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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » National Clonal Germplasm Repository » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #225283
Title: Desiccation Tolerance and Cryopreservation of In-Vitro Grown Blueberry and Cranberry Shoot Tips

Author
item UCHENDU, ESTHER - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Reed, Barbara

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/20/2008
Publication Date: 3/20/2009
Citation: Uchendu, E., Reed, B.M. 2009. Desiccation Tolerance and Cryopreservation of In-Vitro Grown Blueberry and Cranberry Shoot Tips. Acta Horticulturae. 810:567-574.

Interpretive Summary: Three blueberry cultivars; Berkeley, O’Neal and Brigitta and two cranberry cultivars; Wilcox and Franklin, from the tissue culture collections of the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis were tested for recovery following cryopreservation, storage in liquid nitrogen (-320°F). Three standard protocols were used: controlled rate cooling (CC) (slowly cooled to -40°C then plunged in liquid nitrogen), encapsulation dehydration (ED) (enclosed in a gel bead, dried, then plunged in liquid nitrogen), and PVS2 vitrification (VIT) (treated with antifreeze solutions and plunged in liquid nitrogen). Results show that the blueberry cultivars had 83% – 92% regrowth with the ED technique. Recovery following the VIT and CC varied from 33 – 87% for the VIT and 50 – 67% for CC. The cranberry cultivars had poor (5 to 37%) recovery with all three techniques. The blueberry cultivars were successfully cryopreserved using all of the techniques while the cranberry cultivars required further testing.

Technical Abstract: In-vitro grown shoot tips of two cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) cultivars, Wilcox (PI 614079) and Franklin (PI 554998) and three blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivars, Berkeley (PI 554883), O’Neal (PI 554944) and Brigitta (PI 618166) from the tissue culture collections of the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis, were tested for recovery from desiccation and following cryopreservation using three protocols. Cold acclimated, encapsulated and sucrose-pretreated blueberry cultivars were tolerant of desiccation under laminar flow of up to 7 h while cranberry cultivars were very sensitive to drying by 3 h. Cryopreservation screening followed 2 wk of alternating-temperature cold acclimation. The three blueberry cultivars cryopreserved with the encapsulation-dehydration technique (ED) produced 83% to 92% regrowth. PVS2 vitrification (VIT) (33% to 87%) and controlled rate cooling (CC) (50% to 67%) were also successful for blueberries. The cranberry cultivars had poor (5% to 37%) recovery with all three techniques and will require further study to improve recovery after desiccation and cryopreservation.