Integration of cryopreservation in French plant genetic resource collections: the CRYOVEG project

Abstract : This book represents contributions, oral as well as posters, of the final meeting of COST Action 871, CRYOPLANET (Cryopreservation of crop species in Europe) held in Angers. Local organizers of the meeting were Dr. Agnès Grapin (AGROCAMPUS OUEST – Angers) and Dr. Florent Engelmann (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement). COST Action 871 started in December 2006 with a Kick-off meeting at the COST office in Brussels and officially ended in December 2010. Twenty-one COST Action Countries (see figure 1) and 3 non-COST institutes (New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research (New Zealand), Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (Russian Federation), Faculté des Sciences de Sfax (Tunisia) participated actively in this initiative. The Action was created because plant cryobiologists realized that plant cryopreservation was hardly applied in Europe. This was mainly due to the fact that efficient and robust cryopreservation protocols applicable to many plant species and diverse germplasm types were not available, plant researchers were unacquainted to recent developments in cryogenic storage methods and there was a lack of coordinated research in Europe on plant cryopreservation. The main objective of this action was therefore “to improve and apply technologically advanced techniques for plant genetic resources conservation of crops that are grown/ and or conserved in Europe with main emphasis on long-term conservation through cryopreservation”. In order to achieve this, 2 working groups (WGs) were established