Abstract
Europe is very active in terms of conserving plant genetic resources, with hundreds of genebanks and thousands of dedicated people involved. However, the resulting infrastructure is, along with being very expensive, far from efficient and not very reliable. In this opinion paper, the authors describe how this situation arose, and why the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), the collaborative umbrella organization of the European countries involved, has not been able to improve this situation so far significantly. The principles of the decentralized virtual genebank (AEGIS) are described, and an analysis is made of the reasons for its lack of success. Possible changes for making AEGIS a success, or at least steps in the right direction, are proposed. These changes center around the creation of a system of certified genebanks with proper quality management, guaranteeing the long-term conservation of, and immediate access to the plant genetic resources conserved in it.
Highlights
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) need to be conserved and made accessible for use in crop research and plant breeding
There are various reasons for this, the most prominent being the high rate of genetic erosion of PGRFA, i.e., without conservation, the genetic resources will disappear quickly [1]
European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) is one of the regional PGRFA networks that were considered by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) to be part of the global conservation system of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the late 1970s [2]
Summary
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) need to be conserved and made accessible for use in crop research and plant breeding. ECPGR is one of the regional PGRFA networks that were considered by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) to be part of the global conservation system of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the late 1970s [2] It organizes various collaborative activities, largely through its Plants 2021, 10, 2165 twenty Crop Working Groups and three Thematic Working Groups, which have resulted in valuable outputs such as the earlier mentioned EURISCO, many crop descriptor lists and crop-specific quality standards, and provides a platform for the formulation of EC-funded collaborative project proposals, and the organization of training workshops, etc. With regards to the above-described background, members of the ECPGR Steering Committee strongly felt that something had to fundamentally change, and subsequently formulated an idea that potentially could improve the existing situation: AEGIS, ‘A European Genebank Integrated System’ ([12], see Box 1)
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