Cryopreservation of garlic germplasm collections using the droplet-vitrification technique

The droplet-vitrification protocol was applied to unripe inflorescences of plants of two Korean garlic collections, Danyang and Mokpo, to establish a cryopreserved germplasm collection. Garlic unripe inflorescences of the 59 accessions harvested at Danyang showed a mean survival of 83.3% and regeneration of 73.5% after cryopreservation. Unripe inflorescences of accessions cryopreserved at sub-optimal developmental stages displayed lower survival and/or regeneration. Of these 59 accessions, 53 were cryopreserved and stored for long-term conservation. In the Mokpo collection, unripe inflorescences of 149 accessions were cryopreserved, displaying a mean survival of 79.9% and regeneration of 78.2%. Of these 149 accessions, 116 were cryopreserved and stored for the long-term. A total of 252 accessions of five clonal Allium species, including garlic, were cryopreserved using unripe inflorescences, cloves or bulbils, with a mean survival of 80.9% survival and regeneration of 77.0%, from which 221 accessions were stored in liquid nitrogen for long-term conservation. The real-time quantitative, reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assay of several garlic viruses showed that virus concentration was much lower in plantlets originating from cryopreserved material, compared to plantlets originating from preculture control and dehydration control samples. These results demonstrate that large-scale implementation of cryopreservation of Allium germplasm is feasible and that it can result in the regeneration of virus-free or little infected material. These findings will strongly facilitate the conservation and international exchange of Allium germplasm.