Abstract: Vitrification is a new technique of cryopreservation. Immature inflorescences of barley (Hordeum Vulgate L. ) were precultured in medium supplemented with 0. 5 mol/L sucrose for 2 days and dehydrated in PVS2 at 0 ℃ for 5 min before plunged into liquid nitrogen. After rapid warming and unloading, the survival of three cultivars "81Gl", "Gebeina", and "Xu 9" was 100%, 82.5% and 50% respectively. Callus formation and plant regeneration was achieved from recovered inflorescences. The non-precultured samples could not survival in liquld nitrogen. Desiccation-tolerance and freeze-tolerance affected plant survival. Vitrification shared the advantages of high levels of survival, short period of lag stage and complete viability of cryopreserved organs.

Key words: Hordeum vulgate: Immature inflorescences, Vitrification, Cryopreservation