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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #201770
Title: Cryopreservation of Gladiolus Cultivars

Author
item JOUNG, HYANG YOUNG - KOREA RURAL DEV ADMIN
item CANTOR, MARIA - UNIV OF AG SCI, ROMANIA
item Kamo, Kathryn
item Ellis, David

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2007
Publication Date: 12/15/2007
Citation: Joung, H.Y., Cantor, M., Kamo, K.K., Ellis, D.D. 2007. Cryopreservation of Gladiolus Cultivars. Acta Horticulturae. 760:225-232.

Interpretive Summary: Cryopreservation is an important technique in the long-term storage of plant germplasm. It can be less labor intensive and more reliable for preventing the loss of plants to disease than multiplying plants in the field or in vitro. This study reports the development of a successful cryopreservation procedure using the shoot tips isolated from cormels of Gladiolus plants.

Technical Abstract: Cryopreservation is an important technique in the long-term storage of plant germplasm. It can be less labor intensive and more reliable for preventing the loss of plants to disease than multiplying plants in the field or in vitro. The objective of this study was to develop a cryopreservation procedure to preserve our transgenic lines of Gladiolus without growing them each year under the special conditions required for cultivation of genetically engineered plants. Shoot meristems, 1-2 mm, were excised from in vitro, greenhouse, and field-grown cormels of cultivars 'Peter Pears', 'Jenny Lee', and breeding lines 02-943A, 02-900, and 02-926. Cormels were stored at 4ºC for at least six months prior to their use. The conditions for vitrification that were studied included preculture time for the excised shoot meristems, various preculture media, incubation time in the PVS2 and PVS3 vitrification media, addition of Supercool X1000 to PVS2, slow cooling using a programmable freezer, and various media for growing the meristems following vitrification. The highest survival of meristems (50%) was achieved using the cultivar 'Peter Pears' that had been incubated for 2 hours in PVS2. All shoots that survived vitrification showed a phenotypically normal growth in vitro.