Cryopreservation of seeds of Encholirium spectabile Martius ex Schultes f. by the vitrification method

Abstract

The bromeliad Encholirium spectabile Martius ex Schultes f.  is a endemic species of the Caatinga. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiencies of cryoprotectant in bromeliad seeds. The treatments consisted of immersing seeds in different cryoprotectant solutions and vitrification solutions before immersion in liquid nitrogen (NL) at -196 °C, as the following treatments: T1- Control: without cryoprotectants; T2-  glycerol 2M (20 min) + PVS2 (10 min), T3- glycerol 2M (20 min) + PVS2 with phloroglucinol 1% (10 min), T4- sucrose 0.4M (20 min) + PVS2 (10 min); T5- sucrose 0.4M (20 min) + PVS2 with phloroglucinol 1% (10 min); T6- glycerol 2M (20 min) + sucrose 0.4M (20 min) + PVS2 (10 min), T7- glycerol 2M (20 min) + sucrose 0.4M (20 min) + PVS2 with phloroglucinol 1% (10 min). The experimental design was a completely randomized design with seven treatments and five replicates per treatment. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. The seed moisture at the beginning of the experiment was 8.4%. There were statistically significant for the variables percentage of seeds germinated and seedling length, but for the variable seedling dry weight, T3 treatment was presented a value statistically high to T1, T4, T5 and T6, but did not differ from T2 and T7 treatments. It is concluded that for the cryopreservation of seeds of Encholirium spectabile is not necessary to use cryoprotectant solutions.