Cryopreservation of selected economically important and vegetatively propagated plants for their long term conservation

Abstract

Camellia sinensis (Tea) genetic resources needs attention for long-term conservation, as an alternative to field gene-banks. The study shows that preconditioning strategies along with V cryo-plate technique improves the cryo-recovery rate of shoot tips of tea and provides a robust protocol for long-term conservation of tea germplasm. Secondly, Valeriana jatamansi is a valuable medicinal plant of Himalayan region for its alkaloid compounds. Due to over exploitation from the wild, the species is listed in threatened category. We aimed for an efficient long-term conservation protocol for shoot tips of V. jatamansi, through vitrification method. The regenerated plants after cryopreservation maintained both the biosynthetic and genetic stability as studied in V. jatamansi and C. sinenesis. Cryopreserved material for long-term storage in the cryo-banks could be used as an insurance collection which could also be used as propagation material required as quality accessions by plant breeders whenever required. newline