Improvement of cold tolerance efficiency on storage conditions of encapsulated nodal segments of potato using salicylic acid

An experiment was done on encapsulation using in vitro-derived nodal segments in MS medium containing sodium alginate and SA for cold preservation and conversion into plantlet in potato cv. Asterix. Encapsulated (having certain amount of SA) and non-encapsulated nodal segments were stored at low temperature (4°C) for different storage periods. At cold storage, encapsulated nodal segments showed a relatively higher viability of 90% and 80% after 15 and 30 days respectively. The regeneration percentage was clearly persuaded by storage time. After 60 days of storage, conversion percent of encapsulated nodal segments was about 60% and the viability was 36.67% even after 90 days. In addition the alginate matrix with three concentration of salicylic acid (25, 50 and 75 μM) showed a remarkable effect on the survival rate of encapsulated nodal segment. In case of regeneration with different concentration of salicylic acid, it was found that 50 μM SA to be effective on viability of encapsulated nodal segments at cold storage compared to control. Here, salicylic acid plays an important role in the resistance of potato tissues to cold storages conditions.