The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) is a national center for storing genetic material for

plant breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cro ...

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 Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, 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

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

wild, 32 of which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Australia, have been identified as being crucial to increasing Australia's stock of grain crops. Seeds of

crop wild relatives A crop wild relative (CWR) is a wild plant closely related to a domesticated plant. It may be a wild ancestor of the domesticated (cultivated) plant or another closely related taxon. Overview The wild relatives of crop plants constitute an i ...

(CWR) will be available to plant breeders and researchers in order to develop the plant varieties of the future. The seeds will be stored not only in the Australian Grains Genebank but also in the Australian Seed Bank Partnership member seed banks. This project will enable research into new plant varieties, that are vital to Australia's agricultural future. Progress can be made in understanding the

genetic material Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cla ...

contained in the crops. 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 Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, pests and diseases. Another fact about Australian Grains Genebank is that it uses a DNA-based

soil test Soil test may refer to one or more of a wide variety of soil analysis conducted for one of several possible reasons. Possibly the most widely conducted soil tests are those done to estimate the plant-available concentrations of plant nutrients, i ...

ing service, to assist grain growers in predicting the losses from various diseases before a crop is planted. Growers have the option of changing

cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...

or modifying cropping programs, in situations where the risk of crop loss is high. The service was launched in 1997 and the initial focus was on grain and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

, but

pathogens In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

of rotation crops are now included.

Facilities

In 2009 the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

provided $3 million to Sally Norton, leader of the Australian Grains Genebank to make the bank, also promising $600,000 per year for the next five years toward operating costs. The bank was officially opened in March, 2014. The budget is provided by the Government of Victoria and the

Grains Research and Development Corporation A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legume ...

, a corporation that is supported by the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

. The AGG is a national seed store bank completed by H2o architects, on the

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Aust ...

flatland at the edge of Horsham, Victoria, for the Victorian

Department of Environment and Primary Industries The Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) was a state government department responsible for protecting the environment, boosting productivity in Victoria's food and fibre sector, management of natural resources and managing wate ...

. The facility has more than 2.7 kilometres of space to give a secure store for

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

specimens. The building is also used for seed development, seed requests and contains a

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

and receiving area, administration areas, drying facilities,

freezers A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

working at -20 degrees

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

and a multipurpose national reception area, or

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick stew ...

, to accommodate visiting groups. A double skin freezer design has an inner

esky Esky was an Australian brand of portable coolers. The term "esky" is also commonly used in Australia to generically refer to portable coolers or ice boxes and is part of the Australian vernacular, in place of words like "cooler" or "cooler box" ...

box of isolated panels, used for storing seeds and contained within an outer wood clad weather protecting

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

. This design makes certain that the freezers work with less charge, reduce the energy consumption and operating costs of the facility. Efficiency is reached with a robust and environmentally responsible

mechanical system A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...

. The building has a strong presence and provides innovation in design, technology and materials. The exterior layer is very similar to a

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

, 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, the Victorian Minister of

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, 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: *

Wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

with 42,624 different species coming from different areas of the world, mainly from Europe, Australia and Africa. *

Barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

with 19,062 different types, mainly from Europe and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. *

Chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

with 9,771 different breeds, coming from Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia Minor. *

Pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

with about 7,558 different categories, principally coming from Europe, the United States, South America and Australia. *

Lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

with 5,061 different species, coming from

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, Central Asia, Europe and Africa. The seed

drying Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered ...

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 Moisture is the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts. Small amounts of water may be found, for example, in the air (humidity), in foods, and in some commercial products. Moisture also refers to the amount of water vapo ...

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

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

, even under long-term conditions. Once seed germination drops below 85%, and the seed quantity they have in the store is below 500 seeds, the genebank regenerates the seed. They regenerate around 4000 different samples per year under field and greenhouse environments. When they regenerate seeds, they consider the biology of the plants to ensure the right soil mix, temperatures, control pollination for outcrossing species.

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 The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his ...

) with very low

. The seeds can remain viable for 50 or 100 years (depending on the kind of seed), preserving, in this way, the genetic materials. Genebank4 (4331057760)

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. 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 In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

carries the information about the origin and characteristics of each seed line (none genetically modified) and features of seed viability and the quantity held. Seeds are placed in controlled maturing environments with high temperatures and a certain

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

(RH; 45 °C and 60% RH). The

Lithium chloride Lithium chloride is a chemical compound with the formula Li Cl. The salt is a typical ionic compound (with certain covalent characteristics), although the small size of the Li+ ion gives rise to properties not seen for other alkali metal chlor ...

(LiCl) helps to obtain the right RH environment. The seed survival curve, that can be acquired from the

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

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 Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

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

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

communities facing

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

due to

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

loss, and the fragmentation and

degradation Degradation may refer to: Science * Degradation (geology), lowering of a fluvial surface by erosion * Degradation (telecommunications), of an electronic signal * Biodegradation of organic substances by living organisms * Environmental degradatio ...

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. To accomplish this objective, the partnership maintains a safe and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, and collects and stores seeds to help research on the subject. Genebank6 (4330334301)

The Australian Grains Genebank is one of the most important members of the Australian Seed Bank

Partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

, which is an alliance between 12 organizations that are trying to deal with the multitude of threats facing Australian

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

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. The activities related to the Australian Seed Bank Partnership consist of four simple concepts:

collecting The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual ''collector''. Collections differ in a wide variety of respects, most obvio ...

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

, supporting

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

and sharing knowledge. * Collecting: the process of collection and conservation of the native seeds is carried out by organizations,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

institutions and

community groups Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

, that are working together to provide a future-proof

insurance policy In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known as ...

for Australian's unique seed flora, which is particularly important in time of

environmental stress Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psych ...

. One of the main activities, in the field of collecting and storing seeds, involves the coordination of

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

seeds collecting fields trips. Some

experts An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable so ...

, in fact, follow a rigid

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

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

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

and 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

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

of all the data about Australian native crops. This process is considered that important because it informs the restoration of plant communities and landscapes. In order to achieve this objective, the Australian Seed Bank Partnership applies the

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

knowledge to the field and shares it with the restoration community. This institution, thanks to this process, has already saved a lot of 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. The Australian Grains Genebank is related to the Australian Seed Bank Partnership. They are actually

collaborating Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Mos ...

on an Australian Crop Wild Relatives project. Through this project, these two institutions are trying to store all the Australian crop wild relatives, that are not yet represented in the ex-suit collection. The 32 wild crop species will be stored and preserved on the facilities of the Australian Grains Genebank. This project is considered really important, because saving and storing the wild crops will enable researchers into new plant

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, that will be important for the future and the development of the Australian agriculture.

References

External links

Sustainablelivingsystems.org: "A Typology of Community Seed Banks"

Business Plan of Australian Seed Bank Partnership 2011-2020

Annual Report of Australian Seed Bank Partnership 2015-2016

Crop Trust
{{authority control Agricultural organisations based in Australia Conservation projects Gene banks Community seed banks Agricultural research institutes in Australia