Wide-Scale Pollen Banking of Ornamental Plants Through Cryopreservation

BACKGROUND: Cryopreservation has been proved to be an efficient method for the long-term storage of pollen, based on our previous studies establishing cryo pollen banks for Camellia, Paeonia, and Prunus mume. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we aimed to extend and verify the applicability of the cryopreservation protocol for ornamental plants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 71 species/cultivars from 19 families were cryopreserved using the established protocol. RESULTS: Pollen from 60 species/cultivars (85% of those experimented on) retained viability after 1 year's cryopreservation; of these, 36 (51% of the total investigated) retained a sufficiently high germination capability compared with fresh pollen to enable longer term cryopreservation. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that wide-scale pollen banking of ornamental plants is feasible.