Introduction:
Genetic resources are sometimes called the “first resource” of the natural resources on this planet – the others being land, air, and water. Genes are the link from generation to generation of all living matter. Therefore, attention to genetic resources means attention to the vast diversity among and between species of animals, plants, and microorganisms. Within this diversity there is a hierarchy of organisation and the term genetic resource has meaning at each level.At one level, genetic resources include all the individuals of a species, particularly if it is threatened with extinction. Genetic resources also include populations, gene pools,or races of a species, which possess important attributes not found uniformly throughout the species. Breeding lines and research materials, such as mutant, genetic, or chromosomal stocks, are also genetic resources and are important in animal and plant breeding and in all phases of biologic research. Finally,genetic resources can refer to genes themselves, maintained in selected individuals or cloned and maintained in plasmids.
Background:
Germplasm is the treasury for any crop improvement where we can find the rare and/or new gene pool. Conservation is one of the main components of Germplasm study in which the scientific knowledge and tool should be applied in order to preserve the genetic materials from extinction and future utilisation. The utilisation of germplasm by scientific approaches is the real outcome with the help of human knowledge. The long-lasted civil war affected the country in all ways including loss of vast potential conserved genetic resources and facilities.
History:
According the background in the past it was 3rd rank position before the civil conflict in Darulaman research Station the collect and conserve the significant number of accession of different crop which was Afghanistan landraces, but unfortunately during three decade conflicts we lost all.Current structure of structure of plant genetic resources center again promoted to 3 ranks in 2013 now this department, now there is 4 staff one Msc and three Bsc, now we are start from zero, we repatriate 360 accession of wheat and more than 400 samples from another crops, it has very good potential for plant breeding, in current situation we faced a lot of problem in characterization, conservation,
List of conserved crops in the Gene Bank:
| No | Name of crops | No.acc |
| 1 | Wheat collection from Herat province | 2427 |
| 2 | Wheat Laundress collection from north region and Kabul | 57 |
| 3 | Improved bread wheat | 219 |
| 4 | Durum wheat | 39 |
| 5 | Triticale | 39 |
| 6 | Kihara Afghan Wheat Land Races | 360 |
| 7 | Barley | 199 |
| 8 | Rice | 45 |
| 9 | Millet | 3 |
| 10 | Maize | 44 |
| 11 | Cotton | 51 |
| 12 | Sesame | 51 |
| 13 | Soybean | 10 |
| 14 | Pea | 292 |
| 15 | Bean | 10 |
| 16 | Mongbean | 10 |
| 17 | Peagenpea | 2 |
| 18 | Broad bean | 3 |
| 19 | Leek | 3 |
| 20 | Lettuce | 3 |
| 21 | Carrots | 7 |
| 22 | Pepper | 7 |
| 23 | Spinach | 3 |
| 24 | Eggplant | 8 |
| 25 | Coriander | 9 |
| 26 | Radish | 10 |
| 27 | Cucumber | 6 |
| 28 | Squish | 6 |
| 29 | Water melon | 15 |
| 30 | Okra | 2 |
| 31 | Turnip | 7 |
| 32 | Onion | 15 |
| 33 | Basil | 8 |
| 34 | Tomatoes | 13 |
| 35 | Sugar beet | 6 |
| 36 | Sorghum | 5 |
| 37 | Clover | 22 |
| Total | 3993 |
Mission of PGRD:
What is the objectives/goals of this department?
Collection conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources from around the country,and reestablish like that gene bank we had before the conflicts in Darulamn research station, also we will ask the international research station to return a copy of the genetics resources the were collected from Afghanistan in the past. We need to
- Establish the gene bank building with required facilities.
- Collection inside the country plant genetics resources.
- Evaluation our own plant genetic resources.
- Utilisation this plant genetic resources for sustainable production.
Road map:
Expected output A
Activity 1: technical support gene bank as a department.
Activity 2:Collection and conservation of plant genetic resources with high priority given to Cereals and field crops and their wild relatives. The aims of these activities are to conserve and protect one of the most valuable national treasures of the country.
Activity 3: Characterisation of plant genetic resources supplemented by basic genetics research to
facilitate the use of the genetic materials in different breeding and research programs in the country.
Expected output B
Conservation of genetic resources can be carried in two forms, namely in situ and ex situ. In situ conservation demands the establishment of nature or biosphere reserves, national parks, or special legislation to protect endangered species. The Department of Environment and Forests have taken this in a big way. Ex situ conservation means storing germplasm in a gene bank. This method is more practical and facilitates conservation of large germplasm collections. For this, ongoing efforts have been further intensified not only to collect and introduce available genetic variability but also to evaluate and enhance it for proper utilisation in crop improvement programs. We can use our own plant genetics resources in our plant breeding research,
