Slow growth in vitro conservation of fruit crops

J. Sedlak, P. Zidova, F. Paprstein
The research and Breeding Institute of Pomology (RBIP) Holovousy Ltd. holds a fruit germplasm of about 2,500 accessions in field collections. Unfortunately trees in these collections are at permanent risk from environmental conditions, pests and diseases. Germplasm preservation of vegetatively propagated fruit species in field collections may be supplemented using biotechnological methods. In vitro storage under slow-growth conditions is one of these techniques. The experiment with medium term storage of in vitro cultures of strawberry, apple, pear and sweet cherry at a low above zero temperature of 4.0°C was used in RBIP Holovousy Ltd. as a duplicate method to field collections. In vitro cultures were established on MS medium supplemented with 1 mg L-1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) in aluminium-capped 100-mL Erlenmeyer flasks with five explants 25 mL-1 of medium. The experiment was successful and viable shoot tips were obtained at the end of storage period. The best overall results were obtained awith sweet cherry rootstock genotype P-HL-A, where 92.0% explants survived without an intervening subculture after seven months. In contrast, the lowest survival was observed with sweet cherry P-HL-C, where only 2.0% of shoots survived 7 months from the beginning of experiment. Remaining genotypes of fruit species used in the experiment had intermediate results. The storage of in vitro cultures at 4°C appears to be a promising technique as a duplicate short- or medium- term conservation method for fruit germplasm, which can considerably reduce labour and material costs. Moreover, in vitro collections are year-long accessible, and enable germplasm distribution among germplasm curators and the user community.
Sedlak, J., Zidova, P. and Paprstein, F. (2019). Slow growth in vitro conservation of fruit crops. Acta Hortic. 1234, 119-124
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1234.15
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1234.15
germplasm, storage, explant, shoot, medium
English

Acta Horticulturae