Cryoconservation of Antiallergic Medicinal Plants: Techniques and Applications

Medicinal plants have long been integral to diverse traditional medicine systems, with many exhibiting remarkable antiallergic properties. However, several valuable herbs face threats from overexploitation, unregulated harvesting, unsustainable cultivation practices, and climate change impacts. This growing awareness of the need to conserve these plants has led to increased focus on ex situ conservation strategies, including field genebanks, botanical gardens, seed genebanks, in vitro genebanks, and cryogenebanks. While field genebanks and botanical gardens expose species to potential risks like pest infestations and natural disasters, seed conservation in seed genebanks and in vitro genebanks is effective for certain species. However, for exceptional plant species characterized by limited seed production, challenging seed collection, and seeds that cannot withstand conventional drying and storage in seed genebanks, cryogenebank conservation emerges as the most viable option. Various cryopreservation techniques, encompassing the preservation of whole seeds, zygotic embryos, embryonic axes, and dormant buds, offer the potential to store these species theoretically indefinitely in cryogenebanks. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of research on cryopreservation methods for seeds and other explants of medicinal plant species exhibiting antiallergic properties. Additionally, several successful case studies are presented.