The encapsulation technology and its applications

Maurizio Micheli [Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy]
Maurizio Lambardi [IBE-Istituto per la BioEconomia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy]

At the current state of the studies and on the basis of the results of the research, for many plant species the encapsulation technology can be considered a promising tool for the management of plant material of high quality, the production in nurseries of plants from in vitro culture, or the conservation of plant genetic resources. Since the products of encapsulation (capsules and synthetic seeds) derive almost exclusively from the use of propagules obtained from tissue culture in aseptic conditions and free from pathogens, they could easily be used for the exchange of germplasm between public and private laboratories of all the world, simplifying, for example, the procedures related to the plant quarantine. The history of encapsulation technology is mainly based on the use of somatic embryos, which however do not yet represent a reliable solution, especially in commercial micropropagation, both for the difficulty of standardizing an effective protocol of somatic embryogenesis for the different genotypes, and for the onset of problems connected, for example, with the asynchrony of somatic embryo maturation. However, the possibility of using explants other than somatic embryos, such as microbulbs, microtubers, portions of rhizome or even unipolar propagules, seems to open new perspectives in the production and management of clonal vitro-derived plant material. In particular, from the encapsulation of microcuttings it is possible to obtain capsules or synthetic seeds, which differ in their ability to develop, in suitable environmental conditions, shoots or young plants, respectively. The application possibilities of capsules and synthetic seeds are numerous, such as to simplify the methods of storage in aseptic conditions in commercial laboratories, to transfer plant material more easily and less burdensome between laboratories, or to obtain plants in conditions of ex vitro reducing the time of acclimatization. Furthermore, synthetic seeds have proved to be of great utility in the conservation at medium (conservation at low above-freezing temperature) and long term (cryopreservation) of the germplasm of fruit, ornamental, horticultural and forestry species in very small spaces. The storage at low temperature (generally 4°C for temperate species) and in the dark allows conservation times from 3 to 10 months. Cryopreservation has also greatly benefited from the use of synthetic seeds in procedures called “encapsulation-dehydration”, “encapsulation-vitrification”, “V- and D-cryo plate”. These techniques have the great advantage of allowing the direct immersion of explants in liquid nitrogen, with practically unlimited conservation times and in absolute genetic and health safety.

DOI: 10.26353/j.itahort/2019.2.313

Keywords: alginate, artificial seeds, cryopreservation, micropropagation, synthetic seeds, slow growth storage

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Micheli, M. and Lambardi, M. (2019) 'La tecnologia dell’incapsulamento e le sue applicazioni', Italus Hortus, 26(3), pp. 3-13. doi: 10.26353/j.itahort/2019.2.313