Author
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Jenderek, Maria |
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Tanner, Justin |
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Postman, Joseph |
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Hummer, Kim |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/2014 Publication Date: 5/31/2014 Citation: Jenderek, M.M., Tanner, J.D., Postman, J.D., Hummer, K.E. 2014. Seasonal variation in viability of cryopreserved Vaccinium dormant buds. Meeting Abstract. World Forum on Biology. Savannah, GA, May 31-Jun 6, 2014. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Berries of several Vaccinium L (Ericaceae) species have become an integral part of everyday diets of a vast American population. The most economically important are blueberry and cranberry. The USDA-ARS, National Plant Germplasm System maintains over 1,500 accessions of living plants and seeds at a genebank in Corvallis, Oregon. Vaccinium accessions are propagated clonally and only 2.7% are backed up as cryopreserved meristem (MS) shoots. Additional backup will help safeguard the collection from abiotic and biotic stress factors, including changes in climate that might lead to the irreversible loss of the berry germplasm. We investigated the possibility of backing up clonal Vaccinium genetic resources in liquid nitrogen (LN) as dormant winter buds (DB). The DB method has been successfully applied in preservation of a few temperate tree species but is not widely used in cryopreservation despite requiring less resources and being faster than preservation via MS. Our three year study on post-cryopreservation viability of the V. hybrid ‘Northsky’ identified an optimal DB harvest period that varied between years but was related to the mean daily temperatures preceding the harvest. The viability of DB harvested in the optimal period was 80 - 100%, whereas in the immediate pre- and proceeding time was from 25 to 45%. Studies on suitability of the harvest period to other genotypes are in progress. |
