Long-termin vitro storage ofColocasia esculenta under minimal growth conditions

Abstract

The storage of a clone of Colocasia esculenta at 28/24°C over a 12-h photoperiod in the absence of mannitol, was not feasible with transfer intervals of more than eight months. Mannitol had a positive effect on survival at this temperature, but caused abnormalities at high concentrations. At 9°C in total darkness, C. escutenta could be stored for more than eight years with transfer intervals of approximately three years. After this period, more than 90% of the cultures showed living shoots, but not all shoots per culture showed regrowth. Cultures which were transferred three times during the experimental period, had a significantly (3' = 0.05) lower number of regrowing shoots than cultures which were transferred twice. This might be due to the fact that the former cultures were transferred at a less favourable developmental stage. The addition of mannitol to the storage medium did not improve survival and regrowth, nor did a more gradual lowering of the temperature to 9°C.

In vitro conservation of taro (Colocasia esculenta Var. Globulifera) as influenced by mannitol

“…The result of this experiment was in agreement with the findings of Siddiqui et al (1996) In a column, means followed by common letters are not significantly different from each other at 1 % of level of probability by DMRT. who found that 0.0-3.0 % mannitol had no significant effect on survival percentage of cultures. Bessembinder et al (1993) found that mannitol concentration of 4.5 to 6.0 % appeared to be lethal which is also in agreement with the findings of the present study.…”

“…At the lowest level there was no osmoticum but at the highest level the concentration of osmoticum was lethal for plant growth or phytotoxic (Bessembinder et al, 1993).…”

“…This might be due to the fact that mannitol failed to work on meristem-base. Mannitol at 0.0 % might be insufficient to act, whereas 6.0 % mannitol might be phytotoxic (Bessembinder et al, 1993). In some cases, the slow growth of plants was observed with 4.0 % mannitol up to 24 months (Table 4), which is an advantage for in vitro conservation of any crop.…”

Micropropagation Technology in Early Phases of Commercial Seed Potato Production

“…The process was repeated until the required number of plantlets for in vitro tuberization experiments, photoautotrophic culturing and/or in vitro storage experiments, was achieved. The in vitro phase was not studied here as such, nor was the low-temperature storage of the in vitro stock material, since the procedures had already been developed (Goodwin et al, 1980;Hussey & Stacey, 1981), optimised (Marinus, 1985) and successfully applied (AAFC, 1996) in the commercial production of in vitro plantlets and in conventional conservation of plant germplasm (Bessembinder et al, 1993;Withers & Engelmann, 1998). However, the environmental conditions (for example CO2 enrichment and/or low red light) applied during the in vitro phase and/or in vitro low temperature storage may have a significant effect on the plantlet growth and the regeneration capacity of the stored cultures.…”

“…To stay competitive and adjust propagation scheduling to the market demands, some of these laboratories store large number of stock cultures for various periods of time. Low-temperature storage of the in vitro stock material, commonly used in conservation of plant germplasm (Bessembinder et al, 1993;Withers & Engelmann, 1998), is being recommended. This method, if properly adjusted to specific genotypes, can substantially reduce labour and media costs (Mullin & Schlegel, 1976; Westcott, 1981a, b;Withers & Engelmann, 1998).…”