How precious is the tree fern? Pingtung University of Science and Technology students use green globules to cultivate seedlings, bringing hope for restoration
The tree fern (Cyathea lepifera), listed under the Washington Convention as a "Class II rare and endangered plant," has suffered from wilt disease in Taiwan in recent years, with its population declining. Hsieh Ching-hsiang, a professor in the Department of Agronomy at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, led graduate student Chou Yu-ju in using "Establishment of an Aseptic Sporophyte Production System for Tree Fern" as a research topic, successfully propagating tree fern seedlings artificially through green globules, giving new vitality to tree fern restoration.
The tree fern is a large tree fern that can be propagated artificially through spores, but the conditions are restrictive and success is difficult to achieve. Chou Yu-ju stimulated the proliferation of green globules in the tree fern and tissue-cultured them into individual tree fern seedlings. The green globules proliferate twice as fast as traditional spore propagation, and the number propagated is 10 to 20 times greater than traditional spore propagation. At present, many tree fern seedlings can already be cultivated.
However, Hsieh Ching-hsiang also mentioned that although tree fern seedlings can be mass-cultivated at this stage, because the tree fern has very high environmental requirements, such as needing very high humidity, restoring the tree fern in the wild is "still not very optimistic" at present.
In addition, another student from the Department of Agronomy at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Chang Yu-wei, also conducted research on the topic "Establishment of Sporophyte Induction and Green Globule Regeneration System for Platycerium wandae," using green globules to cultivate Platycerium wandae. Through cultural and creative methods, "plants in bottles" and "plant bottle landscapes" were produced, becoming popular healing products. Hsieh Ching-hsiang said that through green globule technology, in addition to propagating rare fern seedlings, it can also be combined with cultural creativity to cultivate ornamental ferns, and can also rapidly mass-propagate medicinal ferns such as Davallia, with unlimited research and development and business opportunities.
The Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station also developed green globule fern propagation technology in 2017. Chou Yu-ju said that although they all use green globules, the formulas and techniques for stimulating different ferns to produce green globules vary. At present, Chou Yu-ju and Chang Yu-wei have also established Fernyi Horticulture Enterprise Co., Ltd., and through the guidance of the Innovation Incubation Center of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, became one of the 72 teams selected in the first phase of the U-start Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. Chou Yu-ju said they hope not only to restore the tree fern in Taiwan, but also to export tree fern seedlings to other countries to help restore the tree fern in various places.
