Articles
Cryopreservation a potential new conservation method for conserving dragon fruit (Selenicereus undatus)
Article number
1384_22
Pages
165 – 172
Language
English
Abstract
Dragon fruit or pitaya is the fruit of a group of cactus species of the genus Selenicereus, grown for its delicious taste and ornamental value.
While the species originated from the Americas, it is nowadays cultivated in many places in the tropics with Vietnam being the top producer.
Continuous improvement by breeders and farmers, resulted in different tastes, looks, increased drought tolerance and resistance to diseases.
However, to further improve the genus, breeders as well as farmers need to have access to the widest possible diversity of wild and cultivated material.
In commercial plantations, pitaya plants are propagated vegetatively, making seed propagation and seed conservation (as is the case for many fruit crops) useless for cultivated varieties, since the unique gene combination of the clone is lost in seeds, making clonal conservation essential.
There exist field collections, but alternatives are needed as they are subject to destructive environmental exposure such as pest, diseases and adverse weather conditions.
Therefore in vitro culture and cryopreservation methodologies need to be developed for this crop.
Our study thus focusses on clonal conservation via cryopreservation of members of this genus such as, S. undatus and S. purpusii. Apical meristems were cryopreserved via droplet vitrification, while testing different PVS2 times.
Our preliminary results on cryopreservation of meristems excised from these in vitro cultures using droplet vitrification show that cryopreservation is possible but improvement is still needed in order to establish a cryopreserved collection.
While the species originated from the Americas, it is nowadays cultivated in many places in the tropics with Vietnam being the top producer.
Continuous improvement by breeders and farmers, resulted in different tastes, looks, increased drought tolerance and resistance to diseases.
However, to further improve the genus, breeders as well as farmers need to have access to the widest possible diversity of wild and cultivated material.
In commercial plantations, pitaya plants are propagated vegetatively, making seed propagation and seed conservation (as is the case for many fruit crops) useless for cultivated varieties, since the unique gene combination of the clone is lost in seeds, making clonal conservation essential.
There exist field collections, but alternatives are needed as they are subject to destructive environmental exposure such as pest, diseases and adverse weather conditions.
Therefore in vitro culture and cryopreservation methodologies need to be developed for this crop.
Our study thus focusses on clonal conservation via cryopreservation of members of this genus such as, S. undatus and S. purpusii. Apical meristems were cryopreserved via droplet vitrification, while testing different PVS2 times.
Our preliminary results on cryopreservation of meristems excised from these in vitro cultures using droplet vitrification show that cryopreservation is possible but improvement is still needed in order to establish a cryopreserved collection.
Authors
H. Wilms, T. Machiels, J. Merckx, N. De Laet, N. Fanega Sleziak, B. Panis
Keywords
cactus, conservation, cryopreservation, dragon fruit, droplet vitrification
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