Changes in nutrient composition and pH of the culture medium during in vitro shoot proliferation of crabapple and pear

✍ Scribed by Suman Singha; Gene H. Oberly; Edwin C. Townsend

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 533 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-6857
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00040426

✦ Synopsis

Shoot tips of Seckel pear and Almey crabapple were cultured on liquid MS medium containing 8.8#M BA. Changes in shoot proliferation and growth and in nutrient and carbohydrate composition of the medium were determined during a 9 week culture period. Whereas shoot proliferation in crabapple increased linearly during the culture period, it levelled off after week 4 in pear. Explant dry weight in both genera showed a linear increase over time. Culture medium pH decreased in the initial weeks and increased thereafter. There was a rapid decline in medium P and Fe concentration with both genera and of Zn in the medium of crabapple. In no instance did the rate of depletion of any nutrient from the medium of pear cultures exceed that measured in the crabapple medium. The decline in sucrose concentration in the medium was similar for both genera and was accompanied by an increase in the level of glucose and fructose. At the end of the culture period slightly over half of the initial carbohydrate level remained in the medium.