The Animal Germplasm Cryobank created by the Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology of the National Research Council (IBBA-CNR) in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences of the University of Milan (DIVAS-UNIMI) has been registered to the national network of biodiversity of agricultural and food interest.
The National Network of Biodiversity of Agricultural and Food Interest, established at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, pursuant to Article 4 of Law No. 194 of 1 December 2015 “Provisions for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity of agricultural and food interest” carries out any activity aimed at preserving genetic resources of local food and agricultural interest from the risk of extinction or genetic erosion, through in situ conservation or within farms or ex situ, as well as to encourage their reintroduction into cultivation or other forms of valorisation.
Currently in the Animal Germplasm Cryobank of the CNR IBBA of Lodi, genetic material of Italian bovine, sheep and goat breeds threatened with extinction is kept for genetic reserve purposes. In detail, approximately 25,600 doses of seminal material collected from 269 donors are preserved in liquid nitrogen.
