Australian Grains Genebank
| Australian Grains Genebank | |
|---|---|
Victoria | |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 36°43′S 142°12′E / 36.717°S 142.200°E |
| Opened | March, 2014 |
| Cost | US$3 million |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | H2o Architects PTY Ltd. |
| Known for | Storing seeds from Australia |
The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) is a national center for storing genetic material for plant breeding and research. The Genebank is in a collaboration with the Australian Seed Bank Partnership on an Australian Crop Wild Relatives project. It is located at Grains Innovation Park, in Horsham, Victoria, Australia.
Objectives and challenges
The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) aims to collect and conserve the seeds of Australian crop wild species, that are not yet adequately represented in existing collections. 40 key species of
One of the main objectives of the Australian Grains Genebank is helping the research; for this reason, this institution distributes about 25,000 packets of seeds to scientists in Australia and overseas. Therefore, they can evaluate this material for characteristics that could be used to breed more productive grain crops. These characteristics include the resistance to heat, frost, drought, pests and diseases.[citation needed]
Another fact about Australian Grains Genebank is that it uses a DNA-based
Facilities
In 2009 the
The AGG is a national seed store bank completed by H2o architects, on the
, to accommodate visiting groups.A double skin freezer design has an inner
The building has a strong presence and provides innovation in design, technology and materials. The exterior layer is very similar to a pergola, with thousands of timber slats, each one 120 centimetres long, creating the top layer.
Storage conditions and regeneration
The Horsham bank is the biggest of its kind and is designed for long-term storage. The material they conserve includes released crop varieties, breeding materials, and crop wild relatives. It serves not only producers but also processors, marketers, breeders and regional farming communities. Peter Walsh,[6] the Victorian Minister of Agriculture, explained that the bank could contain about 300 million seeds from all around the globe. The bank has the capacity to hold 200,000 packets of seeds and more than 200 different crop species. In 2017 the collection held about 138,016 different seeds (or assessions), and it is growing about 3000 seeds each year.
The most representative crop names stored are:[7]
- Wheat with 42,624 different species coming from different areas of the world, mainly from Europe, Australia and Africa.
- Barley with 19,062 different types, mainly from Europe and Central Asia.
- Chickpea with 9,771 different breeds, coming from Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia Minor.
- Pea with about 7,558 different categories, principally coming from Europe, the United States, South America and Australia.
- Asia Minor, Central Asia, Europe and Africa.
The seed drying room operates at 15 degrees Celsius and 15% of humidity. Seeds remain in this room form four to six weeks to dry down to around 6% seed moisture before being sealed into foil packets and placed under long-term storage at -20 degrees Celsius.
AGG routinely conduct seed viability monitoring tests because seeds lose their ability to
Longevity
In order to keep the seeds safe, they are stored in 2.7 kilometres of shelf space at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) with very low moisture. The seeds can remain viable for 50 or 100 years (depending on the kind of seed), preserving, in this way, the genetic materials.
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The primary reason for the bank to be created was the extreme temperatures in the area, up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summertime. Because of that, they had to ensure the protection of the grains all year around.[8]
The longevity of seeds differs; some keep well for decades, crops are grown out regularly and new grains assembled to increase the collection. A database carries the information about the origin and characteristics of each seed line (none genetically modified) and features of seed viability and the quantity held.[9]
Seeds are placed in controlled maturing environments with high temperatures and a certain humidity (RH; 45 °C and 60% RH). The Lithium chloride (LiCl) helps to obtain the right RH environment.
The seed survival curve, that can be acquired from the germination test, is compared with the longevity of ‘marker’ species aged under the same conditions. From here, longevity categories can be distinguished: this is most important for alpine seeds, as recent proofs show that grains from cooler and wetter habitats are shorter lived than seeds from warmer ones. Longevity checks can also indicate how seeds should be conserved.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership
The main goal of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership is to save about 1700 native species of plant and
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The Australian Grains Genebank is one of the most important members of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership, which is an alliance between 12 organizations that are trying to deal with the multitude of threats facing Australian biodiversity by working together. The partnership consists of nine seeds banks, that are storing and conserving seeds, and three flora-focused organizations, that have the mission not only to fulfill the gap between policymakers, researcher, and seed collectors, but also to manage the on-ground conservation and restoration activities.[10] The activities related to the Australian Seed Bank Partnership consist of four simple concepts:
- Collecting: the process of collection and conservation of the native seeds is carried out by organizations, experts, in fact, follow a rigid protocol to recognize, collect, clean and store seeds. The experts have also the important task of recording the information (such as the time of the year the seed has been collected, the associated vegetationand the soil type in the seed-collecting region) and the principal characteristics of the seed. Those information are considered fundamental to the seed banks' future rule in conservation.
- Research: to keep the collected seeds available for a long time and under controlled conditions, the research process is a central concept. To store a seed properly the researcher must establish what is required by each category or type of seed (for example if they require a specific temperature or if it needs light and moisture cues to germinate).
- Supporting Restoration: one of the most important activities in which the Australian Seed Bank Partnership is involved, is the Australian native plants, discovered new species and rediscovered species that they thought to be extinct in the wild.
- Sharing knowledge: The Australian Seed Bank Partnership shares his knowledge among all the existing Australian conservation seed banks, restoration practitioners, and community groups. By sharing this knowledge, they hope to build a greater understanding of seed science in Australia.[11]
The Australian Grains Genebank is related to the Australian Seed Bank Partnership. They are actually
See also
References
- ^ "Seedpartnership". Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Inc. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Dr Gio Braidotti. "Australian Grains Genebank helping research and development". Grains Research and Development Corporation. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Field, Emma (1 April 2014). "$6 million Australian Grains Genebank opened in Horsham last week". the weekly times. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ McFadden, Erin (28 Mar 2014). "Horsham opens Australian Grains Genebank". Fairfax Media. The Wimmera Mail-Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ "Australian Grains Genebank Facility". H2o architects. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Walsh; Peter. "Australian Grains Genebank". Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ "The Most Representative Crop Names". Genesys. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Crafti, Stephen (4 July 2015). "Australian Grains Genebank Built For Extreme Temperatures". The Sydney Morning Harold. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ Rance, Carolyn (21 May 2016). "Securing the Future of Crops". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ "Information About Australian Seed Bank Partnership". Australian Seed Bank Partnership. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ "Australian Seed Bank Partnership Activity". Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Inc. Retrieved 26 November 2017.