Durability of Packing Systems for Cost Effective Conservation of Germplasm

Germplasm is generally conserved in genebanks wherein temperature and relative humidity are adjusted according to term of storage. At Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal, more than 10,000 wheat accessions are conserved under medium-term storage facility. However, it proved to be a costly affair. As an alternative to cut costs, 7,691 accessions were stored in a room under cold dry conditions at 3,000 m above sea level at Dalang Maidan, Lahaul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh (HP), India. Three types of packing, namely, cloth bags (A), water proof paper bags (B) and water proof aluminium bags (C) were used for storing. In order to observe the effects and durability of the packing system on viability of seeds stored under these conditions, germinability of a sample comprising of 29 accessions was recorded every year. The difference in germination under two conditions after eight years of storage was non-significant indicating that conservation costs can be reduced by storing material under natural cold dry conditions. Besides, the stability parameters revealed that genotypes C 306, CPAN 3004, GW 173, HD 2009, HD 2285 and HP 17.44 were stable in germination and therefore, these genotypes can be stored in any of the packing systems, the most economical and convenient being packing A.