Alice Muchugi, Simon Kangethe & John Innocent

ICRAF Genebank Brief- Promoting use and conservation of important indigenous trees

Programmer/Developer Workshop in ADDIS

21-25th November 2016

Why Agroforestry tree conservation?• Deforestation continues at an alarmingly high rates in many countries.

– global rate of deforestation between 2000-2010 was 13 million hectares.– At the end of the last millennium, around 10% of the world’s 60,000 to 100,000 tree

species were threatened with extinction. – Largest proportion of the loss in primary forests are mainly in ICRAF working regions

led by South America, followed by Africa and Asia. • Current IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org), which

indicates approximately 1,200 trees and shrubs as “critically endangered”, 1,700 as “endangered” and another 3,700 as “vulnerable‟ FRA (2010) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010CD-ROM FAO Rome.

• Role of ICRAF tree genebank-Agroforestry germplasm resources:– Support ICRAF research projects with relevant germplasm information issues.– Avail ICRAF partners and visitors with relevant tree germplasm information – Facilitate acquisition of tree GR for ICRAF projects – Facilitate acquisition of tree GR for selection and breeding programs to add value to

the collections.

ICRAF Genebank• Ex situ genebank-5394 accessions representing 192 tree

species• Over 10,000 accessions of 44 species established either

from seeds or clonally located in 38 sites in 15 countries the different regions in Africa, Latin America South Asia and South East Asia.

• 2280 accession of 120 species are held at Kunming Institute of Botany genebank, China and the Millennium Seed Bank, UK as safety duplicates

• Over 500 accessions representing 120 agroforestry tree species deposited at Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway

Agroforestr y Tree Ger mplasm Management

Characterization Fruit/seed collected from planted or wild tree stands

Further growth evaluation inthe field

Low

see

d n

umbe

rs–

mul

tiplic

atio

n

Low

via

bilit

y –

rege

nera

tion

Seed extraction and cleaning

Seed drying and moisture determination

Viability and health assessment

Safety backup at Svalbard

Long-term storage/safety duplication with partners

Medium-term storage

Seed distribution

Documentation is a key activity in all processes

Periodic monitoring

Seedling growth & health evaluation at the nursery

Strychnos cocculoides Msekera, Zambia

Bactris gasipaes Ucayali, Peru

Irvingia wombolu Mbalmayo, Cameroon

Tamarindus indica Dinderesso, Burkina Faso

Guazuma crinita Ucayali, Peru

Warburgia ugandensis Muguga, Kenya

Recalcitrant seed propagation and testing

Field genebank activities

Field evaluation Seedling growth evaluation and distribution

Characterizing diversity

Morphological • Fruit shape diversity• Number of fruits per tree• Number of seeds per fruit Genetic

0

20

40

60

80

Zillat

eZil

l

Donkey E

ar

Kimunyi

Kent

Tommy A

tkins

Ngoe

Van Dyke

Vit C

(mg/

100

g) High vit. C

Mango varietyNutritional

Case Example 2: Dacryoides edulis

Fast growing cultivars and better product quality selection

A. Trees for Products

B. Trees for Servicesfruit firewood medicine income Sawn wood fodder

Soil fertility Carbon erosion watershed shade biodiversity

The right tree for the right place

Thank you