Conservation of plant genetic resources using in vitro technology

Author: mariam gaidamashvili
Co-authors: eka khurtsidze
Keywords: tissue culture, in vitro propagation, woody plants, conservation.
Annotation:

The in vitro conservation or the technology of plant tissue culture is considered as one of the most efficient methods of ex situ conservation and used when the reproduction of plants, growing in wild nature, by traditional methods is impossible. Advantages of in vitro storage include the sterile preservation of materials, no risk of infections by insects or damage through unfavorable weather conditions, less work needed for collections, and the varieties are available all year round. Micropropagation of many broad-leave species has been accomplished. However, with some exceptions traditional in vitro methods are not as yet practical or commercially viable for most forest trees. Numerous forest trees and bushes are still recalcitrant to establishment in vitro. Therefore, improvement in current procedures and their scaling-up is required. In this study the attempt was made to establish the conditions for the micropropagation of six threatened woody plants species, which are economically and ecologically important as they are included in the Red List of Georgia. The in vitro seedlings, zygotic embryos and axillary buds were used as initial explants. The effects of different growth regulators and culture media were tested on organogenesis. All selected woody species were successfully propagated in this work displaying diverse response to culture conditions and explants sources. The results clearly show that the selection of plant material for clonal propagation should be done carefully. Vegetative parts collected after dormancy has been broken are beneficial in both terms of proper hormonal balance and elimination of contamination risks. We suppose that the mentioned research will begin new strategies of protection of rare and endangered species, using biotechnological methods, that will provide accelerated and efficient conservation of genetic reserves for preservation of diversity of the vegetative cover and forest ecosystems of Georgia.