Successful long-term preservation of abscisic-acid-treated and desiccated carrot somatic embryos

We have previously reported that strong desiccation tolerance in carrot somatic embryos can be achieved by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA). In this study, we examined the possibility of long-term preservation of ABA-treated and desiccated somatic embryos. Somatic embryos that had been desiccated after treatment with ABA survived for at least 169 weeks at –25 °C. By contrast, somatic embryos that had not been desiccated after treatment with ABA survived for at least 24 weeks at +5 °C but died at –25 °C. Received: 11 July 1998 / Revision received: 20 October 1998 / Accepted: 20 November 1998