Implementing safety duplication of Malaysian crop germplasm at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Workflow, outcomes and lessons learned
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Abstract
Conserving plant genetic resources for food and agriculture is essential for agricultural resilience and long-term food security. Safety duplication – the storage of duplicate seed samples in geographically separate facilities – is essential for genebank quality management and for safeguarding valuable germplasm against catastrophic loss. This study presents Malaysia's first national safety duplication initiative to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Seed Vault), describing operational processes, selection criteria and lessons learned. A total of 774 accessions of traditional rice (Oryza sativa) and its wild relatives (O. officinalis, O. rufipogon, O. meyeriana and O. ridleyi), traditional varieties of eggplant and its wild relatives (Solanum spp.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) maintained by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) were evaluated for duplication. Candidate accessions underwent germination testing, regeneration, seed processing, quality assurance and documentation following FAO Genebank Standards and Seed Vault depositor requirements. After regeneration and quality assessment, 725 accessions (93.7%) satisfied the required standards and were deposited under the Seed Vault black-box storage arrangement. The initiative demonstrated that successful safety duplication extends beyond seed physical transfer and requires coordinated seed viability improvement, regeneration of ageing accessions, accurate documentation and adherence to internationally recognized conservation standards. The initiative provided a secure off-site backup for Malaysia's priority germplasm collections and supported routine genebank management by renewing seed stocks, improving documentation and strengthening long-term conservation capacity. The phased implementation described here provides a practical model for national genebanks seeking to establish or expand safety duplication programmes while contributing to global efforts to safeguard crop genetic diversity.
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