Abstract
Gardens within the UK contain a unique heritage collection of plants introduced by plant hunters. Previous Defra-funded projects PH0316 and PH0408 have developed robust micropropagation techniques to clone rare and ancient plant material identified as at risk from the exotic/quarantine plant pathogens Phytophthora ramorum and P. kernoviae. This work primarily focussed on Rhododendron and the SW of England (Cornwall), but the Phytophthora diseases are also found more widely and on other genera; therefore a key element to this new project is to develop the micropropagation service for gardens across the UK and for a wider range of at-risk genera and species that may benefit from micropropagation methods. Whilst protocols have been developed successfully for Rhododendron, there is a pressing need to broaden the expertise within the micropropagation facility at Rosewarne to routinely process a wider range of at-risk plant material identified by individual gardens. Additional research is therefore required to further develop micropropagation techniques on an individual plant species basis. In support of developing the techniques and current micropropagation facility at Rosewarne, and to match the proposed Defra funding, additional funding support will be sought from individual garden owners and other bodies through direct funding contributions as well as income from the routine commercial processing of material; this will help establish a longer-term and self-sustainable capability. Rosewarne remains the only laboratory in the UK that has a licence to clone material that is potentially infected with Phytophthora ramorum / kernoviae. The Rare Plant Conservation Programme that this project will support has provided an invaluable link for gardens to conserve important specimens within plant collections.
United Kingdom