A technique for the long-term (up to 27 years) in vitro storage of valuable birch genotypes under normal (25 °C, 2.0 klx, 16-h day and 8-h night) and low temperature (4 °C, 0.5 klx, 6-h day and 18-h night) growing conditions on hormone-free media has been described. The study explored for the first time the influence of different strategies to store the clones of Betula pubescens and B. pendula var. сarelica (6 genotypes) on the regenerative capacity of collection samples, adaptive potential of regenerated plants and plant production by the in vitro and ex vitro techniques. It was established that both storage strategies provided a persistently high survival rate (82-100%) and regenerative capacity of in vitro shoots (the multiplication coefficient of 4.2-6.3 and rhizogenic activity of 90-100%). The clones retained their characteristics of height growth under the in vitro and ex vitro conditions, and demonstrated intraclonal homogeneity and lack of signs of somaclonal variability. The plants showed substantial interspecific differences at the stage of multiplication and transfer to the greenhouse. The highest percentage of acclimated plants (75-98% depending on the clone genotype) was obtained after planting of micro plants straight in the greenhouse, which simplified the technology and made plant production less costly.
long-term in vitro storage, birch, species, genotype, micropropagation, ex vitro adaptation, plant material