Genetic resources are a treasure chamber for the future. Nobody can today predict what characteristics could suddenly be of interest, if calamitous damage will be caused by pests, whether climate changes will lead to changes in the presence of harmful organisms, if eating habits will change and the like. Only in a (public financed) gene bank it is possible to also keep varieties and species for which there is no recent demand or the usefulness of which is not immediately evident. A gene bank therefore has the task of keeping and evaluating genetic resources, i.e. old and new varieties and there’s wild relatives. And their long term preservation is only able to be ensured through a sustainable utilization of genetic resources. In view of the world wide threat to autochthonous genetic resources, gene bank work organized and co ordinated along international participatory lines is becoming ever more important. It needs to organize an international co operation and database systems for an inventory of national genetic resources, so that a better knowledge will be possible about the existence of varieties and temporary problems.Maintenance is expensive for vegetatively propagated species and varieties, like seabuckthorn or fruit. The German sea buckthorn collection comprises at present all in East Germany bred and selected varieties and clones. The accessions are evaluated for agronomic and processing properties. The variability of ascorbic acid varies between 17 and 340mg%, of carotene between 6.5 and 23.8mg% and of oil between 1.6 and 7.4% The results and the necessity of durable preservation and supplementation of the collection and his continuous evaluation will be discussed. Genetic resources are a treasure chamber for the future. Nobody can ago predict what features could suddenly be of interest, if calamitous damage will be caused by pests, if calamitous damage will be caused by pests, if eating habits will change and the like. Only in a (public financed) gene bank it is possible to to also keep varieties and species for which there is no recent demand or the usefulness of which is not immediately evident. A gene bank therefore has the task of keeping and evaluating genetic resources, ie old and new varieties and there’s wild relatives. And their long term preservation is only able to be through a sustainable utilization of genetic resources. In view of the world wide threat to autochthonous genetic resources, gene bank work organized and co ordinated along international participatory lines is becoming ever more important. It needs to organize an international co operation and database systems for an inventory of national genetic resources, so that a better knowledge will be possible about the existence of varieties and temporary problems. Maintenance is expensive for vegetatively propagated species and varieties, like seabuckthorn or fruit. The German sea buckthorn collection comprises at present all in East Germany bred and selected varieties and clones. The accessions are evaluated for agronomic and processing properties. The variability of ascorbic acid varies between 17 and 340 mg%, of carotene between 6.5 and 23.8 mg% and of oil between 1.6 and 7.4% The results and the necessity of durable preservation and supplementation of the collection and his continuous evaluation will be discussed.