Vol. 70 No: 5

Title:
Micropropagation of Roses: The Benefits of Pruned Mother-Plantlets at Stage II and a Greenhouse Environment at Stage III

Authors:
I. HORAN, S. WALKER, A.V. ROBERTS, J. MOTTLEY and I. SIMPKINS

pp: 799-806

Abstract:
Opportunities for improving cost-effectiveness in the micropropagation of roses were sought. The roses ‘Frensham’ and ‘Mountbatten’ were propagated during Stage II from cuttings obtained by pruning "mother-plantlets" at intervals of two weeks. The size of the mother-plantlets was controlled by regular pruning and by splitting after 22 weeks. The method was more economical in terms of space in the growth room, labour and culture medium that the more conventional method of subdividing plants every four weeks. More cuttings were obtained if the agar-solidified medium was overlaid with liquid medium. After 18 weeks on the overlaid medium, an estimated 14 propagules could be obtained every two weeks per mother-plantlet of ‘Frensham’ and 11 of ‘Mountbatten’ if the culture medium was renewed every ten weeks. Propagules from Stage II were cultured at Stage III on cellulose plugs in culture vessels with a gas-permeable membrane in the lid. The effect of high irradiance in a greenhouse location was contrasted with the lower irradiance in a growth room when plants were cultured on either Murashige and Skoog medium (1962) supplemented with sucrose (30 g l^-1), or a hydroponic medium without sucrose. High irradiance increased the fresh weight of plantlets, the proportion of root to shoot growth and leaf expansion. Sucrose-free medium increased leaf area. Effects of these cultural conditions were still evident four weeks after transfer of propagules to compost.

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