The ICROPS Field Genebank is a living plant genetic resources conservation facility of the Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Food Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños. Occupying approximately four hectares, it maintains a diverse collection of woody and perennial plant genetic resources for conservation, characterization, evaluation, teaching, research, and crop improvement. The collection includes fruit crops, underutilized crops, native and locally important cultivated plants, and their wild relatives. Many materials are maintained as distinct accessions, cultivars, varieties, or genotypes, reflecting the Field Genebank’s primary role in conserving useful genetic diversity rather than serving solely as a display collection.

The collection is particularly notable for its high level of intraspecific diversity. It includes more than 250 accessions of Canarium spp. associated with the historic Pili Drive heritage collection, which includes century-old trees; more than 100 genetically diverse accessions of “lagundi” belonging to the Vitex trifolia species complex, collected from different parts of the Philippines; and more than 100 mango accessions of diverse world-wide geographic origin, with portions of the collection established as early as the 1970s. The Field Genebank also conserves a number of Philippine-endemic and nationally important plant species, further strengthening its value as a repository of cultivated and useful plant diversity.

The Field Genebank is also an important field-based learning and research resource for agriculture, horticulture, plant breeding, agricultural biotechnology, and plant genetic resources conservation and management students. Its living collections are closely linked with the work of the Crop Breeding and Genetic Resources Laboratory (CBGR Lab) and the Philippine Herbarium of Cultivated Plants (ICROPS), allowing conserved materials to be studied from taxonomic identity and field phenotype to their genetic, genomic, biochemical, and breeding value. Through this integration, the Field Genebank connects the conservation of cultivated plant diversity with characterization, research, crop improvement, and sustainable utilization.