Environ Exp Biol (2017) 15: 217–224

In vitro micrografting of lucumo (Pouteria lucuma), Sapotaceae

Abstract

Effects of plant growth regulators [gibberellic acid (GA₃) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA)], holding grafts (aluminum foil and cooper wire), pre-treatment [immersion in 1.5 mg L^–1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP)] of scions, and genotype combination (rootstock × scion) were investigated on micropropagation of rootstocks and scions and micrografting of lucumo (Pouteria lucuma) cv. ‘Beltrán’ and ‘Seda’. In vitro germinated commercial lucumo seedlings developed from seeds were used as rootstocks and scions. The rootstocks were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) culture medium supplemented with different concentrations (0.0, 0.1 and 1.0 mg L^–1) of GA₃. The data showed that in the cv. ‘Beltrán’ the maximum shoot height (6.1 ± 1.2 cm) and nodes formed (7) were observed in the presence of 0.1 mg L^–1 GA₃. The effects of two different MS media containing 0.1 mg L^–1 GA₃ (MM-1) and 0.1 mg L^–1 GA₃ and 0.4 mg L^–1 IBA (MM-2) were studied on development of micrografted plantlets. Propagated shoots tips, were micrografted onto in vitro germinated commercial lucumo seedlings. The results indicated that the best graft rate were obtained in the genotypes combination ‘Seda’ × ‘Beltrán’ (rootstock × scion), holding grafts with cooper wire, and pre-treatment of scions with immersion in 1.5 mg L^–1 BAP, reaching a survival rate of 87.5%; however, in both MM-1 and MM-2 culture media the survival rate of grafting was similar (52.6 and 54.1%, respectively).