Effect of Meristem Position and Medium on in Vitro Meristem Culture of Alstroemeria

Abstract

Meristems from three different positions were excised from in vitro plants of Alstroemeria genotype A30. Explants were removed from the most-distal vegetative shoot apical meristems, rhizome tip apical meristems, and rhizome tip axillary meristems. Meristems were cultured on four different media to compare the effect of meristem position and medium on the ability to produce Alstroemeria rhizomes from meristems. The meristem culture media were Murashige & Skoog salts plus 8.39 μM pantothenic acid, 1.19 μM thiamine, and 0.55 mm myo-inositol (MSM), MSM plus 8.88 μM of 6-benzylaminopurine (BA), MSM plus 8.88 μM BA, and 0.72 μM gibberellic acid (GA3), and MSM plus 0.72 μM GA3. Meristems that were removed from the vegetative shoot apices did not develop rhizomes on any medium. Rhizome tip apical meristems developed less than 10% rhizomes when subcultured on media containing BA and GA3. However, rhizome tip axillary meristems developed rhizomes on all media with best results achieved when the medium was supplemented with BA.