Cryopreservation of embryonic axes of castor bean cultivar 'Al-Guarany 2002'

Abstract

The castor bean (Ricinus communis) is an oleaginous plant with many applications in the society and economy. Castor bean seeds tolerate storage in seed banks for a short period compared to orthodox seeds, probably due to its high lipid content. This study aimed elaborate a cryopreservation protocol for castor bean embryonic axes. After seeds disinfection, embryonic axes of the cultivar ‘AL-Guarany 2002’ were isolated, dehydrated and inoculated directly on culture medium (control) or cryostored in liquid nitrogen at -196°C, during one hour, in the presence or absence of cryoprotectant solutions (PVS2 or modified PVS2) prior to inoculation on culture. It was obtained 100% of in vitro regeneration for all treatments. After acclimatization a surviving rate of 100% was obtained for embryonic axes cryostored only in liquid nitrogen. Axes stored in the presence of PVS2 presented a survival rate of 35%. The results obtained showed that the cryopreservation of castor bean embryonic axes in LN without cryoprotectants is a suitable technique to preserve the genetics resources of this species.