미얀마는 한국에 비해 3배 큰 국토를 가진 동남아시아 국가이며 다양한 기후대가 분포하여 생물상이 다양하다. 미얀마에 서는 농업이 가장 중요한 산업으로 농업자원에 대해 중요하게 생각하며, 농업유전자원보존을 위해, 1990년에 농업관개부 산하 농업연구청에 소속된 종자은행이 설립하였으며. 이곳에는 단기저장시설에 벼 6,302점을 비롯하여 10,108점이, 중기저장 시설에 벼 6,250점을 포함하여 9,905점, 합계 20,013점이 보존되고 있다. 한편, 미얀마의 유용식물자원은 185과 1,528종으로 정리되어지며, 이중 41과 59종의 약용식물이 다양한 병 치료에 이용되어진다. 농업관개부 산하에 약용식물원을 조성하여, 말라리아 치료용 517점, 결핵치료용 712점의 허브자원, 기타 약용식물 6,090점, 희귀 약용식물 4,055점 등을 현지 내 보존 중이다.

The purpose of this study was to know the seed longevity of rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm for effective viability monitoring. The longevity was determined via germination tests of 3,066 accessions of rice germplasm from the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Rural Development Administration, Korea. The rice germplasm accessions have been conserved at a mid-term storage (4°Csealed metal can on either sides for 25~26.5 years. The final germination percentages of 3,066 rice germplasm accessions of 6.5±1.0% seed moisture content with 94% initial germination stored at 4°C for 26.5 years declined to 47% while at -18°C for 25 years maintained high germinability as 93%. Germination time courses, which represent the average performance of rice ecotypes stored at 4°C and 30% RH, were fitted regression equation, to calculate the time at which germination characteristically declined to 50% (P50). These P50 values of Indica, Japonica, Javanica and Tongil type in rice were 39.9, 22.9, 25.4 and 31.8 years, respectively. The rice germplasm stored at 4°C could be clustered in 4 groups using quartile of final germination after 26.5 years storage. The seed longevity (P50) of each group was estimated by regression equation of changed germination percentages according to storage periods. The P50 values of group Ⅰ, group Ⅱ, group Ⅲ and group Ⅳ were 21.1, 23.6, 30.0 and 75.7 years.

The world-wide capacity of genebanks for ex-situ conservation of crop genetic resources has increased greatly since the 1970s, improving the access of crop breeders to landraces, and wild relatives (Wright, 1997). In south Korea, systematic seed germplasm management was begun at the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in 1985 and consequently genebank system was established in 1988. The RDA genebank, National Agrobiodiversity Center (NAC) of south Korea, preserve 173,217 accessions of plant seed germplasm and 10.7% (18,509 accessions) of whole preserved germplasm is occupied by horticultral PGR by 2011. Horticultural PGR preserved in NAC is composed with 67 genera of crops including pepper (3,817 accessions), tomato (2,040 accessions), cabbages (1,690 accessions) and etc. According to horticultural plant sub-group, fruit-vegetable is the biggest group with 60% of accession share and leafy vegetable (19%), root vegetable (10%), bulb vegetable (8%), and ornamental (3%) follow subsequently. In aspect of PGR status, landrace is dominant part of conserved accession and then developed cultivar, wild relatives, cultivated material, wild, and weedy type follow subsequently. Recently characterization and evaluation of horticultural PGR have been activated for 3 years in NAC, which are useful for breeders and users focused on disease-resistance or active ingredient. It will promote utilization of horticultural PGR and development of horticultural crop breeding program for both human being and sustainable agriculture in near future.

More than 2,500 accessions of squash germplasm are preserved in the National Agrobidiversity Center of RDA, Korea. We investigated the ecological and morphological characteristics on 100 accessions of the squash germplasms with a low viability. Two typical types of oriental squash (Cucurbita moschata) and western squash (Cucurbita maxima) are possessed 89 and 11 accessions, respectively. The origin of 100 accessions was divided into three groups, group I (Korea landraces with 81 accessions), group II (Nepal with 15 accessions) and group III (Russia, Uzbekistan, Laos, and Mexico with each one accession). Seventy eight accessions germinated at 27~circC in growth chamber. Days to first flowering of the female and male flower ranged from 32 days to 67 days and 24 days to 55 days after planting, respectively. Vine length showed the largest variation ranging from 357.8 cm to 1,465 cm, also the average length of ten stem node range has a variable ranges from 92 cm to 217.5 cm. All regenerated squash accessions have an only collided tendril and have three to seven lateral shoots. The flattened globe-shaped squash is the most predominant and exhibited ordinarily round shaped, ball shaped, long oblong-shaped, elongated shape, and pear shape. The average weight of fruit ranged from 1.33 kg to 7.95 kg. Sugar contents showed 5.4~12.6 Brix~circ without ripening period.