Dehydration Effects on Freezing Characteristics and Survival in Liquid Nitrogen of Desiccation-tolerant and Desiccation-sensitive Seeds

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Abstract
Dehydration effects on freezing characteristics and survival in liquid nitrogen were studied in 11 species of tropical seeds and in silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.) seeds. Differential thermal analysis was used to determine the threshold moisture level below which seed tissue water was in an unfreezable state. Desiccation-sensitive seeds, areca palm [Chrysalidocarpus lutescens (Bory) Wendl.] and silver maple, did not survive dehydration below the threshold moisture level and did not survive exposure to liquid nitrogen. Nine of 10 desiccation-tolerant seeds [strawberry guava, Psidium cattleianum Sabine; passion fruit, Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Deg.; Ceara rubber, Manihot glaziovii Mull. Arg.; dwarf schefflera, Schefflera arboricola (Hayata) Merrill; common guava, Psidium guajava L.; papaya, Carica papaya L., apple of sodom, Solarium sodomeum L.; prickly poppy, Argemone glauca Pope; and seamberry, Sabalparviflora Becc.] survived dehydration to as low as 2% to 12% moisture content (below the threshold moisture levels determined) and in the dehydrated state survived exposure to liquid nitrogen. Coffee (Coffea arabica L. var. Bourbon) seeds tolerated dehydration to as low as 8% moisture content but did not survive exposure to liquid nitrogen. These results demonstrate the feasibility of cryopreserving seed germplasm of several tropical species.

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