Germplasm

Geography glossary

Also called: Plant genetic resources · Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Germplasm is the living genetic material of a species: seeds, plant parts or whole plants that carry its genes and can grow into new plants. It covers crop varieties, old farmer varieties and their wild relatives, and it is kept both in gene banks and in fields and forests.

It matters because plant breeders use these genes to make new varieties, such as ones that resist disease or survive drought. Losing germplasm means losing those choices for good, which puts future food security at risk.

Explanation

How it works: from gene to new variety

  • Germplasm is genetic diversity you can store and use.
  • Genetic diversity is the variation of genes within one species, like the differences between crop varieties.
  • That variation is needed for healthy breeding and for adapting to change, such as a new pest or a hotter climate.

  • Germplasm is the actual seed or plant that carries this variation.

  • Breeding draws on it step by step.

  • Breeders find a sample with a useful gene.
  • They cross it with a crop that is already grown.

  • The result is a new variety that farmers can grow.

  • The Green Revolution ran on shared germplasm. India's partnerships with CIMMYT, IRRI and ICRISAT helped it change from a food-deficit country that depended on imports into a major food producer and exporter.

  • Germplasm also travels the other way. An Indian groundnut sample conserved and shared by ICRISAT helped produce varieties now grown in Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia.

Types of germplasm

  • Modern varieties: high-yielding varieties now grown by farmers.
  • Traditional varieties (landraces): old local varieties that farmers have kept for generations. They often carry hardiness genes.
  • Wild relatives: wild plants related to crops, such as the wild citrus of Nokrek. They often hold resistance genes that modern crops have lost.
  • Agro-biodiversity: the variety of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. It is the base for plant and animal breeding.

How it is conserved

  • Ex situ conservation (outside the natural home):
  • gene banks that store seeds, such as the National Gene Bank (NBPGR, New Delhi)
  • the Svalbard Seed Vault (Norway, 2008), a backup store for the world's seeds

  • botanical gardens, such as the one at Howrah

  • In situ conservation (in the natural home):

  • protected areas and biosphere reserves keep wild relatives growing in the wild

  • farmers keep growing their own traditional seeds, as in community seed banks

  • The World Conservation Strategy (IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1980) made germplasm two of its six steps:

  • preserve crop, livestock and timber varieties and their wild relatives
  • protect the habitats of those wild relatives

Why it is threatened

  • Farmers switch to a few high-yielding varieties.
  • Old local seeds stop being sown.

  • Once a seed is not sown or stored, its genes are lost for good.

  • Habitat loss, the biggest driver of biodiversity loss, destroys the places where wild relatives grow.

  • Biopiracy: outsiders take a country's genetic resources or traditional knowledge and patent them without sharing the benefits. India's fights over neem and turmeric patents are examples.

Where it occurs

  • National Gene Bank, NBPGR (New Delhi): India's main ex situ store of plant germplasm.
  • Svalbard Seed Vault (Norway, 2008): a global backup vault for seed collections.
  • ICRISAT (Hyderabad, Patancheru), founded 1972: a CGIAR centre that conserves and shares germplasm of sorghum, pearl millet and groundnut.
  • CGIAR (set up 1971): a group of international farm research centres. Its founding centres were CIAT, CIMMYT, IITA and IRRI. It now has 15 centres working in more than 100 countries, and ten of them work in India.
  • Wild relatives in the field (in situ):
  • Nokrek Biosphere Reserve (Garo hills, Meghalaya) has wild citrus.

  • Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (Kerala–Tamil Nadu) has medicinal plants.

  • Farmer-led seed saving:

  • Beej Bachao Andolan (Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, late 1980s, Vijay Jardhari) saves native seeds and barahnaja (mixed cropping of about twelve crops).

  • Navdanya (Vandana Shiva, 1987) runs community seed banks.

  • Rules on access and sharing:

  • CBD (Rio, 1992): its third aim is the fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources.
  • Nagoya Protocol (2010, in force 2014): covers access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing (ABS) with the countries and communities that provide them.
  • ITPGRFA (the Plant Treaty, an FAO treaty): crop germplasm moves under a fixed contract called the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).
  • Biological Diversity Act 2002 (India): works through three tiers: the National Biodiversity Authority (Chennai), State Biodiversity Boards, and Biodiversity Management Committees. The committees record local varieties and traditional knowledge in People's Biodiversity Registers.

Don't confuse with

  • Genetic diversity: this is the variation of genes within a species. Germplasm is the physical material (seed or plant) that carries that variation.
  • Genetically modified organism (GMO): a GMO has had its genes changed in a lab. Germplasm is natural or bred material. Cross-border movement of GMOs falls under the Cartagena Protocol, while benefit-sharing for genetic resources falls under the Nagoya Protocol.
  • Ex situ vs in situ: a gene bank (NBPGR, Svalbard) is ex situ, outside the natural home. Wild relatives protected in a biosphere reserve are in situ, in their natural home.
  • Nagoya Protocol vs ITPGRFA: Nagoya covers genetic resources in general under the CBD. ITPGRFA runs a shared system just for crop germplasm, using one standard contract, the SMTA.

Prelims Hooks

  • The National Gene Bank is at NBPGR, New Delhi. It is an example of ex situ conservation, as is the Svalbard Seed Vault (Norway, 2008).
  • The CBD's three aims are conservation, sustainable use, and fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources. The Nagoya Protocol (2010, in force 2014) puts the third aim into practice through ABS.
  • Under the ITPGRFA's SMTA, the standard mandatory payment is 1.1% of sales. It applies mainly when the new product is restricted, so others cannot freely use it for further breeding. The money goes to a Benefit-sharing Fund.
  • CGIAR's founding centres in 1971 were CIAT, CIMMYT, IITA and IRRI. ICRISAT was not a founder: it was set up in 1972 in Hyderabad.
  • Trap: "Biosphere reserves and gene banks are set up under the Wildlife (Protection) Act" is FALSE. India's law on access to genetic resources is the Biological Diversity Act 2002, with the NBA at Chennai.
  • Pairs: Beej Bachao Andolan goes with Tehri Garhwal and Vijay Jardhari. Navdanya goes with Vandana Shiva (1987).

Mains Points

  • Erosion of agro-biodiversity (GS-III):
  • Farmers moving to a few high-yielding varieties, plus habitat loss, wipe out landraces and wild relatives.
  • The answer is to combine both methods: ex situ gene banks (NBPGR, Svalbard) and in situ protection (biosphere reserves, community seed banks such as Navdanya and Beej Bachao Andolan).

  • This follows the World Conservation Strategy (1980), which called for saving crop varieties and the habitats of their wild relatives.

  • Sharing germplasm vs fair benefit-sharing:

  • India gives germplasm freely. The Indian groundnut sample shared through ICRISAT now helps farmers in four African countries.
  • But under the SMTA, payment is required only in a narrow case.
  • A revised SMTA with a "subscription" model for mandatory payments is being negotiated. In July 2025 its text was still unagreed.

  • At home, critics say the Biological Diversity Act amendment of 2023 weakens benefit-sharing. This links to biopiracy cases such as neem and turmeric.

  • Germplasm, food security and climate:

  • Wild relatives and landraces carry genes for climate-resilient crops.
  • Shared breeding through CGIAR centres powered the Green Revolution.
  • Today it supports India's role as a provider of farm knowledge to the Global South, through South–South cooperation.

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