Russia (bbabo.net), - One of the main brands of the republic, Karelian birch, may disappear forever in Karelia. If by the end of the 1960s there were about seven thousand trees, today there are no more than two thousand at best. Scientists create clones of the remaining trees by growing them in test tubes in parts - first the shoots, and then the roots.
Employees of the Forest Institute of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences have already planted more than 400 plants representing 32 Karelian birch genotypes at the experimental production site. Some of them no longer exist in the wild. Seedlings were obtained by clonal micropropagation. For many years, Lidia Vetchinnikova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Forest Biotechnologies, has been engaged in this work.
“Unfortunately, we have already lost a lot of genetic material,” she states. - But we work and get good quality plants.
How are Karelian birch clones grown? First, a plant with the most pronounced signs of patterned wood texture is selected. In early spring, the buds that have not yet blossomed are harvested. In the laboratory, the growth of these buds is stimulated, and when they begin to bloom, a growth point is selected - a few cells - and placed on a nutrient medium. After the appearance of the shoot, it is cut.
- We transplant the newly formed miniature shoots onto a fresh nutrient medium, thereby preserving the culture and creating a collection of clones, increasing the number of trees from year to year, - says Lidia Vetchinnikova, - A gel-like nutrient medium is needed in order to keep green shoots on its surface.
The "embryos" of the Karelian birch sit in jars. In each of them, a tiny sprout with a miniature stem and green leaves nestled on a transparent substance. There are dozens of these jars. This is the collection of Karelian birch clones.
On a nutrient semi-solid medium under sterile conditions, plants can live for decades. And when the time comes to grow a seedling, they will be transferred to new containers and placed in greenhouse conditions, where it is light and humid. A couple more years - and the young Karelian birch is ready to land on the street.
Help
The wood of the Karelian birch is highly durable and has an unusually beautiful patterned pattern. In the republic, the tree is listed in the Red Book, its felling is prohibited. There are four sanctuaries of Karelian birch on the territory of the region, but no more than one and a half thousand trees grow in them. A regional target program for the conservation of the gene pool of the Karelian birch and the reproduction of its resources has been approved.
bbabo.Net