| Abstract: | Embryos excised from fresh seed had a moisture content of about37% (fr. wt.), 7% above that of the whole seed: mainly as aresult of the dryness of the seed coat. When cultured for 14d at 26°C embryo growth ranged from unorganized to fullyorganized. Embryos which had been directly surface-sterilizedexhibited lower fully organized growth than aseptically excisedembryos. During desiccation of the whole seed at 15°C and 15% r.h.moisture loss from the embryo was slow until the embryo reacheda mean critical moisture content for fully organized growthin vitro of about 30%. After this point the rate of moistureloss increased, quickly diminishing the moisture content differentialbetween the embryo and the whole seed. No such shoulder in theembryo desiccation curve was observed when using a low viability(7%) seed batch. When dried below 30% moisture content, suchaseptically excised embryos increasingly exhibited unorganizedgrowth in vitro, with only root meristem survival (46%) at 13%moisture content. In contrast, a much higher level of root meristem survival (84%of control) was observed when aseptically excised embryos wererapidly desiccated to 13% moisture content, using a flow ofsterile air. However, the benefits of rapid drying were lostif the embryos were directly surface-sterilized prior to desiccation.Furthermore, 80% of aseptically excised embryos which survivedrapid desiccation to 20% moisture content exhibited root meristemsurvival following subsequent cryopreservation. These findingshave implications for the in vitro conservation of recalcitrantseed tissue. Key words: Araucaria hunsteinii K. Schum., recalcitrant seed embryo, desiccation, cryopreservation |
