The Micropropagation of "Platanus acerifolia" Willd

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the behaviour of the plane tree ( Platanus acerifolia) to micropropagation. Four clones (12-MS, Cl, S-PM, 21-MS) obtained from plants selected in the city of Rome (Italy) for their presumed resistance to the Ceratocystis fimbriata, agent of canker stain, were tested. The effects of different culture medium mineral components (SH, DKW, MS, QL, WPM), different treatments with cytokinin (BA, TDZ, 2ip, Kinetin, adenine sulphate), carbohydrates (sucrose, glucose and fructose) and auxin (IBA, NAA) were studied. In general, the culture fresh weight and the formation of axillary shoots, even with some differences among the tested clones, were higher with the SH, DKW and MS mineral components. The most effective cytokinin was BA at the concentration of 0.4 mg H. The combination sucrose-glucose-fructose sometimes appeared more effective on culture growth than Sucrose alone. Shoot rooting, in the presence of IBA at concentrations of 0.5 1.0 mg I-1, reached 100% on three of the clones (CI, S-PM, 21-MS), while on the fourth (12-MS), where the natural rooting capacity was very high, the auxinic treatment did not modify rooting response in comparison to the control. Plantlet acclimatization, performed in the spring period, did not point to any particular problems and plantlet survival was always higher than 95%. In general, the results of this work demonstrate that, with a suitable set up of experimental procedure for the specific genotype, micropropagation can also be effective for Platanus acerifolia as a technique for rapid vegetative propagation.