Seed Cryopreservation of Some Medicinal Legumes

Abstract

Seed survival after storage in liquid nitrogen (–196°C) was examined in 12 wild medicinal legume species occurred Far East of Russia. Dry seeds of all species survived cryostorage without loss of viability. Initial germinability varied from 3 to 85%. The stimulatory effect of cryogenic temperature on germination, with or without subsequent chemical scarification, was observed in all species studied with deep physical dormancy or heterogeneous levels of hardseededness. Frozen seeds demonstrated higher germination percentages (the percentage of germinated seeds) and germination rates (time for first seed to germinate (T0) and time required (in days) to reach 50% of the final germination percentage (T50)) than the control ones. The anomalous seedlings were not observed after storage of seeds in liquid nitrogen. This study shows that cryostorage may be successfully applied for conservation of native species without detrimental effects on germination and growth.