Articles
Establishment of ex situ conservation technologies for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Actinidia sp. genetic resources
Article number
1431_49
Pages
383 – 390
Language
English
Abstract
Exports of kiwifruit (Actinidia genus) make a substantial contribution ($NZ4 billion) to Aotearoa-New Zealand’s earnings.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited (Plant & Food Research) supports The Kiwifruit Breeding Centre Limited (KBC) in kiwifruit breeding.
Underpinning the breeding program is a collection comprising representatives of more than 20 kiwifruit species with copies of most plants maintained in field collections.
Field-grown germplasm faces an evolving array of biotic and abiotic threats: these, coupled with the current challenges associated with imports of kiwifruit planting material, means preservation of existing kiwifruit genetic resources is essential.
A range of ex situ strategies can be complementary to field collection.
Different conservation strategies being developed and implemented for safeguarding Plant & Food Research’s kiwifruit germplasm are described here.
These include greenhouse collection, seed and pollen storage, and in vitro conservation of clonal material, all of which can be enhanced by cryopreservation.
Optimisation of conservation techniques for specific materials, i.e., seed, pollen, and clonal propagules, is critical to ensuring regrowth following storage.
Selection of material, conservation technique and duration of storage will depend on the purpose of a collection.
As ex situ conservation comes with a large price tag, prioritisation of genotypes for conservation may be required.
Genetic tools are used to ensure the best array of genotypes, capturing necessary diversity, is retained.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited (Plant & Food Research) supports The Kiwifruit Breeding Centre Limited (KBC) in kiwifruit breeding.
Underpinning the breeding program is a collection comprising representatives of more than 20 kiwifruit species with copies of most plants maintained in field collections.
Field-grown germplasm faces an evolving array of biotic and abiotic threats: these, coupled with the current challenges associated with imports of kiwifruit planting material, means preservation of existing kiwifruit genetic resources is essential.
A range of ex situ strategies can be complementary to field collection.
Different conservation strategies being developed and implemented for safeguarding Plant & Food Research’s kiwifruit germplasm are described here.
These include greenhouse collection, seed and pollen storage, and in vitro conservation of clonal material, all of which can be enhanced by cryopreservation.
Optimisation of conservation techniques for specific materials, i.e., seed, pollen, and clonal propagules, is critical to ensuring regrowth following storage.
Selection of material, conservation technique and duration of storage will depend on the purpose of a collection.
As ex situ conservation comes with a large price tag, prioritisation of genotypes for conservation may be required.
Genetic tools are used to ensure the best array of genotypes, capturing necessary diversity, is retained.
Publication
Authors
J. Nadarajan, J. Divinagracia, L. Mathew, A. Esfandiari, C. Wiedow, E. Koot, A. Duffy, E. Morgan
Keywords
kiwifruit, breeding program, seed storage, pollen conservation, in vitro conservation, cryopreservation, germplasm
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