Method for Germinating Turions Isolated from Duckweed via Heat Treatment

High-Efficiency Germination Method for Duckweed Dormant Turions Using Short-Term Thermal Shock at 60–70℃

This technology induces germination by applying a 60–70℃ thermal shock to dormant turions isolated from duckweed for 30 seconds to 10 minutes, followed by 2–4 days of incubation under optimal temperature and light conditions.

Duckweed is highly valuable for animal feed, traditional medicine, medical protein production, and as a biomarker for ISO ecotoxicity testing due to its high protein content. However, it rarely reproduces via seeds in nature, relying instead on vegetative propagation of turions. A major limitation has been the difficulty in uniformly waking dormant turions, making it hard to secure duckweed samples when needed.

This technology breaks dormancy with a brief high-temperature stimulus, allowing for a high germination rate regardless of storage duration. Germination efficiency can be further enhanced by narrowing the optimal ranges for heat treatment time, incubation temperature, and light intensity. This enables the supply of bio-ware for ecotoxicity testing and the production of duckweed-based feed and protein, ensuring uniform duckweed samples are available on demand, regardless of the season.

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Key Features:

• A step of applying thermal shock to dormant turions isolated from duckweed at 60–70℃ for 30 seconds to 10 minutes
• A step of incubating the heat-treated turions for 2–4 days at a temperature of 15–35℃ and a light intensity of 50–150 μmol photon/㎡·s
• A step of applying thermal shock to dormant turions by setting the heat treatment time to a range of 45 seconds to 5 minutes
• A step of germinating the turions under conditions of 20–30℃, a light intensity of 90–120 μmol photon/㎡·s, and an incubation period of 3–4 days

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This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Environment for the development of aquatic ecotoxicity diagnostic kits.

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