U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. agriculture, renowned for its productivity, owes much of its success to a continuing flow of improved crop varieties that produce higher yields and better withstand pests, diseases, and extreme climates. The genes necessary for these crops are found in plant germplasm--the material in seeds or other plant parts that controls heredity. To maintain high levels of agricultural productivity, plant breeders need access to an ample supply of germplasm with diverse genetic characteristics. The Agriculture Department's (USDA) National Germplasm System maintains germplasm collections for more than 85 crops. Forty committees composed of crop experts advise USDA on germplasm activities. This report presents the results of GAO's survey of 680 committee members on the adequacy of the National Plant Germplasm System's principal activities: acquiring germplasm to ensure the diversity of the collections and to reduce crop vulnerability, developing and documenting information on germplasm, and preserving germplasm.

GAO noted that: (1) just over half of the CGSs reported that the genetic diversity contained in NPGS' collections is sufficient to reduce the vulnerability of their crops; (2) considering both this collection and all other freely available collections, almost three-quarters of the committees said that the diversity in these collections is sufficient for reducing their crops' vulnerability; (3) at the same time, the committees identified several concerns affecting the diversity of their collections, and they ranked the acquisition of germplasm as the highest priority for the germplasm system if more funding becomes available; (4) current acquisition efforts are hindered by problems in obtaining germplasm from some countries and by the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) management of the quarantine system, which has contributed to the loss of germplasm and delays in its release for certain plants; (5) according to the crop committees, many of the system's collections lack sufficient information on germplasm traits to facilitate the germplasm's use in crop breeding; (6) officials of the germplasm system acknowledged that some information on plant traits, such as resistance to disease or plant structure, has not been developed because it is considered to be a lower priority than preserving germplasm; in other instances, the information has been developed by scientists outside of the system and has not been provided for entry into the database; (7) preservation activities--viability testing, regeneration, and the long-term backup storage of germplasm--have not kept pace with the preservation needs of the collections; (8) only minimal viability testing--testing the seeds in a sample to determine how many are alive in order to prevent the loss of the sample--has occurred at two of four major locations; (9) in addition, the system has significant backlogs for regenerating (that is, replenishing) germplasm at the four major locations; and (10) over one-third of the system's germplasm is not stored in the system's secure, long-term storage facility, thereby increasing the risk that samples located around the nation could be lost through environmental damage or other catastrophes.