COMPILATION OF Orchidaceae FAMILY SPECIES GERMPLASM IN SANTIAGO DE MENDEZ, MORONA SANTIAGO, ECUADOR

Abstract

Anthropogenic threats to the habitat of orchids have prompted conservation initiatives such as the creation of an orchid seed germplasm bank, a key biotechnological tool for the conservation of this threatened species. The present study was divided in two stages: a field study and a lab analysis. Orchids were collected from three areas of the Santiago de Mendez, Morona Santiago region: Copal, Tres Ranchos and La Delicia; an area of 600 m2 where 50 orchids of 15 different genus were collected and preserved ex situ in a greenhouse in the city of Macas until the capsules matured. The seeds were later removed and dried in the CIVABI lab of the Universidad Politénica Salesiana in Quito, where 12 species were stored in vacutainer tubes using the following methods: a) refrigerated in the dark at 4?C, and b) under room temperature 20 ± 2 ?C, in light conditions. By using the 1 % tetrazolium viability test and microscopic counting, it was determined that the best method was to keep the seeds in the dark at 4?C. Five treatments were evaluated in the in vitro asymbiotic germination: M&S (T1), M&S + vitamins (T2), M&S + auxins (T3), M&S+ 1 % activated carbon (T4) and Knudson C (T5), where the T4 and T1 treatments were found to be optimal for in vitro germination for all studied species. Notwithstanding the treatment, the orchids that showed the highest viability were: Sobralia rosea (90 %), Sievekingia marsupialis (90 %), Maxillaria rufescens and Epidendrum sp. 1 (75 %).