Gene Bank of El Salvador
摘要
The Germplasm Bank of El Salvador is located in the National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology “Enrique Álvarez Córdova” CENTA, which belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Since its inception around 1990, it has focused on rescuing and conserving seeds of various wild and cultivated plants such as basic grains, including the genera Oryza, Phaseolus, Sorghum, and Zea. The bank collection, along with its living collection, consists of 362 species. This includes 190 medicinal species such as Achilea, Chenopodium, and Justicia, as well as others; and aromatic plants like Anethum, Lippia, Mentha, and Ocimum, Additionally, the bank preserves historical varieties developed by plant breeders. The bank also maintains a field collection of plants, mainly vegetables like Brassica, Colocasia, Ipomoea, and Manihot; rhizomes such as Curcuma, Maranta, Xanthosoma, and Zingiber; and some fruit species such as Anacardium, Annona, Byrsonima, Chrysophyllum, Hylocereus, Mangifera, Manilkara, Persea, Pouteria, Psidium, Theobroma, and Spondias. The purpose of the CENTA Germplasm Bank is to safeguard plant genetic resources with high genetic purity and viability. It includes a collection of wild species that serve as a gene source for closely related crops, aiding in adaptation to climate change. Some of these species include Amaranthus, Capsicum, Pachyrhizus, Passiflora, Phaseolus, Physalis, Rubus, Solanum, Vanilla, and Vigna. This chapter provides an overview of the Germplasm Bank at the National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology “Enrique Álvarez Córdova” (CENTA), highlighting its national and international importance. It also discusses the fieldwork, laboratory research, and publications conducted by the technical team, consultants, thesis students, and project support. Additionally, it includes a list of the seed collection stored in cold chambers and the living collection.