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Seeds from Strawberries Safeguarded for the Future at Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Date: 2021.02.18

Contact: seedvault@nordgen.org

FAO’s International Year of Fruits and Vegetables is being recognized all around the globe—including at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. As NordGen staff went to the Seed Vault for the first time this year, seeds from watermelon, strawberry and pumpkin were safeguarded for the future. NordGen also carried in seeds from several other species from genebanks in Africa, Europe and South Asia.

Strawberries and watermelons may not come to mind when picturing the frozen, barren landscape surrounding the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, but this week, seeds from both those fruits were deposited in the Seed Vault for long-term safekeeping.

As the first seed chamber is full, NordGen is now carrying seeds into the second chamber of the Seed Vault.

In total, five genebanks sent almost 6 500 accessions for the February deposit at Svalbard Global Seed Vault; AfricaRice in Côte d’Ivoire, ICRISAT in India, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Germany, SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Zambia and the national genebank in Mali. The Seed Vault safeguards over one million seed samples in total, deposited by almost 90 genebanks over the past 13 years.

“We want to use a range of methods to ensure we properly conserve the genes of these valuable fruits”, said Monika Höfer, the manager of the JKI’s Institute for Breeding Research on Fruit Crops. The institute completed its second deposit in the Seed Vault this week, safeguarding seeds of wild strawberry.

“Step by step, we will add to our genebank’s collection in the Seed Vault. So far, we have only a few samples stored there, whereas other genebanks store thousands”, Höfer said.

This deposit also marked a notable first: NordGen Seed Vault Coordinator Åsmund Asdal will put JKI’s seeds into the same box as last year’s deposit to save space for future shipments. This is now possible thanks to an update to the Seed Portal, the database system managed by NordGen which is containing information about the seeds in the Seed Vault and at which shelf they’re stored.

Seeds from Mali

Among the four other genebanks who deposited seeds this week was the national genebank in Mali, which has a total of 3,446 seed samples—primarily of sorghum, an important crop in the region—in its collection.

Amadou Sidibe in front of seed accessions of different crops in aluminum bags.

“This time we’re sending 324 different accessions of rice to the Seed Vault meaning that in total, a fifth of our collection is now having backup copies in Svalbard” said the head of the genebank, Amadou Sidibe.

It’s the third time the genebank, which is part of the Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER) in Mali, is sending duplicate seeds for backup storage in Svalbard.

“The main challenge for the national genebank in Mali is to find sufficient resources to conduct the work needed”, said Sidibe. “We also have a limited number of trained staff and a strong need for training and hiring additional skilled staff members”

“Excellent global facility”

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened in 2008 as a backup for genebanks around the world to conserve duplicates of their crop diversity. In a worst-case scenario, if a genebank collection is destroyed or becomes inaccessible due to wars or extreme weather events, or if its collection is damaged due to a lack of sufficient funding or accident, the duplicate seeds will still be available for the depositor to retrieve from the Seed Vault and start anew.

“The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is an excellent global facility crucial for saving our accessions and avoiding genetic erosion”, said Sibide. “It contributes to the worldwide sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture”.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, NordGen staff is scheduled to travel to Svalbards twice more this year, in May and in October.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault was established and is owned by Norway. It is operated in a partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, NordGen and the international organisation Crop Trust.

February is a beautiful month at Svalbard as the light is returning after the long polar night and the snow is still glistening on the ground.