ARS | Publication request: PRESERVATION METHODS FOR JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE CULTIVARS.

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: November 3, 2005
Publication Date: January 31, 2006
Citation: Volk, G.M. and K.M. Richards. 2006. Preservation methods for Jerusalem artichoke cultivars. HortScience 41(1):80-83.

Interpretive Summary: Buds of Jerusalem artichoke tubers can be introduced into sterile tissue culture conditions and propagated. Shoot tips from these plants can be cryopreserved using a rapid freezing technique. This method can be implemented for the long-term conservation of Jerusalem artichoke germplasm within the USDA and Canadian genebank systems.

Technical Abstract: Shoot tips of two Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) varieties were successfully cryopreserved using a vitrification protocol. In vitro plants were established from field-harvested tubers. Shoot tips were excised from nodal sections and treated with 2 M glycerol/0.5 M sucrose prior to exposure to cryoprotectants. Post-thaw regeneration was between 45 and 60% when explants were treated with PVS2 (15% ethylene glycol, 15% DMSO, 30% glycerol, 13.7% sucrose) for 15 min at 0 degrees C prior to immersion in liquid nitrogen. These regeneration values were higher than those obtained when explants were bathed in PVS2 for 30 min. This method could be implemented as a long-term safety back-up for costly genebank field collections of Jerusalem artichoke.