The Angola National Plant Genetic Resources Centre (NPGRC) has been carrying out activities related to conservation and characterization of national germplasm.

 

The majority of Angola’s districts were inaccessible over the last 13 years and for this reason many areas of local varieties of food crops were not visited in the past due to the war that Angola was involved. Angola has now been at peace and now it is possible to collect genetic diversity most of these from farmers, farm stores and village markets’. Since January 2003, the Angola NPGRC has been developing “the emergency collection project of local varieties of food crops” which constitutes the essential base of plant breeding programs.

To function as a centre for research and training which includes training of personnel for the NPGRC and other institutions.

 

 

A total of 441 accessions were collected during a mult-crop collection in Huila province, Namibi province and Malanga province in 2004. With these collections, NPGRC now has a representative sample from 55% of the total number of districts in the country and representing 60% of the recognized agricultural zones (MIIA).

NPGRC began collecting local variety germplasm since1991. Seed collected since has been stored according to recommended international standards. This includes adhering to low humidity and low temperatures. However, due to problems of short term energy cuts over the years, the NPGRC decided to make an overall test of the viability of stored seeds.

Accessions of maize, sorghum and cowpea that had been stored for all periods ranging between 1 and 12 years were tested for their viability and for their growth performance in the field.

The experiment is now in its final stages but NPGRC is pleased to report that the tests appear to show that seeds stored over any period between 1 – 12 years performed equally well in germination tests and field trials as shown in the table below.

In November 2003, a small molecular characterization laboratory was set up at NPGRC. It has opened the way for the training of final year biology students in some molecular characterization techniques, in order to evaluate the genetic diversity of national varieties of Maize (Zea mays L.) and Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) using isoenzyme polymorphisms. In a later phase of the project, the laboratory expects to begin direct DNA analysis and the molecular characterization of germplasm stored in the gene bank.

The Angolan NPGRC distributed 75 accessions of germplasm in small quantities (50-100 seeds) for agronomic experiments, to be used within the country in plant breeding programmes and for other scientific purposes.

The main solicitors of this material are some institutions such as, Agronomic Institute (IIA), SENSE, IDA, PRODECA, Biology Department at Science Faculty and National and International NGOs related with the agronomic development.