Improvement of cryopreservation results in garlic using low temperature preculture and high-quality in vitro plantlets.

The efficiency of garlic cryopreservation is, amongst other factors, depending on the origin of the donor explants. So far, in vitro grown material has always been the least responding one with respect of the regrowth rates. On the other side, the possibility to produce virus-free material via meristem culture and to keep these clones then under isolated conditions in a clean culture induced studies to increase the efficiency of cryopreservation using this kind of material. Experiments have been performed to use various materials and cultivation temperatures for a vitrification protocol. Best results (up to 70 percent regrowth) were obtained with cultures grown for only 10 months under in vitro conditions including a cold preculture of two months either at alternating or at permanently low temperatures. The conclusion was drawn that the quality of the explants and temperature conditions play a major role for the efficiency of cryopreservation using in vitro plantlets.