Current development of the German Gene Bank for Ornamental Plants

Abstract

The German Gene Bank for Ornamental Plants (DGZ) comprises five networks and is coordinated by the Bundessortenamt since 2014. The Information and Coordination Centre for Biological Diversity (IBV) of the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) integrates the DGZ in a national and international cooperation. In this way the information about plant genetic resources of the gene bank are components of the National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources (PGRDEU). Further they are included in the Search Catalogue on European Plant Collections (EURISCO) of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR). Every network of the German Gene Bank for Ornamental Plants consists of the Bundessortenamt, the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, a coordinator as well as collecting and supporting partners. A subnetwork consists of the collections of plant groups from its collecting partners. Supporting partners do not insert plant material in a gene bank, but they are important participants based on their expert knowledge. The DGZ conserves and documents plant collections to promote their use by providing propagation material and the resulting available data.