As part of the Institute of Agriculture – Skopje, there is the Gene Bank of plant genetic resources, which is a national seed collection of a number of autochtonous, regional, newly created, introduced and highly potential varieties and populations of cereals, vegetables, forage and industrial crops.
These plant genetic resources are of great value, and they are part of the natural and cultural richness and heritage of the Republic of North Macedonia. They represent the basis for preserving biodiversity, initial material for breeding programs for creation of new varieties, as well as for examining and evaluation of the agrobiological and technological properties of the varieties.
The Gene Bank, as a unit of the Institute of Agriculture, was formed as a result of intensive long-term activities.
The Agricultural Institute in Skopje is the only institution in Macedonia at the moment in which plant genetic resources are preserved according to FAO standards and are properly documented. The freezers have a total of 721 samples of 43 botanical types, out of which the majority are cereals (417), then horticultural (202), forage (77) and industrial (25) specimens. Their passport data is part of the European Database EURISCO.
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