Tobacco pollen was stored for 90 months in four ways. Two storage methods involved use of a desiccant (silica gel) and different storage temperatures and one involved freeze-drying and sealing the pollen in a glass ampoule. In the fourth method pollen was stored at - 17°C without silica gel. All methods kept the pollen at lower than ambient temperatures (5°C or - 17°C) and highly viable for 12 months. The lower temperature methods maintained good pollen viability for 36 months. The freeze-dried method at - 17°C storage maintained the highest percentage viability in vitro, but all the low temperature methods preserved pollen viability sufficiently well to produce seed when used in crosses after 90 months of storage. No abnormalities were observed among the seedlings.

(Full article published with kind permission from "Tobacco International")