Abstract
The effect of low initial medium pH on shoot and root development of five white poplar (Populus alba L.) genotypes was tested. The shoot height, fresh mass of shoots per jar, dry mass of shoots per jar, number of roots, as well as the length of the longest root were measured and final pH of the media determined, after 35 days of culture in vitro. Three initial pH values of the medium were tested: 3.0, 4.0 and 5.5 as control. Agar solidification at pH 3.0 was not achieved after sterilization in autoclave, but it was successful after sterilizing in a microwave oven. The obtained results indicate that the tested genotypes are able to significantly influence the changes of media pH during culture. The effect of differences among the examined media was significant for biomass accumulation and final media pH. Generally, significantly higher values of fresh and dry shoot mass, shoot height and the longest root length were recorded on a medium with initial pH 3.0 then on a standard medium with pH 5.5.The implications of the obtained results for the improvement of in vitro propagation of white poplars are discussed.
Highlights
White poplar (Populus alba L.) is a tree species that is widely spread throughout Europe, eastern Asia and northern Africa
That is why autoclaving was completely replaced by microwave oven sterilization, while agar was used for the solidification of media for shoot and root growth assessment
Our results suggest the buffering capacity of examined genotypes, but further research should be performed in order to differentiate this effect on medium pH from others
Summary
White poplar (Populus alba L.) is a tree species that is widely spread throughout Europe, eastern Asia and northern Africa. Beside its use for wood and biomass production, this species has a wide implementation in horticulture and landscaping, especially the genotypes with a pyramidal tree shape (Eggens et al, 1972; Kovacevic et al, 2010b). White poplar (Populus alba L.) is one of the most interesting model tree species in biotechnology, where the tissue culture is an important propagation technique (Confalonieri et al, 2000). It is known that different genotypes of the same species differ in their requirements for growth in in vitro conditions. It is necessary to search for optimal culture conditions, in order to achieve satisfactory micropropagation rates and improve and optimize white poplar tissue culture procedures
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