Aerated liquid priming of conifer somatic germinants

A process of priming somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine, which comprises:

• fully immersing somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine in a sterile liquid nutrient medium in a vessel to form a sterile liquid nutrient medium containing the germinants,
• bubbling an oxygen-containing gas through the sterile liquid nutrient medium containing the germinants to form an aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium,
• exposing the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium to light,
• continuing said immersing, bubbling and exposing to light to produce at least some successfully primed and autotrophic germinants in the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium that are adapted for subsequent planting and conversion to viable seedlings, and
• removing said successfully primed and autotrophic germinants from the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium,
• wherein said removal of primed and autotrophic germinants for selection of said germinants suitable for sowing is facilitated by allowing said vessel to stand unagitated until fractionation occurs, optionally adding water or aqueous solution to the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium, and then decanting the top fraction containing a majority of primed and autotrophic germinants suitable for sowing ex vitro.

A process of priming somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine, which comprises:

• fully immersing somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine in a sterile liquid nutrient medium,
• bubbling an oxygen-containing gas through the sterile liquid nutrient medium containing the germinants to form an aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium,
• exposing the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium to light,
• continuing said immersing, bubbling and exposing to light for a period of time from 1 to 14 days to produce at least some successfully primed and autotrophic germinants that are adapted for subsequent planting and conversion to viable seedlings, and
• removing said successfully primed and autotrophic germinants from the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium.

A process of priming somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine, which comprises:

• fully immersing somatic germinants of loblolly pine or radiata pine in a sterile liquid nutrient medium to form a sterile liquid nutrient medium containing the germinants,
• bubbling an oxygen-containing gas through the sterile liquid nutrient medium containing the germinants to form an aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium,
• continuing said immersing and bubbling to produce at least some successfully primed autotrophic germinants in the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium that are adapted for subsequent planting and conversion to viable seedlings, and
• removing said successfully primed autotrophic germinants from the aerated germinant-containing nutrient medium.