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Title: IMPLEMENTATION OF GARLIC CRYOPRESERVATION TECHNIQUES IN THE NATIONAL PLANT GERMPLASM SYSTEM

Author
item Ellis, David
item Skogerboe, Dianne
item Andre, Christina
item Hellier (ctr), Barbara
item Volk, Gayle

Submitted to: CryoLetters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/18/2006
Publication Date: 4/30/2006
Citation: Ellis, D.D., D. Skogerboe, C. Andre, B. Hellier and G.M. Volk. 2006. Implementation of garlic cryopreservation techniques in the National Plant Germplasm System. CryoLetters 27:99-106.

Interpretive Summary: Cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen is used to preserve plant tissue for 100’s of years. It is therefore of value for the preservation of valuable germplasm which cannot be stored by conventional means as seed. Any crop which is vegetatively (clonally) propagated, like garlic, falls into this category as reproduction by seed does not yield a true-to-type plant. In garlic this is further compounded by the fact that many garlic accessions do not produce seed and do not store well as bulbs. Yearly grow-outs of this garlic is required to maintain the clone. Cryopreserving garlic could save the crop if a disease, insect or some other stress destroyed the field crop in a particular year. Cryopreservation of garlic has been reported and two main methods appeared successful. To initiate a program for the cryopreservation of many garlic genotypes, we compared the two methods. Results from this study confirmed that there was genotype-specificity in the response to the method, with one method working on some genotypes and the other on other genotypes. The conclusion from these data are that for the large-scale cryopreservation of multiple garlic genotypes, it is recommended that both methods be used on all accessions simultaneously.

Technical Abstract: Cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen is used to preserve plant tissue for 100’s of years. It is therefore of value for the preservation of valuable germplasm which cannot be stored by conventional means as seed. Any crop which is vegetatively (clonally) propagated, like garlic, falls into this category as reproduction by seed does not yield a true-to-type plant. In garlic this is further compounded by the fact that many garlic accessions do not produce seed and do not store well as bulbs. Yearly grow-outs of this garlic is required to maintain the clone. Cryopreserving garlic could save the crop if a disease, insect or some other stress destroyed the field crop in a particular year. Cryopreservation of garlic has been reported and two main methods appeared successful. To initiate a program for the cryopreservation of many garlic genotypes, we compared the two methods. Results from this study confirmed that there was genotype-specificity in the response to the method, with one method working on some genotypes and the other on other genotypes. The conclusion from these data are that for the large-scale cryopreservation of multiple garlic genotypes, it is recommended that both methods be used on all accessions simultaneously.