Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com vegetative explants or meristematic apexes (micropropagation). The encapsulation technology concentrates the easier management, handling, storability and transportability into reduced size products (capsules and/or synthetic seeds). Currently, both biotechnologies are employed to collect a considerable number of fruits, vegetables and ornamental genotypes. Micropropagation Plant tissue culture techniques, as micropropagation, are being widely used for large scale plant multiplication. By using a single explant several thousand plants can be proliferated in relatively short time period and space, under controlled environmental conditions, irrespective of the season and weather. Endangered and threatened plant genotypes have successfully been conserved by micropropagation in ex situ conditions. 1 The technique is based on the concept of totipotentiality of plant cells, that is the ability of a single cell to express the full genome by cell division and regeneration of tissues and whole organs. 2 Plant explants are usually cultured in aseptic conditions on artificial media containing all the nutrients required for the normal growth and development of plants: macroelements, microelements, vitamins, carbohydrates, growth regulators (auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins), other organic compounds and gelling agents. MS medium 3 is most extensively used for the micropropagation of a large part of plant species in vitro. 4 In vitro organ culture offers an alternative source for the conservation of endangered and rare genotypes. Tissue culture protocols can be used for preservation of vegetative tissues when the targets for conservation are clones instead of seeds, to keep the genetic background of a crop and to avoid the loss of the conserved patrimony. 5 Micropropagation is divided in five phases: selection and preparation of donor plants, decontamination and in vitro establishment, multiplication (or proliferation), rooting and acclimatization. Several plant species have been studied and currently conserved at the Laboratory of Micropropagation and In Vitro Biotechnologies (LMIVB) of University of Perugia: olive, apple, mulberry, aquatic plants, kiwifruit, grape, pear, sequoia, lime tree, potato, holm oak, hop and myrtle. They are usually used for educational activities and experimental objectives, carried out with the aim to improve protocols and procedures of in vitro establishment (Figure 1), increase the multiplication rate (Figure 2) and maximize the rhizogenic ability (Figure 3) of genotypes. Figure 1 In vitro establishment of apple, hazel and potato (from left to right) (by M.Micheli). Figure 2 Proliferation of plum (left) and Albiziajulibrissin (right) (by M. Micheli). Horticult Int J. 2020;4(2):50‒52. 50 ©2020 Micheli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Safeguard of plant germplasm through the in vitro culture Volume 4 Issue 2 - 2020 Maurizio Micheli, 1 Francesco Prosperi, 1 Simona Facchin, 1 Daniel Fernandes da Silva 2 1 Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Italy 2 Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paranà, Marechal Candido Rondon, Brasil Correspondence: Maurizio Micheli, Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno74, Italy, Tel ++390755856260, Email Received: April 16, 2020 | Published: April 24, 2020 Horticulture International Journal Short Communication Open Access Introduction The last trends of the intensive cultivation systems need the employment of genotypes suitable to assure high productions; at the same time, large variations concerning the management of the most part of plant germplasm are required. All this involves a significant reduction of the native genetic resources consequently to the decreasing of cultivated species/varieties. Therefore, the biodiversity protection is considered the most important priority for the environment management and the development of a sustainable agriculture. Several recent activities are intended to preserve the genetic variability and to individuate effective and innovative tools for the plant germplasm safeguard. Increasing interest concerns the in vitro culture techniques for the ex situ conservation. For some years the application of the tissue cultures and the innovative encapsulation technology is carried out with that goal at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (University of Perugia). The former is applied through the axillary buds proliferation, by using uninodal