MICROPROPAGATION OF PISTACIA LENTISCUS L. - OPTIMIZATION OF THE SURFACE STERILIZATION PROTOCOL AND FORCED VENTILATION IN TEMPORARY IMMERSION CULTURE

Abstract

Pistacia lentiscus L., belonging to Anacardiaceae family, is a typical species of the Mediterranean maquis and it is widely grown in Greece and Italy mainly for its aromatic resin extraction or as ornamental plant and also as Pistacia vera L. rootstock. Its propagation is difficult either by seed or by cuttings. The current study was carried out to optimize the micro propagation of Pistacia lentiscus L. starting from seedlings and woody explants. For the surface sterilization two different protocols were evaluated for woody explant and 6 treatments with combinations of different sterilizing agent types and concentrations were used for mature seeds. For woody explants, no significant differences could be evidenced on contamination percentage and plant survival but the initial growth in vitro of the explant was better in case of the first treatment (1.5% NaOCl for 30 min and 70% Ethanol for 1 min) than opposite combination. The highest seed contamination percentage occurred in case of treatment with 1% NaOCl for 30 min. The treatment with Ethanol (70%) for 30 second followed by three times washing with distilled water then use of NaOCl (1%) for 30 min permitted to obtain 100% of sterility. The highest seed germination (100% after 3 days) was obtained in seeds treated with Ethanol (70%) for 30 second then NaOCl (1%) for 30 min. In order to study the proliferation two different procedures were compared in liquid and agar-based media. Our results proved that proliferation rate increased 6.5 % by forced ventilation system. Longer shoots (10.5 cm) were obtained in temporary immersion system using RITA boxes. This culture system induced also the highest shoot weight which is the increasing of the 29.56% respect common vessels and agar-based medium