The FAO’s Genebank Standards

The conditions laid out in the FAO’s Genebank Standards [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] are a guide to storage. They do not provide procedural detail on germination testing, dormancy breaking, or how these can feed into decisions about when to regenerate. However, they do provide guidance on how often testing should happen.

• 4.3.1 The initial seed viability test should be conducted after cleaning and drying the accession, or at the latest, within 12 months after receipt of the sample at the genebank.
• 4.3.2 The initial germination value should exceed 85% for most seeds of cultivated crop species. For some specific accessions and wild or forest species that do not normally reach high levels of germination, a lower percentage could be accepted.
• 4.4.1 The most original sample should be used to regenerate accessions.
• 4.4.1 Regeneration should be carried out in such a manner that the genetic integrity of the accession is maintained. Species-specific regeneration measures should be taken to prevent admixtures of genetic contamination.
• 4.4.3 If possible at least 50 seeds of the original and subsequent most-original sample should be archived in long-term storage for reference purposes.