Svalbard Global Seed Vault Commences Seed Experiment That Will Last for 100 years

How long can seeds stay alive? That question is crucial for seed genebanks and research institutes working with plants and seeds. It is known that seeds of good quality can stay alive for several decades and even for centuries. However, there are differences between species and between seed qualities due to different conditions during production and preparing of the seeds. To improve this crucial knowledge, a new seed longevity experiment comprising seeds of 13 globally important crops, has started in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The experiment is planned to go on for a hundred years from now.

The first experimental seed samples will be brought into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the 27th of August. These first test sets consist of seeds from barley, pea, wheat and lettuce, produced at the German genebank IPK in Gatersleben. During the following 2-3 years, seeds from nine additional crops will be produced and put into the –18°C seed storage in Svalbard. Seeds will be produced by project partners that are highly ranked genebanks and research institutes from all parts of the world. These have already taken advantage of the opportunity to deposit security duplicates of their valuable seed collections in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

“This experiment is one of its kind. It will provide future generations with valuable information about seed viability and more precise knowledge of how often seeds need to be regenerated”, said Åsmund Asdal, Seed Vault Coordinator at Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen), the Nordic countries' genebank which is responsible for managing the project.

Unknown germination abilities

The main principle for conserving seeds is that well dried and frozen seeds from many important food crops can stay alive for a very long time. Exactly for how long seeds can maintain the germination ability after storage under optimal conditions is not fully explored. But it is assumed that seeds of many species can say alive for centuries, some species may even survive for more than thousand years. The experiment is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food through yearly Svalbard Global Seed Vault management budgets.

Regeneration of seeds needed

Genebanks test seeds in their collections regularly, to be able to regenerate seeds in time and keep the genetic resources contained in the seeds viable and available for research and plant breeding. "Increased knowledge about how long seeds can stay alive will be extremely useful for genebanks, and also for the management of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is a facility where genebanks can store duplicates of their primary seed collections as a security in case seeds are lost at home" said Åsmund Asdal. The Seed Vault can be considered as a huge bank box for seeds, and it is crucial to know at which intervals seeds that are conserved here must be replaced by new fresh seeds. The first experiment seeds will be tested in 2030 and then identical seed samples will be tested every tenth year until 2120, a hundred years from now. Results and reports from the project will be published throughout the whole project period, adding knowledge to management routines and guidelines, both for seed conservation in regular genebanks and for the long-term conservation of seeds in the Seed Vault.

The partners in the project are:

  • The National Rice Seed Storage Laboratory for Genetic Resources (NRSSL) in Thailand
  • The International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India
  • Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária, (INIAV) in Portugal
  • Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) in Brazil
  • The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Germany
  • Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen) in Sweden, also managing the project.

The crops included in the experiment are:

  • Barley
  • Pea
  • Wheat
  • Lettuce
  • Rice
  • Maize
  • Chickpea
  • Soybean
  • Groundnut
  • Pearl millet
  • Pigeon pea
  • Cabbage
  • Timothy

About the Seed Vault

Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is owned and established by Norway. The Seed Vault is operated in a partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, NordGen - the regional genebank for the Nordic countries, and the international organization Crop Trust. So far, more than 1,3 million seed samples from more than 100 different institutes and organizations have been duplicated to the Seed Vault for safe, free-of-charge and long-term storage. More info can be found at the official webpage: www.seedvault.no

For more information, please contact:

Åsmund Asdal Seed Vault Coordinator, NordGen +47 91 36 51 66

asmund.asdal@nordgen.org