Preliminary study of the establishment of cryoconservation protocol for oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

摘要

The objective of this research was to develop and implement a cryoconservation protocol for zygotic embryos of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) as a complement alternative to the conservation of oil palm genotypes due to the difficulties that occur in the field collection. Pre- and post-freezing steps of zygotic embryo cryoconservation were evaluated using the methodology of desiccation in silica gel at different exposure times (2, 2,5, and 3 h), followed by a rapid freezing and a recovery step in Murashige and Skoog (1962) culture medium. All the cryoconservation treatments were evaluated under a photoperiod of 16 h light and 8 h darkness at an average temperature of 28 °C. The appropriate embryo development for the cryoconservation was previously determined. Additionally, the viability test with tetrazolium was applied to naked embryos as an initial control of the batch seed required. It was achieved a cryoconservation protocol for naked zygotic embryos of palm, which allowed obtaining plantlets from embryos frozen in liquid nitrogen (-196 °C) with up to 84.37% survival. In relation to structure differentiation of the cryoconserved embryos, the two hour treatment gave values of 88.9% for plumula, 55.57% for radicle, and 66.7 % for haustorium. This methodology might allow a long-term conservation of valuable material as a complementary security procedure to copy the field collection and reduce the costs of maintenance and conservation.