Crioconservación de semillas de teca (Tectona grandis L. f)

Abstract

Cryopreservation of teak (Tectona grandis L.f) seeds. Teak (Tectona grandis L.f) is a tropical tree of commercial value due to the high demand of its high-quality wood and rapid growth. Genetic improvement programs for this species have resulted in seeds of better quality and, at the same time, improvement in the quality of plantations. To preserve genetic diversity and guarantee the raw material for improvement programs and for future reproduction, seeds are kept under conventional seed banks conditions with temperature ranging between 4 and –20ºC. However, there are other means to conserve this valuable germplasm. Cryopreservation is the storage of plant material in liquid nitrogen (NL, -196ºC) and its major advantage is the conservation for indefinite periods of time, under high genetic stability conditions. Survival and regeneration of plants after seed freezing in liquid nitrogen (LN) were evaluated in this work, using the dessiccation and rapid freezing technique. The methodology was tested both, in seeds isolated from endocarps (seeds) asin seeds inside endocarps (seeds with endocarps), with germination rates, after thawing and 28 days in culture, of 84% and 70% respectively.