PJB-2019-843
MEDIA AND HORMONES INFLUENCE IN MICROPROPAGATION SUCCESS OF BLACKBERRY CV. ‘CHESTER’.
Diego Muñoz-Concha
Abstract
Berry fruits are a rich source for human nutrition and play a major role for the livelihood of small producers. Among hybrid blackberries, the cultivar ‘Chester’ has good fruit quality and advantageous plant habit but traditional propagation methods do not work well. The advantages of micropropagation exploited by the breeding industry in many plant species need to be developed for the cultivar ‘Chester’. This work aimed to find better conditions in the stages of in vitro establishment, shoot proliferation, and rooting for the micropropagation of this cultivar. Plant material was collected from a commercial crop at different developmental stages in central Chile. Experiments evaluated sterilization procedures, shoot multiplication, elongation and rooting, as well as acclimation. Actively growing new shoots taken in springtime and sterilized with 1.5% NaClO for 5 min allowed to obtain in vitro culture establishment of axenic tissues. Dormant tissues are not recommended for establishing cultures since the showed high incidence of contamination. Shoot multiplication rate was highest (5.2) on MS medium supplemented with 1.4 mg / L BAP. The media had a stark incluence on rooting, with a higher proportion of rooted shoots for WPM and DKW. The highest number of roots per shoot (5.4) and a higher root length was observed on WPM medium than on DKW or MS. Considering that elongation and rooting were simoultaneously observed in this experience, WPM is recommended for shoot elongation and rooting of blackberry cv. ‘Chester’. The present results, stress the importance of evaluating different culture media for specific cultivars under micropropagation. The protocol described permits the micropropagation of blackberry cv. ‘Chester’, opening a new alternative for plant production in the difficult propagation of this variety.
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