Seed Banksby Kushal Naharki | 06-12-2020 10:06 |
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Seed banks are means to store and preserve the seeds and genetic diversity in the proper condition so that stored seed could be used when needed and are milestone foundation to strengthen pre-breeding and utilization of plant genetic resources in breeding and variety development by using these valuable and important genetic resources to sustain food and nutritional security.
Seed bank is an important component of ecosystem resilience and represents a stock of regeneration potential in many plant assemblages. Seed banks are means to store and preserve the seeds and genetic diversity in the proper condition so that stored seed could be used when needed. Seed bank is the type of gene bank. Seeds hold the power to regenerate species, promote biodiversity and enable ecosystems to adapt to an ever-changing world. A seed bank is thus defined as a place where seeds are stored in order to preserve genetic diversity and is a type of gene bank. These saved and viable seeds contain a treasure trove of useful genes that breeders can use for developing improved varieties of our major food crops. Seed bank has the long history and most of seed banks are funded by public and seeds preserved are provided to the researcher and plant breeders that benefits public rather than some personal use. Concept of seed bank is old as the civilization. There are different types of seed banks like, community seed bank, field seed bank, gene bank, DNA bank etc. but the most popular seed bank in Asiatic region is community seed bank but in developed countries they have their own governmental and private seed bank. Community gene and seed banks have a history of about 30 years (Shrestha et. al, 2013). They emerged in different parts of the world in response to concerns about the loss of agricultural biological diversity, the total loss of seeds caused by natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes, the impact of climate change, declining access to quality seeds, and demand from farmers to participate in locally driven biodiversity management strategies. Some countries, including Nepal, have more than one hundred community gene and seed banks at present time. Other countries have only a few nascent ones, such as Bhutan, China, Rwanda and Uganda. Community seed banks are gaining popularity rapidly because it need low budget and common participation but in case of seed bank needs more budget for its proper functioning. Seed banks provide conditions necessary for the longevity of seeds. Seeds are stored under low temperatures that keep seeds dormant till they are needed for replanting (Bethany, 2017). Seed bank are very important because living plants can be destroyed by the natural disaster or other calamities as seed banks allow for faster recovery from an environmental or natural disaster that can strike in an instant. Seed bank act as the library and store all the valuable information about seed safely and provide to us whenever needed. References: Bethany, L. (2017, February 28). PermaCulture Research Institute. Retrieved from Seed Banking and its Benefits: https://permaculturenews.org/2017/02/28/seed-banking-benefits/Dourado A. M. RobertsE. H.(1984) Phenotypic mutations induced during storage in barley andpea seeds. Annals of Botany 54:781–790. Shrestha, P., S. Sthapit, R. Devkota and R. Vernooy.(2012). Workshop summary report. National workshop on community seed banks, 14-15 June 2012, Pokhara, Nepal. LI-BIRD/USC Canada Asia/OXFAM Nepal/Diversity International. LI-BIRD, Pokhara. Available: http://libird.org/ downloads/CommunitySeedBankNationaWorkshopSummaryReport.pdf |
