National Gene Bank

National Gene Bank

Part of: GS Prelims

In news: Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare inaugurated the world’s second-largest refurbished state-of-the-art National Gene Bank at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Pusa, New Delhi.

• Agri-farmers would be greatly benefited by the new gene bank with state-of-the-art facilities for germplasm.

 About National Gene Bank

• The National Gene Bank (NGB) was established in the year 1996 to preserve the seeds of Plant Genetic Resources for future generations in the form of seeds, genomic resources, pollen etc.
• NGB has the capacity to preserve about one million germplasm in the form of seeds.
• Presently it is protecting 4.52 lakh accessions, of which 2.7 lakh are Indian germplasm and the rest have been imported from other countries.
• The NGB has four kinds of facilities, namely, Seed Genebank (- 18°C), Cryogenebank (-170°C to -196°C), In vitro Genebank (25°C), and Field Genebank, to cater to long-term as well as medium-term conservation.

About National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR)

• NBPGR is a nodal organisation in India for the management of Plant Genetic Resources.
• It is one of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)Institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
• NGPGR is meeting the need of in-situ and ex-situ germplasm conservation through Delhi Headquarters and 10 regional stations in the country.

Other Facilities:

• The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway houses the world’s largest collection of seeds.
• India’s seed vault is at Chang La (Ladakh) in the Himalayas.
• National Animal Gene Bank, established at the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR – Karnal, Haryana), has the objective of conserving the indigenous livestock biodiversity.
  • NBAGR is one of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

News Source:  PIB