In vitro plant propagation and crop improvement in Lisianthus (Lisianthus Russelianus Hook.)

Abstract

Romania assists at the present time to an increase of production crops for ornamental plants and as a consequence an increased demand of planting material. Thus, improvements of the current multiplication methods are sought after. Lisianthus russelianus Hook. (Eustoma grandiflorum Grise.) is a relatively new floral crop to the international market, known for beautiful flowers of various colors and for having a long vase life. This study focused on the development of an efficient protocol for rapid regeneration of this species following known basic and applied aspects of lisianthus biotechnology but exploring new potentials. In the course of experiments conducted, for in vitro multiplication there were used nodal segments (1.5 cm) with axillary buds from three F1 hybrids ‘Echo Lavender’, ‘Flamenco White’, ‘Mirage Pastel Pink’ that were inoculated on MS basal medium supplemented with 0.50 mg 1-1 TDZ, 1.0 mg 1-1 BAP and 0.50 mg 1-1 AIA. The results show that the medium with BAP was most effective for obtaining the highest shoots number compared to medium containing TDZ. For rooting induction, two different concentrations of auxin IBA 0.5 mg 1-1 and 1.5 mg 1-1 were used simultaneously on MS basal medium. The highest roots number occurred when using 1.5 mg 1-1 IBA. Both the number of shoots and rooting regeneration were dependent on the cultivar. The highest shoots number was achieved for ’Mirage Pastel Pink’ hybrid (6.91) on the medium containing 1.0 mg 1-1 BAP and 0.50 mg 1-1 IAA.