Conservation of the Protected Resurection Species Ramonda Serbica Panč.—Habitat Montana District, Bulgaria as In Vitro, Plants Through a Modified Micropropagation System

ABSTRACTRamonda serbica Panc. is a rare species, Balkan endemic and tertiary relict, included in the European list of rare, in danger of extinction and endemic plants. It is also included in the Bulgarian list of endangered plants.In Bulgaria, this species has not been cultivated in vitro with the aim of conservation and investigation of the natural population. For this purpose, at the Plant Biotechnology laboratory at the University of Plovdiv we started the establishment of a live collection of in vitro Ramonda serbica Panc. This is accomplished through an in vitro system for regeneration and propagation, modified by our research group. The live collection of in vitro Ramonda serbica plants will be a donor for conservation and reintroduction of adapted in vitro plants in their natural endangered habitats and also for physiological studies of drough tolerance, and multidisciplinary comparative analyses.