Effect of apical dominance absences on in vitro micropropagation of Nopalea cochenillifera cv. IPA Sertania.

摘要

The low productivity of the native fodder crops hampers animal nutrition during the dry season. In semiarid regions of Brazil Nopalea cochenillifera clones are an alternative for cattle and goat feed, as a valuable forage resource. Micropropagation is used routinely for large scale production of economic important plant species. However, despite the success on in vitro Nopalea micropropagation, it is still a time consuming task. The study aimed to evaluate the apical meristem absence effect on in vitro development of fodder cactus pear plants (N. cochenillifera, IPA Sertania clone) in the growth, micropropagation and shoot tip rooting. Explants were cultivated in induction medium [Murashige and Skoog salts, supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and naftalene acetic acid (NAA)]. The treatments used were: (1) explants with or without apical dominance breakdown; (2) horizontally or vertically inoculated in the medium. Experimental design was entirely random in a factorial arrangement (2 x 2) with ten replicates. Apical dominance breakdown induced a significant increase of the number of new adventitious shoots tip formed from in vitro explants of N. cochenillifera. The same medium was used for in vitro shoot tips rooting. There was no influence of apical meristem absence on root development. All micropropagated plants were transferred to greenhouse and all of them survived acclimatization process.