MICROPROPAGATION OF MYROBOLAN PLUM (Prunus cerasifera L.)

Abstract

The Myrobolan plum (Prunus cerasifera L.) is tolerant to clay soils and collar rot {Phytophthora cactorum (Leb. y Cohn) Schroet.} and it is a good alternative to be used as rootstock of japanese and european plums. Shoot tips of axillary buds abtained fram shoots in active growth were cultured far establishment in a Murashige and Skoog (MS) complete (100%) medium. For proliferation and rooting, a MS medium at SO% strength was suplemented with 100 mg/l of myoinositol, 1 mg/l af thiamine-HC1, 0.3 ta 1 .O mg/l of indalbutyric acid (IBA), 1 mg/l of benzyladenine (BA), 162 mg/l of phloroglucinol and 30 g/l of sucrose; pH was adjusted to 5.5 before adding 5 g/l of agar.

An average af 20 shoots per bud were obtained after six weeks in culture. Each explant produced an average of 12.7 shoots after transplanting. In the rooting phase, the addition af IBA at 1 mg/l plus phlaroglucinol during six days yielded 100% rooting. Plants survival was 95% when they were transplanted to soil.