Location: Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research
Project Number: 3012-21000-017-025-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jul 15, 2025
End Date: Jul 14, 2030
Objective:
To manage and research collections of seeds of US native species that are part of the US Department of the Interior’s Seeds of Success program. This research will provide knowledge of seed longevity of genebanked seeds from wild species and will contribute to developing and trouble-shooting new technologies to monitor seed health during storage. The collaboration enhances genetic resource collections of wild relatives of crops as well as plants known to mitigate wild fires occurring in the western US.
Approach:
Seeds originate from collections made by agencies within the Department of the Interior. NLGRP receives seeds and stores them using conventional or cryogenic approaches, according to assessed physiology. Initial testing will determine germination requirements as well as seed fill and other quality parameters. A portion of the seeds that have been stored for longer than 10 years at NLGRP will be assessed for changed quality using a number of tests that have been developed by NLGRP scientists. Seeds will be dried using NLGRP standard procedures and packaged in foil-laminate bags. Upon mutual agreement, some accessions may be used in accelerated aging experiments to provide cooperators with approximations of seed longevity for certain species.