The Seed Bank and Seed Laboratory, a subunit of the Botanical Garden Division of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, was founded in 1956. During 1960s and 1980s, the bank served for adjusting the demand and supply of good-quality seeds for the planting program in Taiwan. In 2000, it has been renovated, containing three new cold rooms for -20, 4, and 15℃ storage temperatures, respectively, to obtain a stable condition and thus more accurate results. In each room, there are two freezing machines to remain the stable temperature even one is broken. Besides, the temperature and humidity of each room are monitored and simultaneously shown on the computer. The alarm system, which alerts the happening of the abnormal condition, allows workers to repair it as soon as possible. Therefore the Seed Bank can reach unfailing precision within ±1℃ of temperature and below 60% of relative humidity.
The goal of the Seed Bank is to preserve forest germplasm and achieve sustainable development and management. All stored seeds are tried to reach their maximum longevity by the current equipment. Nowadays, there are about 253 species and 1300 seedlots stored. More species, especially those economic, endangered, and rare species are continuously collected and stored. Those stored seeds facilitate for plant germplasm conservation. The seed exchange program, with other countries, also contributes to preserving the genetic diversity international.
![Seed bank of TFRI was renewed the old equipments in 2000 and set up three new refrigerators[-20℃, 4℃, 15℃]in order to get stable results](https://ws.tfri.gov.tw/001/Upload/OldFile/files/seed01.jpg "Seed bank of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute was renewed the old cold rooms in 2000 and set up three new cold rooms including -20℃, 4℃ and 15℃ in order to meet the need of stable cold rooms and the accurate research results.")
Seed bank of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute was renewed the old cold rooms in 2000 and set up three new cold rooms including -20℃, 4℃ and 15℃ in order to meet the need of stable cold rooms and the accurate research results.
The orthodox seeds were dehydrated to 3~7% moisture contents and hermetically sealed with aluminum bags for long-term storage at -20℃.