Nutrient-alginate encapsulation of in vitro nodal segments of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) for germplasm distribution and exchange

Alginate-encapsulation of shoot tips of jojoba [Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider] for germplasm exchange and distribution

“…The major limiting factor for one-step germination of encapsulated vegetative propagules is their unipolar nature. Unlike somatic embryos, these vegetative propagules are unipolar, which do not have a root meristem, hence, an appropriate root induction treatment needs to be incorporated with encapsulation protocol (Naik and Chand 2006;Rai et al 2008b). Analysis of variance of data revealed that strength of MS medium had a significant (P<0.05) effect on sprouting and growth of shoots emerged from encapsulated shoot tips.…”

“…Successful cases of synthetic seed production and plantlet regeneration have been reported for a wide range of plants including cereals, vegetables, fruits, ornamentals, medicinal plants and forest trees (Redenbaugh et al 1991;Castillo et al 1998;Ara et al 2000;Mandal et al 2000;Rai et al 2009). In most cases somatic embryos have been used in the encapsulation process, however, in recent years adequate efforts have also been made to explore the possibility of encapsulating non-embryogenic, in vitro-derived vegetative propagules such as axillary buds, shoot tips or nodal segments for synthetic seed production (Mathur et al 1989;Ganapathi et al 1992;Sharma et al 1994;Ara et al 2000;Mandal et al 2000;Rout et al 2001;Chand and Singh 2004;Naik and Chand 2006;Singh et al 2006aSingh et al , b, 2009Singh et al , 2010Faisal and Anis 2007;Micheli et al 2007;Rai et al 2008a, b;Lata et al 2009;Sundararaj et al 2010;Verma et al 2010). Encapsulation of vegetative propagules could be used for mass propagation of high value crops at a reasonable cost especially when somatic embryos are not available for encapsulation.…”

“…Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient method of transport of tissue culture raised and uncontaminated healthy plants which can fulfill the demands of industry. In this context, encapsulation technology could be useful for the exchange of germplasm of elite genotypes and axenic plant material between laboratories and pharmaceutical industries due to the small bead size and relative ease of handling of these structures (Danso and FordLloyd 2003;Naik and Chand 2006;Rai et al 2009;Singh et al 2010). Hence, this investigation is aimed to develop an efficient method of germplasm exchange and distribution through synthetic seeds in S. chinensis.…”

Artificial Seeds (Principle, Aspects and Applications)

“…Unfortunately, few research projects have investigated in depth the artificial seed preservation (dehydration-cryopreservation), and this technique still needs more studies in view of the great value of artificial seeds as an easy and cost-efficient method of germplasm preservation [14]. Furthermore, artificial seed conservation facilitates the exchange and distribution of trait plant germplasm, decreasing the requirement for transferring and subculturing out of season [24,62]. …”

“…Various plant materials have since been used for artificial seed production including somatic embryos, shoot tips, auxillary buds, nodal segmants, protocorm-like bodies (PLBs), microshoots, and embryogenic calluses [6,[10][11][12][13][14]. Several studies have investigated the production of artificial seeds working with different plant species, including vegetables, fruits, medical plants, ornamentals, forest trees, orchids, and cereals [5,13,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], as cited in [29].…”