Growth and proliferation in vitro of Vaccinium corymbosum under different irradiance and radiation spectral composition

Abstract

Plantlets of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cvs. Atlantic, Berkeley and Elizabeth, were exposed in vitro to radiation of different spectral compositions obtained by filtering the cool-white light with either 2 types of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layers or glass and different photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD, ranging from 10 to 180 μmol m--2 s-1). Red colour of leaves was the first response to the light treatments: after 14 d under unfiltered light, the shoots exposed to higher PPFD showed dramatic reddening of leaves and sprouts, especially in cv. Atlantic; cutting wavelengths shorter than 520 nm (no-B-PMMA filter) prevented those effects. On average, cv. Atlantic yielded the highest number of shoots per explant (10.4), followed by cv. Elizabeth (9.1) and cv. Berkeley (6.5). No-B-PMMA increased the proliferation rate in all the 3 genotypes, especially in cv. Atlantic. On the other hand, cutting wavelengths between 650 and 760 nm (no-R-PMMA filter) generally depressed the proliferation rate. No-B-PMMA induced remarkable changes in the morphology of the shoots - more elongate leaves and longer internodes - especially in cv. Atlantic.