Cryopreservation of forest tree germplasm

Cryopreservation is one of the means of forest tree germplasma preservation. In broad-leaved trees, protocols have been developed especially for fruit trees but in forest trees they are restricted to a few species. In conifers, progress in cryopreservation is mostly due to the recent advances in somatic embryogenesis. The production of transgenic tree species as well as efforts towards molecular breeding have emphasized the need for functional cryopreservation protocols. Before practical applications more attention has to be paid on the effects of prolonged storage in liquid nitrogen, on genetic fidelity testing, and field evaluation of cryopreserved material.