Low-temperature storage of seeds. Establishment of the method and its role in plant genetic resources conservation

About 90% of the global cultivated plant genetic resources are preserved as seed collections. The low-temperature storage of seed accessions allows for the reduction of the number of regenerations and for long term maintenance of high level seed viability. The article considers studies of the influence of various factors on seed longevity, which became the methodological basis for organizing low-temperature seed storage in plant genebanks. The presented cases of extreme seed longevity expand our knowledge of the capabilities of living organisms. The Genebank Standards (1994) and Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2014) provide information on the subdivision of collections into active, basic, and duplicate ones, which allows rational organization of storage and use of available material, as well as describe modern requirements to low-temperature storage conditions.

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