The Influence of Cryopreservation and Low-Temperature Seed Storage on the Morphological and Agronomical Characteristics of Fiber Flax

TL;DR

This paper studies how freezing and low-temperature storage affect flax seeds and plants, finding that some storage methods reduce plant quality and yield.

Contribution

The study introduces insights into optimal seed storage methods for flax to preserve genetic resources.

Findings

Freezing seeds in liquid nitrogen and storing at −10 °C for 24 years altered 14 out of 31 plant characteristics.

Plants from frozen seeds showed reduced fiber quality and germination rates but higher straw and fiber yields.

Next-generation plants showed reduced effects of storage conditions, suggesting potential recovery over time.

Abstract

For the development of effective and secure methods for plant genetic resources preservation, different storage treatments of fiber flax seeds were compared. Seeds of the flax variety Orshanskiy-2 in aluminum foil bags were stored at different low temperatures, including in liquid nitrogen. Agronomic characters of plants grown from them and next-generation seeds were compared. Plants grown from frozen seeds changed 14 out of 31 evaluated characters in comparison with the non-frozen control. The biggest changes were detected after gradual freezing in liquid nitrogen, due to mechanical damage of the seed coat, and storage at −10 °C for 24 years. Freezing had a negative effect on production characters (straw, fiber and seed) because of the reduction of the germinated plant number. Seeds stored for 24 years at −10 °C, compared to control plants, ripened earlier, grew higher, produced a greater yield of straw and fiber, but had reduced fiber quality and increased seed size. Plants of the next generation showed a tendency toward attenuation of the storage time influence on flax characters. However, it is unknown how many years this process will take. For seed preservation in GeneBanks, it is recommended to use several variants of storage conditions and use rapid cooling and/or cryoprotectors. The latter two methods, which have been successfully used for other crops, should be implemented only after preliminary experiments.

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