Strategies for the Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources

The high vulnerability of plant species caused by alterations in their natural habitats, environmental contamination, and climate change has led to the progressive loss of genetic diversity. In situ and ex situ conservation are strategies to preserve plant genetic resources in the short, medium, and long term. This would be beneficial through approaches to enable the creation of genetic reservoirs of populations within a specific geographic region, which are helpful for ecosystem restoration, germplasm exchange, and genetic improvement. From a biotechnological perspective, plant conservation methods contribute to safeguarding sources of genotypes with potential benefits that impact food production, synthesis of secondary metabolites, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Furthermore, the selection of representative accessions from diverse populations, regeneration, scalability, and genetic stability testing support the production of elite genotypes. This chapter reviews current plant conservation technologies, highlighting the advantages and limitations of each technique, as well as their contribution to plant biotechnology and ecological restoration for the future of sustainable agriculture.