Facility

CIMMYT Maize Germplasm Bank (El Batán, Texcoco, Mexico)

CIMMYT's primary maize germplasm bank at El Batán, Texcoco, Estado de México — the world's largest public repository of maize genetic diversity. The CIMMYT germplasm bank stores over 28,000 maize accessions under long-term cryogenic (liquid nitrogen vapor) and medium-term cold storage conditions, backed up at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. CIMMYT's collection includes traditional landraces from Mexico (the center of origin of maize), the Andes, Central America, and Africa — genetic material representing 10,000+ years of indigenous agricultural selection. This collection is the genetic backstop for commercial hybrid breeding programs: private companies access CIMMYT germplasm under International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGRFA) standard material transfer agreements and have used CIMMYT accessions to introgress drought tolerance, disease resistance, and heat tolerance into commercial inbred lines. CIMMYT's El Batán campus also houses field screening nurseries for thousands of breeding lines each season. Source: CIMMYT Annual Report 2024; https://www.cimmyt.org/work/maize/