NZ seeds held in doomsday vault
There are a lot of facilities which carry out research on the seeds stored by other countries but this one operates like a Swiss bank. Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar
A remote Arctic doomsday vault holds a growing collection of New Zealand seeds, protecting the country’s agriculture industry from loss of plant species if war, disease or disaster strikes.
Agresearch sent the seeds via an air mailed package last week to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a secure facility on the rugged Arctic Svalbard archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
It is the second delivery of its kind from Agresearch’s Margot Forde Germplasm Centre (MFGC), following an agreement made last year.
The MFGC in Palmerston North is home to thousands of species including forages used to farm livestock in New Zealand some developed for specific traits and environments - as well as herbs, legumes and endangered plant species.
Annual deposits to the vault will build up a diverse collection of plant species of interest to New Zealand agriculture, including those collected from all over the world.
This year, about 500 packets of seeds covering about 40 species of plants were sent to the vault.
A similar deposit was made last year.
MFGC director Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar said the Arctic facility provided an important back-up for New Zealand’s agriculture industry. ’’We want to ensure that should a major event happen in New Zealand like earthquake, fire, or a serious plant disease – that wipes out the collection held at MFGC or a specific plant species of interest to agriculture – we have a back-up to draw on so they are not lost to us forever,’’ he said.
‘‘New Zealand is very dependent on agriculture and we have to give priority to those species which are important to agriculture,’’ Ghamkhar said.
‘‘Ryegrass and its wild varieties, clover and its wild varieties, those are our priority.’’
It was hoped about 10 per cent of the total MFGC collection would be backed up by year seven or eight of the project.
The Svalbard vault extends 120 metres into rock and has the capacity to store millions of seeds in sealed packages in sub-zero temperatures so they remain viable.
Ghamkhar said it was one of about 1500 seed banks in the world, only a handful of which were important and well managed.
‘‘There are a lot of facilities which carry out research on the seeds stored by other countries but this one operates like a Swiss bank,’’ he said.
‘‘We have exclusive use of our seeds while they’re in storage and we are the only country that can take them out of the vault.’’