Direct cryopreservation of winter buds of nine cultivars of blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L).

Direct cryopreservation of overwintering, dormant buds has been applied to nine blackcurrant cultivars, using a 7 day dehydration period at c. -20 degrees C before plunging directly into liquid nitrogen. The buds on shoots thawed from -20 degrees C showed normal development simply by standing them in water and all the cultivars could be successfully recovered (> 58%) by grafting. None of the shoots thawed from liquid nitrogen showed any development after standing in water and all of the grafts failed. Shoots thawed from liquid nitrogen showed significant damage to xylem transport, and the cortical tissues necessary for successful grafting showed significant loss of membrane semipermeability. However, buds excised from shoots immediately after thawing from liquid nitrogen were viable and could be recovered using in vitro culture. Survival ranged from 88 to 55%, depending upon cultivar.