In Vitro Establishment of ‘Delite’ Rabbiteye Blueberry Microshoots

Micropropagation is an important technique for clonal mass propagation and a tool for in vitro studies. One of the first steps to overcome in this process is the establishment of new explants in vitro. ‘Delite’ rabbiteye blueberry was cultured in vitro with four cytokinins (zeatin (ZEA), 6-(γ-γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine (2iP), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), and kinetin (KIN)) at eight concentrations (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 μM). Additionally, nine combinations of nitrogen salts were tested, using Woody Plant Medium (WPM) and a modified WPM as the basic medium. ZEA and 2iP showed better responses, but ZEA was superior at lower (2.5 μM) concentrations (89.7% survival, 81.3% shoot formation, 1.3 shoots, 13.8 mm shoot length, 10.0 leaves). BAP and KIN showed very low responses. In the combinations of salts with modified WPM, no differences were observed. However, the original WPM with treatments of 0.5 × NH 4NO 3 and 1 × Ca(NO 3) 2, 0.5 × NH 4NO 3 and 0.5 × Ca(NO 3) 2, and the modified WPM alone showed the lowest rates of survival and shoot formation and the shortest shoot lengths. The highest shoot lengths were observed in treatments with the original WPM, 1.5 × NH 4NO 3 and 0.5 × Ca(NO 3) 2, and 1.5 × NH 4NO 3 and 1.5 × Ca(NO 3) 2. This initial study with ‘Delite’ can be the basis for further experiments with different combinations of salts, 2iP, and ZEA. View Full-Tex