Conservazione ex situ delle risorse genetiche animali: dalla Criobanca del Germoplasma Animale "Giuseppe Rognoni" al Network delle Criobanche delle Risorse Genetiche Animali Italiane

Efficient ex situ and in situ conservation strategies, as well as the creation of cryobanks, are obligatory requirements to implement appropriate actions for animal biodiversity conservation. For these reasons the Animal Germoplasm Cryobank "Giuseppe Rognoni" was created in 2000 as a genetic reserve of italian farm animal germoplasm. The collection is constituted by 30.445 semen doses from 98 donors of 4 livestock species: pig, cattle, goat and sheep. The doses stored in the Bank are freely available for the conservation of breed genetic diversity, excluding routine and commercial use, therefore can be used if genetic problems occur (e.g. inbreeding), to reconstruct breeds in case of extinction and to perform research on the material stored. Ex situ cryoconservation programs of animal genetic resources differ among countries in several aspects, including objectives and rights concerning ownership of the material, hence there is the need to share information to standardize these programs. In order to link the Bank to other Italian collections the platform CRIONET-IT (http://www.genrescryonet.unimi.it/) was created by IBBA-CNR and DIVET-UNIMI, in collaboration with Italian Breeders' Association and the Italian National Focal Point of FAO with the aim to share information among collections and promote collaboration within institutions involved in farm AnGR conservation.