Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre (APGRC) of Sudan

The Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre (APGRC) is one of the centers that operate under the Agricultural Research Corporation, Sudan. It is mandated for realizing sustainable management and use of the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) in Sudan. It was initiated in the early 1980s as a germplasm unit for horticultural crops. It was upgraded in 2014 into a center named as Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre (APGRC). Activities for the conservation of PGRFA are conducted through seed and field gene banks composed of a central gene bank at the headquarters in Wad Medani town in central Sudan. Seed samples of all accessions from all over the country are conserved in the central gene bank under long-term conditions (LTS). More than 17,000 accessions have already been collected and conserved by the APGRC from different plant species. A subnational gene bank unit has been established at Elobeid town, in the west of the country, since 2005 to conserve a duplicate copy of the accessions for use and safety duplication. A field gene bank for banana genetic resources has been established at Kassala town in the east since 2003, where more than 350 accessions from Musa genetic resources are conserved. A field gene bank for date palm genetic resources has been established at Eldamer town, in the north, since 2015, where more than 90 accessions of date palm are conserved. Data management is realized through a gene bank documentation system known as SESTO, which was developed and used by the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre. This chapter outlines different types of conservation. It illustrates strategies for the conservation of genetic resources and covers various methods of characterization, evaluation, documentation, and utilization, including the exchange of germplasm policies of gene banks around the world.