Assessing the Effectiveness of in Vitro and in Situ Symbiotic Seed Germination: Case of Anacamptis Papilionacea (L.) R. M. Bateman, Pridgeon & M. W. Chase

Abstract

The conservation of threatened orchid species demands the use of effective propagation techniques to improve the processes of regeneration and reintroduction. While propagation and restoration techniques were primarily based on in vitro asymbiotic or symbiotic seed germination methods, their results demonstrated differing germination outcomes among various orchid species. This study investigates the impact of two different seed germination methods, in vitro and in situ, on the symbiotic germination of Anacamptis papilionacea (L.) R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W. Chase an endangered terrestrial orchid in Turkey. We used mycorrhizal fungi from the tullasnelloid genus, isolated from A. papillionacea roots. Our findings indicated that the percentage of germination exhibited variability across different treatments. Among the tested treatments, we observed that the optimal treatment displayed the highest rate is the in situ seed germination up to the seedling stage (86.85%), while the in vitro seed germination method presented a lower germination rates (60.34%) up to the protocorm formation stage. Furthermore, additional research is necessary to comprehend the underlying mechanisms for this variation and to determine the extent of the impact of germination approaches on symbiotic germination in Orchidaceae and Orchid Mycorrhizal Fungi species.