The world’s first embryo-cultured Baishanzu fir seedling back to nature

Recently, scientists from Zhejiang University have succeeded in returning three embryo-cultured Baishanzu fir (Abies beshanzuensis) seedlings to their indigenous habitat—Baishanzu National Nature Reserve in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province. This creates a nourishing ground for crossing the Baishanzu fir off the extremely endangered list and symbolizes that research into artificial breeding of the Baishanzu fir has evolved into a new stage. 

The Baishanzu fir is a “living fossil plant” home to China. At present, there are merely 3 wild Baishanzu firs globally. They grow in a forest at an altitude of over 1,700 meters in Qingyuan County. Not only does the Baishanzu fir have unique biological features, but it is also of considerable scholastic value in research into the impact of climate changes on flora.

To achieve the return of Baishanzu fir seedlings cultivated in sterile tubes to the wilderness and expand the number of indigenous flora, the lab headed by Prof. CHEN Liping with the College of Agriculture and Biotechnology did an immense body of research work.

The most crucial breakthrough is the cultivation of the Baishanzu fir seedling in sterile tubes. In natural environments, the Baishanzu fir relies on mycorrhizae stemming from the symbiotic association of the mycelium of a fungus with the roots of certain plants to procure water and nutrients. “After substrate cultivation for half a year, seedlings can grow 3 to 4 primary branches and 2 or 3 times as fast as those in natural environments,” introduces WANG Tingjin, a postgraduate student with the College of Agriculture and Biotechnology.

“The acquisition of seedlings in sterile tubes and their substrate cultivation open up a novel avenue to the rescue and preservation of the Baishanzu fir and lay a foundation for the in vitro preservation of endangered gymnosperms and the amelioration and application of genetic resources,”says CHEN Liping. 

In natural conditions, such conifers as the fir produce their progeny primarily through seeds, but the Baishanzu fir is bothered by great difficulties in seed sprouting and an extremely remote chance of survivability for seedlings. Research by ZJU scientists contributes to the sterile tube seedling from a premature embryo, thereby effectively reducing the number of dead individuals due to flawed development. 

“The embryo rescue technique renders it possible to ‘have a Caesarean’ on the ‘embryo’ of the Baishanzu fir in the face of developmental difficulties, separate it from the host body beforehand, place it in an artificial ‘incubation box’ for cultivation and eventually obtain a neonate individual,” says CHEN Liping.