The elaboration of a practical protocol for the micropropagation of several apple rootstock varieties

Abstract

The apple rootstock varieties ‘MM 106/4’, ‘MM 106/6’, ‘D 18’, ‘D 20’, ‘JTE-H’ and ‘MR 09/4’ were multiplied in vitro on modified Murashige and Skoog media gelled with wheat starch (MSs) and supplemented with 0.7 mg/l BA, which provided intense axillary shoot proliferation. Among the genotypes we studied, MR 09/4 had the highest multiplication rate (19.56), followed by D18 (15.36). The lowest multiplication rates were recorded in MM 106/6 (5.36) and in MM 106/4 (3.32). The use of the technique of direct ex vitro rooting and acclimatization in floating perlite provided rooting percentages of more than 90 %.

Keywords

• apple rootstocks, wheat starch, ex vitro rooting, floating perlite.