Enhancing Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources in Crop Improvement

Crop plant genetic resources (PGR) including landraces, old and new cultivars, mutant etc., are vital to crop improvement. These were used in research to develop improved cultivars that has resulted in increase of productivity and production considerably of various crops. The need for collecting and conserving germplasm was realized during 1960s, when there was threat of loss of landraces due to large adoption of improved varieties. Currently over six million-germplasm accessions are held in over 1300 genebanks across the world. This paper discusses assembly and management of genetic resources of sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut and six small millets at the Rajendra S Paroda Genebank at ICRISAT-Patancheru, India and means to further enhance their utilization for sustainable agriculture globally. Various institutes and organizations worldwide have donated germplasm to the ICRISAT genebank. In addition, two hundred and thirteen germplasm collection missions were organized in 62 countries securing 33,194 germplasm accessions. The entire holding is over 118,800 accessions of the above crops from 130 countries. The germplasm accessions receive high priority for regeneration, characterization, conservation and distribution. The focus of research is on diversity assessment and on developing representative core, mini-core and composite collections to enhance utilization by the breeders. Molecular characterization of diverse germplasm sets is pursued for value addition and to enhance their utilization. Most of the accessions have been characterized. Germplasm seeds are conserved under very precise (cool and dry) conditions. Adequate seed of each accession is conserved to meet the requests of researchers and for posterity. The ICRISAT genebank has been supplying over 21,000 germplasm samples annually to scientists across the countries. ICRISAT has restored crop germplasm to several countries including India. From the basic germplasm supplied from ICRISAT genebank, 66 varieties were released for cultivation in 44 countrie