Effect of pre-storage on Lilium martagon L. seed longevity following cryopreservation

The aim of the study was to compare different strategies for the cryopreservation of Lilium martagon L. seeds.

The starting material was seeds of the martagon lily (without or with a special pretreatment involving sucrose pre-culture dehydratation and desiccation) subjected to cryopreservation after preliminary storage under conventional conditions (-5 degree C, 5 degree C, or 15 degree C). The effects of storage, pretreatment and cryopreservation on the seeds were assessed in terms of seed germination and phenotypic changes in the seedlings derived from those seeds.

Subjecting the seeds to cold hardening or pretreatment did not affect significantly their germination capacity or the average germination time after cryopreservation. Combination of these strategies, however, significantly affected the capacity of the seeds to germinate. The highest germinability (100%) after cryopreservation was observed in the seeds stored at 15 degree C and subjected to sucrose pre-culture dehydration and air flow desiccation (seed moisture content [MC] 13.1%), and in those seeds stored at the same temperature but subjected subsequently to 5 h desiccation, not pretreated, with MC of 7.6 degree. Cryopreservation did not affect the germination capacity of the seeds but shortened the average germination time from 40.7 to 34.4 days.

The obtained results demonstrate that a simple cryopreservation method without any special pretreatment of seeds can be used successfully for preserving L. martagon seeds. Neither the low temperature nor the sucrose concentration used affected the germination capacity or the average germination time of L. martagon seeds following cryopreservation.