Abstract
Cryopreservation has been recognized as a practical and efficient tool for the long-term storage of vegetatively propagated plants. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of slow-freezing techniques on the cryopreservation of potato. In vitro plantlets of the potato genotypes of 'Atlantic', 'Superior’, 'Namseo', 'J138', and 'CTO5-5' were cold acclimated, and the excised axillary buds were precultured, osmoprotected, exposed to plant vitrification solution, frozen slowly to $-40^{\circ}C$ and then rapidly plunged into liquid nitrogen, thawed and finally plated on the regeneration medium. It was found that the higher the sucrose concentrations in the subculture medium of donor plantlets, the higher the survival rates of shoot tips after cryopreservation, and the highest survival (20%) was observed in the medium added with 0.25 M sucrose. As for the effect of cooling, $0.3^{\circ}C/min$ cooling speed showed the highest survival (25%). Different varieties showed different responses over different cryopreservation treatments. Survival rate was increased by slow-freezing technique method as compared with that of the basic cryopreservation method of vitrification alone in the diverse potato genotypes. Leaf and tuber morphologies of potatoes regenerated after cryopreservation using slow freezing technique were similar to those derived from the in vitro stock plantlets.