Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) shoot tips grown in vitro were successfully cryopreserved by encapsulationvitrification. Encapsulated explants are very easily manipulated, due to the relatively large size of the alginate beads, and a large number of samples can be treated simultaneously. In this study, the effects of sucrose preculture, cryoprotectant preculture, and post-warm recovery media on regrowth, following liquid nitrogen (LN) exposure, were investigated to establish an efficient encapsulation-vitrification protocol for sweet potato. Shoot tips of plants grown in vitro were precultured in 0.3 M sucrose for 2 d before encapsulation. Encapsulated shoot tips were pre-incubated in liquid MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium containing 0.5 M sucrose for 16 h, before preculturing in sucrose-enriched medium (0.7 M sucrose) for 8 h. Shoot tips were osmoprotected with 35% plant vitrification solution 3 (PVS3) for 3 h, before being dehydrated with PVS3 for 2 h at 25°C. The encapsulated and dehydrated shoot tips were transferred to 2 mL cryotubes, suspended in 0.5 mL PVS3, and plunged directly into liquid N. High levels of shoot formation were obtained for the cv. Yeulmi (65.7%) and Yeonwhangmi (80.3%). The regrowth rates of cryopreserved samples in Yeulmi (78.9%) and Yeonwhangmi (91.3%), following culture on ammonium-free MS medium for 5 d, were much higher than those cultured on standard MS medium (65.7% and 80.3%, respectively). This encapsulation-vitrification is a promising method for the long-term preservation of sweet potato.

We micropropagated pear (Pyrus species) using shoot tips and nodal explants from three pear genotypes. The ability to establish shoot tip cultures, proliferate shoots, induce rooting, and acclimatize the resulting plantlets are all elements of in vitro micropropagation. Shoots were induced from shoot tips on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) with five different plant growth regulator combinations. The highest shoot formation rates were achieved for the three genotypes using MS supplemented with 1.0 ㎎/L N 6 -benzyladenine (BA) and 0.1 ㎎/L gibberellic acid (GA3). The maximum shoot number and shoot length for the three cultivars were recorded with 2.0 ㎎/L BA and 0.2 ㎎/L indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in multiplication medium using nodal explants produced from microshoots. Nodal explants with one or two axillary buds cultured for three weeks initiated roots on medium supplemented with various concentrations of 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) or/and IBA in half-strength MS medium for adventitious rooting. The highest rooting response was with the combination of 0.2 ㎎/L NAA and 0.2 ㎎/L IBA. A combination of NAA and IBA resulted in a significant increase in the rooting ratio over NAA or IBA alone. In this medium, the root formation rate according to ranged from 68.9% for the BaeYun No. 3 genotype to 51.8% for the Hwanggeum genotype. We also investigated the influence of the concentration the polyamine phloroglucinol in rooting medium. For all three genotypes, the highest rooting ratio, longest root length, and greatest root number were observed in the treatments with 75-150 ㎎/L phloroglucinol. Most rooted plants were acclimatized successfully.