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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381143
Research Project: Efficient and Effective Preservation and Management of Plant and Microbial Genetic Resource Collections

Location: Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research

Title: Methods for cryopreserving of date palm pollen

Author
item ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA, AC - Universidade Federal De Sergipe
item LEDO, ANA - Embprapa
item POLEK, MARYLOU - Retired ARS Employee
item Krueger, Robert
item Shepherd, Ashley
item Volk, Gayle

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/7/2021
Publication Date: 2/21/2023
Citation: Araujo De Oliveira, A., Ledo, A., Polek, M., Krueger, R., Shepherd, A.N., Volk, G.M. 2023. Methods for cryopreserving of date palm pollen. In: Rajasekharan, P., Rohini, M., editors. Pollen Cryopreservation Protocols. New York, NY: Humana. p.519-525. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2843-0_49.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2843-0_49

Interpretive Summary: This invited book chapter describes, in detail, a procedure for successful date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) pollen cryopreservation. It provides specific information about the materials and methods for date palm cryopeservation that have been implemented in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System. These processes include the harvesting of pollen from spathes, moisture adjustment, packaging and cryopreservation. It also explains the warming and in vitro germination assays that demonstrate high levels of viability after liquid nitrogen storage.

Technical Abstract: Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) genetic resources can be securely conserved through pollen cryopreservation. This chapter describes a protocol developed to cryopreserve pollen from date palm trees in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). The moisture content of harvested pollen was adjusted over saturated salt solutions of Ca(NO3)2 (46% RH) or MgCl2 (33% RH) at 23°C and then packaged and placed into liquid nitrogen vapor (LNV). After LNV storage, pollen was hydrated in a 100% RH humidity environment for 2 h, plated on Marquard medium, and incubated at 23°C overnight. Pollen that was stored in LNV continued to have high viability after 9 months. These data suggest that date palm pollen can be successfully stored in genebanks for long-term preservation.