In Vitro Storage of Paulownia Tomentosa

Abstract

Storage of plant species with high commercial potential as ornamental or for the alimentation and pharmacological has been used to preserve genetic variability and allowed the study of its properties in a controlled environment through the use of in vitro culture techniques. In this study, shoot tip explants of Paulownia tomentosa were excised from in vitro grown shootlets and cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 30 g l -1 sucrose (control) and different concentrations of sucrose or sorbitol (20, 40, 50 and 60 g l -1 ) and in combinations (10 + 10, 20 + 20, 25 + 25 and 30 + 30 g l -1 ) and incubated under 18 °C in complete darkness for 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 months. Results showed that all shoot tip explants conserved on MS medium augmented with different concentrations of sucrose or sorbitol and their combinations for 2 months, at the level of 30 g l -1 sucrose (control) for 4 months recorded the best survival percentage (100%). At the end of storage period (after 10 months), the highest survival percentage (83.33%) was noticed when explants were conserved on MS medium with 30 g l -1 (control) or 50 g l -1 sucrose. Meanwhile, the lowest survival percentage (25.00%) was achieved when explants were conserved on MS medium with 10 g l -1 sucrose + 10 g l -1 sorbitol. Moreover, it was observed an increasing of shoot length and number of proliferated shoots/explant during storage periods except all treatments with sorbitol and the treatment with sucrose plus sorbitol (10 + 10 g 1 -1 ) remained without change in all storage periods.