The science behind our seed conservation
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership leads a world class science and technology programme to address the challenges of seed banking and help save plants for the future. We work in collaboration with international partners and use cutting edge science to improve seed conservation.
Our work focuses on wild plant species. Many seeds from wild plant species have natural mechanisms that mean they will only germinate in the wild. These natural mechanisms often mean that a seed will only germinate under specific environmental conditions at a particular time of year. It is important for our scientists to learn more about how different seeds germinate in order to grow new plants from the seeds we save.
Seeds from wild plants are also more likely to be short-lived or difficult to collect and conserve than the seeds of common crops.
Collecting seeds at the right time
To increase the possibility of successfully germinating, growing and using seeds in the future, we must collect seeds at precisely the right time.
Our research in this area aims to better understand the process of seed development. In particular, how ecology, climate and seed structure affect seed storage life.
We also need to know where to find seeds. We take information from herbarium specimens and combine it with maps to produce seed collecting guides. These show seed collecting teams when and where they are likely to find seeds at the right stage of development.
Scientific Research & Data
Seed responses to climate change and environmental extremes | Species targeting project
Improving the chances of seeds
Seed collections often contain a large number of unripe seeds. If immature seeds are dried too quickly the chances of germinating them in the future are reduced.
Our research in this area aims to develop post-harvest handling methods. These methods help seeds to mature. This means that when seeds are dried for long-term conservation in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, they are more likely to germinate and grow successfully in the future.
We also need to know whether seeds can be safely dried. The seeds of some wild plant species are killed in the process of drying, even when they are fully mature. Predicting when seed sensitivity to drying might occur across key wild plant groups is another important aspect of our research.
We have now tested whether the seeds of more than 20 important palm species and around 100 dryland species can withstand drying. This includes dwarf date palm (Phoenix roebelinii), cliff date palm (Phoenix rupicola), sugar date palm (Phoenix sylvestris) and arikury palm (Syagrus schizophylla). Knowing whether these plants produce seeds that can be dried is important. It enables conservationists to decide which seeds are likely to be stored easily in the bank.
Scientific Research & Data
Frequency of dessication tolerance in targeted taxa | Maximising seed quality: maturity and post-harvest studies
Saving seeds for longer
The life of seeds when conserved in a seed bank varies across different plant species, even if seeds are stored under identical conditions.
Knowing how long a seed will last under seed bank conditions impacts conservation activity at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership. It affects the choice of storage conditions and frequency of seed testing, when seeds are dried and conserved in the seed bank.
Our research in this area aims to improve our ability to predict how long each seed will last under seed bank conditions.
We also want to gain a better understanding of the optimum conditions for long-term seed storage and learn more about how seeds age. For example, the structure of the seed embryo, climate conditions during seed development and ripening and the natural habitat of the parent plant can all affect how long a seed will last in a seed bank.
Scientific Research & Data
Comparative longevity (orthodox seeds) | Maximising longevity in orchids | Seed viability and ageing defined by the intra-cellular redox environment
Finding the best conditions for seed germination
Finding the best conditions for seed germination is vital for the future use of seeds and plants. It is also important for monitoring the viability of different seeds in storage in our seed bank.
Seed dormancy is a particular challenge when dealing with wild plant species. This is an important area of research at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank. Our success in getting difficult seeds to germinate is based on our understanding of the environment in which we collected our seeds and the plants from which they originated.
Our research in this area also focuses on improving our understanding of the physiological, ecological and molecular basis of seed dormancy.
Scientific Research & Data
Molecular and biophysical dissection of changes in dormancy | Role of 'underdeveloped' embryos in germination/dormancy problems | Germination requirements from climate data
Saving seeds
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