Abstract
× Heucherella ‘Bridget Bloom’ shoots were surface disinfected and cultured on basal medium composed of Murashige-Skoog salts and vitamins and the following addenda per liter; sucrose, 30 g; glycine, 2 mg; and washed Difco Bacto-agar, 6 g. Axillary shoot proliferation was greatest on medium supplemented with 0.5 mg 1−1 benzyladenine, 0.025 mg 1−1 naphthaleneacetic acid and 4 g 1−1 washed Difco Bacto-agar. Adventitious shoots regenerated from callus that initiated from the base of cultured microcuttings. Microcuttings were rooted in Redi-Earth under intermittent mist for 4 wk (94% rooted) and then moved to a greenhouse (98% survival after 4 wk). During a 16 month field study, plants produced from microcuttings grew as well as, if not better than, greenhouse-grown plants propagated by division. Micropropagated plants originating from axillary buds had significantly greater fresh and dry weights, and initiated more leaves and crowns when grown under field conditions than plants originating from adventitious buds.
Author notes
Published as Miscellaneous Paper No. 1282 of the Delaware Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was supported in part by an Undergraduate Research Grant from the University of Delaware HonorsProgram.
2Assistant Professors, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.
3Undergraduate student, Current address: E.I. Dupont de Nemours Co., Inc., Agricultural Products Department, Experiment Station, Wilmington, DE 19880-0402.