Guizhou University (GZU) has made a groundbreaking achievement in building a national crop germplasm resource bank in Guizhou Province. A recent announcement (No. 595) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China revealed the university’s "National Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Crop Germplasm Resource Bank (Guiyang)" was included as the first batch of national crop germplasm resource bank, affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and supervised by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guizhou Province.  

Appendix 1

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs started the selection of the candidates in April this year, following the guidelines of the General Office of the State Council on elevated protection and utilization of crop germplasm resources, subject to the "Seed Law of the People's Republic of China". Colleges and universities submitted applications before the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs revealed the candidates to the public. The final review of the experts and the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs confirmed the first batch of the national crop germplasm resource banks and 19 national agricultural microbial germplasm resource banks. It is hoped that, with the establishment of the resource bank, the following objectives can be reached: (a) build a national team for the protection and utilization of crop germplasm resources; (b) make the most of germplasm resources (banks) in census collection, safe preservation, accurate identification, sharing and exchange; (c) build a systematic, scientific and efficient protection and utilization system for crop germplasm resources; (d) facilitate the transformation of resource advantages into industrial advantages and innovation advantages, and (e) build a solid foundation for germplasm resources for the seed industry revitalization.

Editor: Zhang Chan & Han Xiaomei

Chief Editor:  Zhang Yajun

Senior Editor: Yan Nai

Translator: Li Xiaorong