Conservation and utilization of crop genetic resources in Malaysia : Mardi's effort
Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development (MARDI) is the country's major custodian of the nation's crops genetic resources and has a global responsibility in the conservation of genetic resources of banana, sweet potato and citrus as well as national responsibility for the conservati...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/47350/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47350/1/ICBC2015_1.jpg http://irep.iium.edu.my/47350/2/ICBC2015_2.jpg http://irep.iium.edu.my/47350/3/ICBC2015_3.jpg |
| Summary: | Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development (MARDI) is the country's major custodian of the nation's crops genetic resources and has a global responsibility in the conservation of genetic resources of banana, sweet potato and citrus as well as national responsibility for the conservation of crops such as rice, tropical fruits and some herbs and medicinal plant species. MARDI Rice Seed Gene Bank at Seberang Prai in the state of Penang was established in the 1984 and currently holds 12,770 registered rice accessions, of which 53% are of local origin. In addition, MARDI also conserve genes in the field, mostly for underutilised tropical fruit genetic resources. At present, about 168 species of underutilised, rare and wild tropical fruit species consisting of about 2,000 accessions, the largest in the country, are being conserved. The species include ‘kuini’ (Mangifera odorata), ‘bacang’ (Mangifera foetida), ‘binjai’(Mangifera caesia ) , ‘cerapu’ (Garcinia praniana) , ‘rambai’ (Baccaurea motleyana), ‘asam gelugor’ (Garcinia atroviridis), ‘terap’ (Arthocarpus odoratissimus) and ‘pulasan’ (Nephellium rambutan-ake) . The accessions are mostly conserved ex situ in field genebanks located at the various MARDI Stations throughout the country. Although the conservation of the various crop species genetic resources is important, the real challenge is enhancing its utilisation. Therefore in the last few years, the focus of the genebank was on the utilisation of those conserved genes and some significant findings of commercial potentials are discussed. The paper also discusses on the MARDI future strategies in crop genebanking. |
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