Coelho, NatachaGonzález-Benito, María ElenaRomano, Anabela2015-06-182015-06-1820140143-2044AUT: ARO01015;AUT: ARO01015;http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/6415Plantago algarbiensis is an endangered endemic species from the Algarve, Portugal. The main goal of this study was to investigate the viability of cryopreservation procedures in the conservation of seeds and nodal explants from this species. Seeds were directly immersed in liquid nitrogen (LN) for 30 days. Two methods were tested for the cryopreservation of nodal explants, namely droplet-vitrification and encapsulation-dehydration. For both methods, nodal segments were precultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium and recovered on MS supplemented with 0.2 mg l(-1) 6-benzyladenine (BA), after freezing. After 30 days in LN, the germination capacity of seeds was not affected. The regrowth percentages of cryopreserved nodal segments were approximately 60%. With the droplet-vitrification method, a regrowth percentage of 60.0+/-15.2% was obtained after 120 min exposure to PVS2 (plant vitrification solution 2) and with encapsulation-dehydration method the highest percentage, 63.3+/-9.6%, was achieved after 3 h desiccation. Seed cryopreservation and cryopreservation of nodal segments by droplet-vitrification and encapsulation-dehydration are therefore effective approaches for the conservation of P. algarbiensis.engjournal article