<em>In vitro</em> multiplication of <em>Pinus caribaea</em> var. caribaea plants

Abstract

In many species of conifers to achieve plant regeneration via organogenesis from apical shoots and axillary buds had been difficult, and the genus Pinus has not been the exception. For this reason, the present research aimed to achieve in vitro multiplication of Pinus caribaea var. caribaea from apical shoots obtained from donor plants. It was determined that in the multiplication phase, the 6-BAP influenced the development of in vitro plants and the highest number (6.75) and length of shoots by plants (2.70 cm) and a multiplication rate of 2.38 were obtained with 6.66 μM. When comparing the effect of sun light y artificial light in the development in vitro plants it was observed that with sun light the plants showed a better in vitro response and improved multiplication rate. It was shown that the gelling agent and concentration were factors that influenced in the in vitro development of plants in the multiplication phase. With Gelrite as gelling agent were obtained better results that with Agar. With 4.0 g l-1 Gelrite the multiplication rate reached its highest value (2.87). These results showed that is possible to multiply successfully in vitro plants of Pinus caribaea var. caribaea from apical shoots obtained of donor plants grown from seed and maintain the biological diversity of this variety and multiply new clones. Key words: gelling agent, growth regulators, pine