Feasibility of cryopreservation of Persian silk tree (Albizia julibrissin Durazz.) seeds

 Persian Silk tree (Albizia julibrissin Durazz.) is one of the native leguminous species in plain and lowland hyrcanian forests, which has been severely damaged by fungal disease. In this research, feasibility of preservation of A. julibrissin seeds in cryo condition was studied. Seeds of A. julibrissin were collected from 10 trees in lowland forests of western part of Haraz watershed, Mazandaran province, Iran. Seed germination characteristic of this species were analyzed in cryopreservation with four pretreatments including: vitrification solutions, 30% glycerol, desiccation and without cryoprotectants as well as control treatment, storage in dry condition at 15°C temperature. Seeds after one week and one month storage in liquid nitrogen condition were removed from the liquid nitrogen and the seeds were soaked into water at +42°C (heat shock). Then, seed were placed in petri dishes and so on were transferred into germinator at +22 ºC. Seed germination was daily checked as long as no seed has been germinated. Results of two way ANOVA followed by Duncan as a post hoc multiple comparisons showed that there were no significant differences between germination traits of A. julibrissin seeds in four pretreatments of cryopreservation with control treatment. So we concluded that cryopreservation of A. julibrissin seeds is feasible. Our result indicated that having hard seed coat and as well as very low moisture content enable A. julibrissin seeds to be preserved in cryo condition without any cryoprotectants. Therefore, cryopreservation of A. julibrissin seeds could be done without any pre-treatment and it could be proposed as an effective strategy to protect the genetic recourse of this valuable species of the Hyrcanian forests in Iran.