DESICCATION TOLERANCE AND CRYOPRESERVATION OF IN VITRO GROWN BLUEBERRY AND CRANBERRY SHOOT TIPS

In vitro grown shoot tips of two cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) cultivars, Wilcox (PI 614079) and Franklin (PI 554998) and three blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivars, Berkeley (PI 554883), O’Neal (PI 554944) and Brigitta Blue (PI 618166) from the tissue culture collections of the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis, were tested for recovery from desiccation and following cryopreservation using three protocols.
Cold acclimated, encapsulated and sucrose-pretreated blueberry cultivars were tolerant of desiccation under laminar flow of up to 7h while cranberry cultivars were very sensitive to drying by 3h.
Cryopreservation screening followed 2 weeks of alternating-temperature cold acclimation.
The three blueberry cultivars cryopreserved with the encapsulation-dehydration technique (ED) produced 83% to 92% regrowth.
PVS2 vitrification (VIT) (33% to 87%) and controlled rate cooling (CC) (50% to 67%) were also successful for some blueberries.
The cranberry cultivars had poor (5% to 37%) recovery with all three techniques and will require further study to improve recovery after desiccation and cryopreservation.

IX International Vaccinium Symposium

E.E. Uchendu, B.M. Reed

cold acclimation, controlled rate cooling, encapsulation dehydration, liquid nitrogen, PVS2 vitrification, Vaccinium, desiccation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.810.75