(turkmenistan.ru) - A genetic bank of cultivated plants has been inaugurated in the National Museum of White Wheat Ak Bugdai. It has every condition for the long-term storage of seed-stock while fully preserving its germinating capacity. Over 600 seeds of grain crops of local selection, the old and modern once, are kept in the specially designed storages. According to specialists, it offers agricultural scientists and selectionists great opportunities prospects in work, reports Trend.
As the department of science of the Ministry of agriculture of Turkmenistan reports, the stock of genetic fund will be replenished with specimen of seeds of grain crops, vegetables and melons, fruits, technical and forage crops and foreign sorts of seed in the course of time. Specimen of seeds of precious sorts of wild plants of Turkmenistan will be also kept there.
The opening of the genetic bank of cultivated plants has coincided with a working visit to Ashgabat of the coordinator of International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) for Central Asian countries and Caucasus, Dr. Raja Parod. Turkmenistan has been cooperating with this authoritative international organization with the head office in Syrian city of Aleppo for 10 years now. Last year, some 180 sorts of grain crops, including 42 sorts of wheat of Turkmen national selection that were earlier passed to ICARDA by the Russian Institute of Plant Growing named after N.I.Vavilov, were received from Syria. This year, using this unique material, a new harvest of wheat and barley, the specimen of which are included in the national genetic fund of cultivated plants, was gathered from research fields of the Scientific Research Institute of Grain Rrops of the Association Turkmengallaonumleri.