Acta Univ Latv (2004) 676: 189–196

Development of recipient system of woody subtropical plants in vitro

Abstract

The objecive of this study was to develop recipient systems of woody subtropical species and to obtain asimina (Asimina triloba Dun.), feijoa (Feijoa sellowiana Berg.), kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa (Chev.) Liang, Ferguson), persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.), and zizyphus (Zizyphus jujuba Mill.) plants through direct and indirect regeneration in vitro. The morphogenetic capacity of organs and tissues in selected woody subtropical plants was realized via five ways: activation of apical and lateral meristems; direct regeneration of plants from leaves, shoot segments and cotyledons; direct regeneration of seedlings from zygotic embryos; and direct and indirect somatic embryogenesis. High effective microshoot regeneration was induced by using direct regeneration of plants from leaves, shoot segments and cotyledons on modified Murashige and Skoog medium with 1.0 to 6.0 μM thidiazuron. The developed in vitro systems of woody subtropical plants allow us to use them for different purposes of plant biotechnology: multiplication, genetic transformation and conservation in vitro of valuable genotypes of asimina, feijoa, kiwi, persimmon and zizyphus.