In vitro PROPAGATION OF THE APPLE TREE ROOT MM106

Abstract

To establish new apple (Malus pumila Mill) plantations in Mexico has required to import up to 200 000 rootstocks per year. lt is necessary then, to develope better techniques for apple propagations in this country. For this purpose, axillary buds from the MM 106 cultivar were in vitro cultured in the MurashigeSkoog (MS) medium to study their responses to different concentrations of mineral salts and benciladenine (BA). The effect of subculturing on shoot proliferation and rooting was also evaluated. Results indicated that the number of shoots per bud increased when the salt concentration in the medium was at 100% or as BA increased from 0.5 to 1.5 mg/l. The number of shoots per explant grew from 1.2 to 10.0 by increasing the number of subcultures from one to four, which may indicate an improved adaptation to the in vitro conditions. Rooting was enhanced from 40 to 80% by applying phloroglucinol during the rooting phase, whereas this process was completely inhibed by adding activated charcoal.