IN VIVO AND IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF PISTACIA LENTISCUS L.

Abstract

Lentisk (Pistacia lenfiscus L.) is an evergreen shrub typical of the Mediterranean maquis. It is a hardy, drought tolerant plant up to 4-5 metres high which lives in garigues or woods. Its ecological value is related to the easy emission of new shoots after fire injuries and cutting. Lentisk is multiplied by seed, with a strong variability among genotypes; propagation by cutting is not used because of poor or absent induction of adventitious roots. With the aim to define efficient propagation protocols, seeds and young cuttings of wild plants were tested for in vivo and in vitro culture. In order to increase germination percentage, seeds were stored for several days at 4°C and various enhancing treatments were also evaluated. Pre-chilled seeds with HCl scarification and GA 3 treatment performed good germination rates, as well as the material preserved at low temperature for 30 d. After the assessment of aseptic clones, the in vitro multiplication trials showed that BA at 0.5 mg L -1 permitted to have the best shoots proliferation percentage (3.5 shoots per explant). Good quality clusters were obtained during the elongation trial with the double layer culture. From rooting experiments testing the effect of IB A and NAA, higher number and length of roots were achieved with NAA at 0.5 mg L -1 .