The Ministry of Agriculture entrusted the Crop Research Institute in Prague (CRI) to coordinate the activities carried out within the National Programme on Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources and Agro-biodiversity (NPPGR).
Thus it is ensured that the related institutions cooperate in the areas of collection, documentation, characterization, evaluation, conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The team of Gene bank of CRI provides coordinating and other service activities (information system of genetic resources, long-term storage of seed samples in GB, administration of NPPGR etc.) for all workplaces in the Czech Republic. About 95% of all generative propagated genetic resources from Czech collections are now saved in the seed genebank. In 2012 the genebank received a certificate of quality ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System) for the activity of the genebank of seeds, field evaluation and regeneration of genetic resources of selected grains and minor crops and laboratory evaluation of their technological characteristics (last certificate: TÜV SÜD Czech s.r.o., December 12, 2019).
Genetic resources of vegetatively propagated species are kept at workplaces responsible for the collection of these species, in most cases as field collections (field GB), respectively in in vitro culture (potato, some ornamental species) or in cryobank (as a safety duplication). These workplaces are entrusted to provide all normal workplace activities and services as a gene bank (long-term preservation of PGR, provision and exchange of PGR samples from the collection).
Coordinating workplace:
Crop Research Institute
Drnovská 507
161 06 Praha 6 Ruzyne
Director of Crop Research Institute and statutory representative of the authorized person:
RNDr. Mikuláš Madaras, Ph.D.
NPPGR coordinator: Ing. Vojtěch Holubec, CSc.
Tel.: + 420 233 022 497
e mail: holubec@vurv.cz