Chemical Fertilizer Medium on Tissue Culture of Strawberries

Abstract

The strawberry is a nutrient-rich fruit with high concentrations of vitamins A, C, B1, B2, protein, calcium, potassium, copper, iron, and especially antioxidants. Strawberries are an extremely popular fruit because the antioxidants in them are much more than in tomatoes, up to 7 times. Strawberry propagation now requires a tissue culture-derived cultivar. Infection from the mother plant causes low yield due to diseases, and the chemicals utilized as bait in vitro are expensive. The purpose of this experiment was to find a replacement for the chemical fertilizer mix that was affecting the strawberry’s in vitro growth. The experiment was conducted with the strawberry cultivar Royal 80 and the 5 × 4 Factorial in CRD. Explants were cultivated in media containing five types of chemical fertilizer: 21-21-21 (N-P2O5-K2O), 15-30-15 (N-P2O5-K2O), 36-5-5 (N-P2O5-K2O), 15-30-15 (N-P2O5-K2O) and 10-52-17 (N-P2O5-K2O) at concentrations of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 g L−1, compared to MS medium, which provided control for each type of fertilizer. The plantlets were cultured in 0.5 g/l of 21-21-21 showed the highest number of plantlets was 4.30 plantlets/explant, which was better than MS medium (3.44 plantlets/explant), 15-30-15 and 36-5-5 media (3.48, 3.87 plantlets/explant, respectively).