Genetic resources of buffalo, cattle, goat, sheep, deer, rabbit, pig, chicken, duck, goose, turkey and swan in Taiwan are conserved in living form or frozen genetic materials. Preserving farm animals in living form must conserve a considerable number of mature individuals with reproductive potential, and continued funding and breeding space are necessary. Based on the afore‐mentioned restraints and consideration of risk diversification, living animals are preserved in Taiwan Livestock Research Institute (TLRI) branches and breeding stock reproduction grounds throughout Taiwan. Genetic materials preserved in frozen form include germ cell (sperm, egg and embryo), tissue, somatic cell, cell line, DNA and gene pool. Those preserved for long term more than 10 years are conserved in liquid nitrogen storage tank at ‒185 to ‒196℃. Animal industry on utilization of farm animal genetics emphasizes the importance of in situ conservation and considers ex situ conservation as an essential complementary activity to in situ. In situ and ex situ utilization are complementary, not mutually exclusive. The exact strategy of germplasm cryobanking will clearly depend on the conservation objectives of TLRI. In situ and ex situ strategies differ in their capacity to achieve the different bio‐utilization objectives. Based on the objectives for bio‐utilization and conservation, the existing national technical capacity and infrastructure for cryoconservation, and amount of capital to invest in developing and maintaining a gene bank for food animal genetic resources (FAnGR), each country should determine for which FAnGR, if any, national cryobanking program should be undertaken. The health and sanitary issues of animals that must be considered when establishing and operating gene banks for animal genetic resources to help prevent the conservation of potentially dangerous pathogens along with the valuable genetic material in the ultra‐low temperature cell repository. Bio‐utilization of material stored in the bio‐bank must eventually be thawed and used to create new animals and therefore, national organization and annotation of the stored material is critical to ensure its proper utilization. Stock animals are the source of semen, embryo and oocytes are usually privately owned. This ownership may or may not change during the gene banking process, but the terms of agreements between bio‐banks and donors must be explicitly defined. Taiwan Animal Germplasm Center now conserves genetic resources of 77 livestock breeds and strains, including 19 native and 38 foreign species as well as 20 new breeds produced by inbreeding in poultry or breed‐crossing with the artificial insemination in livestock. Cryobanking of semen of native animals is for genetic diversity but also for risk management to long‐term global food security. Ex situ conservation program involving in vitro storage of germplasm cryobanking can contribute to ensure that it will be available to allow livestock keepers and animal breeders to confront future changes in animal production and economic environments.

• Ming-Che Wu(Taiwan Livestock Research Institute)
• Yung-Yu Lai(Taiwan Livestock Research Institute)
• Ing-Haur Hwang(Taiwan Livestock Research Institute)