samples of 30 different species.
The first Serbian deposit made by the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVCNS) was supported by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and included varieties of wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Half of the varieties that were deposited into the Global Seed Vault were obtained from collection missions in remote agricultural areas from farmers that still cultivate old varieties and local landraces of major cereals. The team also documented local practices of cultivation of the crops and the traditional methods of food preparation. Besides collection missions, the varieties also came from the National Small Grains Collection maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture. The varieties were originally collected from Serbia but were no longer available in farmers' fields.
Latvia's Genetic Resource Center/LMVI 'Silava' deposited agriculturally and culturally important varieties of barley, flax, and wheat. Wheat took mostly half of the number of deposited seed samples, but grey peas, dill, and caraway are also included in the deposit. The Center worked to generate the seed samples for Svalbard for three years.
Representatives from the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) attended the deposit and met with delegations from Serbia and Latvia together with representatives from the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The October deposit also marks the first deposit since the COVID pandemic began. Samples and deposits from the International Livestock Research Institute and the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center were also received during the event. A total of 1,125,416 seed samples are stored in the Seed Vault, with the next deposit scheduled to be carried out in February 2022.
For more details, read the news articles on NordGen and IFVCNS website.
| |
You might also like:
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault Starts a Century-long Seed Experiment
- International Rescue Brings Syria's Seed Collection Back to Svalbard
- World Vegetable Center Sends Seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault Receives First Deposits from Serbia and Latvia
- UN Climate Conference Calls for Urgent Action in Agriculture
- Study Highlights Economic Loss Caused by Barriers of GM Crop Commercialization
- Genomics to Help Breeders Develop Rice with Improved Taste, Cooking Time, Texture, and Appearance
- Scientists Confirm GM Crop Cultivation and Glyphosate Use Reduce Carbon Footprint Caused by Farming
- Food Futures: Commercialization of Gene Edited Crops in Asia and Australia
- 4th Asian Short Course on Agri-biotech, Biosafety Regulation, and Communication (ASCA2021)
- Research Finds Winter Important for Cereal Yield
- Gene Discovery Yields High Promise for Wheat Fertility in Changing Climate
-
Research Highlights
- Bax Gene Confers Bacterial Blight Resistance in Rice
-
Plant
- Scientists Assess Use of Meganucleases in Tomato and Oilseed Rape
-
Health
- UC San Diego Researchers Develop CRISPR-based Rapid Diagnostic Tool for SARS-CoV-2
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (April 24, 2024)
- Gene Editing Supplement (April 24, 2024)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet