The genebank of the International Potato Center conserves potato and sweetpotato diversity.
CIP Genebank Website
CIP Genebank Publications
Search Genesys for CIP accessions
CIP’s collections of potato and sweetpotato are the world’s largest and contain nearly all of the potato wild relatives.
The in vitro genebank is the largest in the world and was one of the first genebanks to obtain ISO 17025 certification for safe and secure movement of germplasm.
The crops conserved at CIP are mostly propagated vegetatively, and so most of the accessions are kept as in vitro plants and in cryopreservation for long-term storage. The CIP genebank has been suggested as a center of excellence for cryobanking. The genebank has a large program to move more accessions into cryopreservation.
The CIP genebank also conserves accessions of nine types of Andean root and tuber crops.
The in vitro sweetpotato collection is backed up in Columbia while the in vitro potato collection is backed up in Brazil.
Useful information
Head of genebank: Dave Ellis
Genetic resources conservation manager: Noelle Anglin
Phytosanitary & quarantine specialist: Brenda Zea
Contact for ordering germplasm: CIP-Germplasm@cgair.org
Status of CIP genebank according to performance targets
| 2016 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|
| Accessions | 15,749 | 17,898 |
| Availability | 14% | 31% |
| Safety duplication | 58% | 52% |
| Passport Data Completeness Index (Average) | 5.43 | 5.61 |
Source: Annual Report 2016 Genebanks CRP
CIP genebank by the numbers
| Full-time staff equivalents | 93.9 |
| Date to reach performance targets | Potato 2021; sweetpotato >2021; Andean roots & tubers >2021 |
| Projected accession numbers in 2022 | Potato - seed 2,650 clonal 5,000; sweetpotato – seed 1,300 clonal 6,600; andean roots & tubers – seed 900 clonal 1,600 |
| QMS has ISO 17025 accreditation |
