Abstract
Arbutus unedo (Strawberry tree) grows spontaneously in several countries of the Mediterranean basin. Fruits can be consumed fresh or can be processed to make a spirit. A project to clone selected trees of this species based on their fruit production was initiated a few years ago. In this work the role of BA on shoot proliferation and the effect of IBA on root formation are evaluated. Preliminary results about somatic embryogenesis induction are also presented. Best shoot proliferation was achieved when 8.9 μM BA were used. In this situation, an average of 1.34 shoots and 1.75 nodes per explant were obtained. Rooting was achieved on a Knop medium containing different IBA concentrations (1 week) followed by subculture (5 weeks) on the same medium without auxin and containing charcoal (1.5%). On these conditions, best rooting frequencies (100%) were obtained with IBA at concentrations of 49.2 μM. For somatic embryogenesis induction, leaves from in vitro propagated material were used. Results showed that a combination of BA (8.8 μM) and NAA (10.7; 26.8 μM) gave the highest frequencies of induction (94.4%). Somatic embryo conversion was achieved when somatic embryos were transferred to a medium without plant growth regulators. Plant acclimatization was successfully accomplished for both types of in vitro propagated material and some of the produced plants are now in the field to be evaluated.
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