Articles
MANIPULATION OF ABIOTIC IN VITRO FACTORS TO IMPROVE THE PHYSIOLOGY AND SUBSEQUENT FIELD PERFORMANCE OF MICROPROPAGATED PLANTLETS
Article number
748_6
Pages
77 – 85
Language
English
Abstract
Field performance of in vitro cultivated plantlets will ultimately depend on their ability to withstand the transferring from in vitro to ex vitro conditions.
Many factors of the in vitro environment may affect the ability of plantlets to withstand the ex vitro transfer thus being extremely difficult to define which abiotic factors can be manipulated to improve plantlet physiology and their subsequent performance in the field.
Our research efforts have concentrated in two aspects of the physiology of micropropagated plantlets, namely stomatal functionality and photosynthetic capacity.
These two physiological processes can be affected by various abiotic factors of the in vitro environment but there are three of them that are good candidates for manipulation with good possibilities of having effects on improved plantlet physiology.
The air space of the culture vessel, the sugars added to the medium and the lighting conditions of growth rooms.
Within the factors of the air space inside culture vessels, the high relative humidity that is normally present in standard culture vessels might create a situation where plants would be subjected to abnormally high water status and low leaf abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations that in turn, may affect their stomatal functionality.
On the other hand, other abiotic factors such as light conditions in growth rooms and sugars in the medium are expected to affect the photosynthetic capacity of plantlets, important in the in vitro stage but instrumental when plants are transferred from a mixotrophic environment to a complete autotrophic situation when plants would be living in an ex vitro environment.
Our results suggest that it is possible to improve plantlet physiology and subsequent field performance of micropropagated plants by manipulating some of these in vitro abiotic factors.
Particularly promising for tropical plantlets might be the increase in light intensity and quality by growing plants in specially designed growth rooms, allowing plantlets to grow under natural light at the last stages of micropropagation processes.
Many factors of the in vitro environment may affect the ability of plantlets to withstand the ex vitro transfer thus being extremely difficult to define which abiotic factors can be manipulated to improve plantlet physiology and their subsequent performance in the field.
Our research efforts have concentrated in two aspects of the physiology of micropropagated plantlets, namely stomatal functionality and photosynthetic capacity.
These two physiological processes can be affected by various abiotic factors of the in vitro environment but there are three of them that are good candidates for manipulation with good possibilities of having effects on improved plantlet physiology.
The air space of the culture vessel, the sugars added to the medium and the lighting conditions of growth rooms.
Within the factors of the air space inside culture vessels, the high relative humidity that is normally present in standard culture vessels might create a situation where plants would be subjected to abnormally high water status and low leaf abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations that in turn, may affect their stomatal functionality.
On the other hand, other abiotic factors such as light conditions in growth rooms and sugars in the medium are expected to affect the photosynthetic capacity of plantlets, important in the in vitro stage but instrumental when plants are transferred from a mixotrophic environment to a complete autotrophic situation when plants would be living in an ex vitro environment.
Our results suggest that it is possible to improve plantlet physiology and subsequent field performance of micropropagated plants by manipulating some of these in vitro abiotic factors.
Particularly promising for tropical plantlets might be the increase in light intensity and quality by growing plants in specially designed growth rooms, allowing plantlets to grow under natural light at the last stages of micropropagation processes.
Publication
Authors
G. Fuentes, C. Talavera, F. Espadas, A. Quiroz, M. Aguilar, J. Coello, J.M. Santamaría
Keywords
micropropagation, photosynthesis, stomatal behaviour, ventilation, sugars
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