Cryopreservation of coffee zygotic embryos: dehydration and osmotic rehydration

• Autor(a) principal: Pinto, Maísa de Siqueira
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Paiva, Renato, Silva, Diogo Pedrosa Corrêa da, Santos, Paulo Augusto Almeida, Freitas, Rodrigo Therezan de, Silva, Luciano Coutinho
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFLA
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ufla.br/jspui/handle/1/30308
• topic: Coffea arabica L.; Ex situ conservation; Embryos dehydration; Long term storage; Germplasm bank; Conservação ex situ; Desidratação de embriões; Conservação em longo prazo; Banco de germoplasma

Conservation of plant genetic resources is important to prevent genetic erosion. Seed banks are the most common method of ex situ conservation; however, coffee seeds can not be stored by conventional methods. Cryopreservation is a viable alternative for long-term conservation of species that produce intermediate or recalcitrant seeds, as coffee. The aim of this work was to cryopreserve Coffea arabica L. cv Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144 zygotic embryos, and analyse the effects of dehydration prior cryopreservation and osmotic rehydration after thawing, in embryos germination and seedlings formation after cryopreservation. Prior to cryopreservation, different dehydration times (0, 15, 30, 60 and 120 min) were tested. Dehydrated embryos were cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen for 1 hour, and after thawing were rehydrated by osmotic solutions. Dehydrated and non-cryopreserved embryos were also analysed. The test with 2,3,5 triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) was used to evaluate the embryos viability. Non-dehydrated embryos did not survive after freezing. Embryos that were dehydrated until 20% of the moisture content did not germinate when osmotic rehydration was not performed. In contrast, cryopreserved embryos with the same moisture content presented 98% germination when they were rehydrated slowly in osmotic solution. According to tetrazolium tests, embryos presented maximum viability (75%) after dehydration for 60 minutes (23% moisture content). Therefore, coffee zygotic embryos ( Coffea arabica L. cv. Catuaí Vermelho) can be successfully cryopreserved using physical dehydration in silica gel for 60 minutes (23% moisture content), followed by osmotic rehydration after thawing. This method allowed a germination of 98% of cryopreserved zygotic embryos.