Ch. 9— Maintaining Biological Diversity in the United States • 233 



activities include acquiring, maintaining, and 

 improving plant germplasm. Various compo- 

 nents of the system also conduct research that 

 supports preservation of genetic diversity, ac- 

 quisition of new materials, and use of stored 

 germplasm (see figure 9-1). 



Work done by NPGS is in response to spe- 

 cific national needs. Agricultural plant explo- 

 ration and development of new crop species 

 led to a formal Federal program (Section of Seed 

 and Plant Introduction) in 1898 within USDA 

 (28). Recognizing that germplasm resources 

 were being lost due to inadequate maintenance 

 facilities, Congress enacted the Agricultural 

 Marketing Act in 1946, authorizing regional 

 centers to maintain and develop plant germ- 

 plasm (27). 



Federal contributions to NPGS currently are 

 administered through the Agricultural Re- 

 search Service (ARS) and the Cooperative State 

 Research Service (CSRS). The ARS National 

 Program Staff in Beltsville, MD, coordinates 

 these various activities and facilities: 



• Advisory Committees: The National Plant 

 Germplasm Committee and individual 

 crop advisory committees provide both pol- 

 icy and technical advice to administrators 

 and curators of NPGS. The National Plant 

 Genetic Resources Board advises the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture on resource issues 

 and serves as liaison between NPGS and 

 the International Board for Plant Genetic 

 Resources. 



• Plant Genetics and Germplasm Institute: 

 This USDA/ARS facility includes the fol- 

 lowing: 



—the Plant Introduction Office that coordi- 

 nates the acquisition of new materials, 

 assignment of introduction numbers, 

 and distribution to appropriate facilities; 



—the Plant Molecular Genetics Laboratory, 

 devoted to developing methods for using 

 germplasm to improve crops; 



—the Germplasm Resources Information 

 Network (GRIN) Database Management 

 Unit, responsible for developing and 

 maintaining the computer-based system 

 that is intended to contain passport. 



evaluation, and inventory information on 

 NPGS germplasm; and 

 —the National Small Grains Collection. 



• National Seed Storage Laboratory: The Na- 

 tional Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL) in 

 Ft. Collins, CO, is designed to be the prin- 

 cipal storage facility for agricultural crop 

 seeds in the NPGS. Ideally, all plant vari- 

 eties are stored at NSSL as base collections. 

 NSSL is responsible for monitoring the via- 

 bility of seeds within its collections as well 

 as seeds stored in active collections. The 

 laboratory does not evaluate its samples, 

 however, and depends on other facilities 

 in the network to regenerate samples when 

 germination declines. 



• Germplasm Collections: National respon- 

 sibility for maintaining major crops is 

 divided among four Regional Plant Intro- 

 duction Stations (RPISs). Many important 

 collections are not associated with an RPIS, 

 such as those for soybeans, cotton, sugar 

 crops, and small grains. Germplasm that 

 must be clonally maintained is the respon- 

 sibility of the five newly established and 

 four developing national clonal reposi- 

 tories. Several collections of genetic or mu- 

 tant stocks that possess specific traits ex- 

 ist. Although not generally used in 

 breeding, such stocks have been important 

 resources for research on cytogenetics, 

 physiology, biochemistry, and molecular 

 genetics of crops. 



The mission of NPGS is to acquire, maintain, 

 evaluate, and make accessible as wide a range 

 of genetic diversity as possible in the form of 

 seed and clonal materials to crop breeders and 

 plant scientists (60). The scientific expertise on 

 germplasm maintenance is among the best 

 available. 



Assessments of NPGS during the past 5 years 

 have highlighted shortcomings in coordination, 

 communication, storage facilities, maintenance 

 of seed viability, and staffing levels (7,56,57,60). 

 Facilities such as NSSL, for example, have been 

 criticized for inadequately maintaining seed 

 stocks and for storage limitations. A 1981 study 

 by the General Accounting Office (GAO) found 

 that NPGS curators sent only half the seeds 



