Production of virus-free plants of Lilium spp. from bulbs obtained in vitro and ex vitro

CHINESTRA, CAROLINA; CURVETTO, NÉSTOR; MARINANGELI PABLO

SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 194 p. 304 - 312

0304-4238

Lilium tissue culture is used for mass propagation of elite material as well as for obtaining virus-free plants.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of meristem tip culture from microbulbsobtained in vitro and from bulblets obtained via scaling macropropagation either with or withoutthermotherapy and chemotherapy treatments applied before meristem tip culture to obtain virus-freeLilium spp. plants. To this end, microshoot regeneration from meristematic tips was first tested and twodiagnostic techniques were compared after meristem tip culture treatment. Different alternatives wereassayed in several Lilium hybrids to obtain virus-free plants. Effective virus elimination was possibleusing meristematic tips extracted from bulblets produced ex vitro by scaling, a procedure that has notbeen previously reported in Lilium. The number of virus-free plants obtained, which depended on thegenotype as well as on the virus present in the original material, reached ∼100% via meristem tip culturewith or without pre-thermotherapy treatment at 35◦C. Meristem tip culture produced 100% of LMoV-free plants in Lilium longiflorum 'Snow Queen' and LA hybrid 'Lacorno', also CMV-free plants in Asiatichybrid 'Navona' and LA hybrid 'Fangio', and LSV-free plants in LA 'Royal Respect'. The LSV infection ratedecreased in Asiatic hybrid 'Visconti' when thermotherapy was applied ex vitro before meristem tipculture. Chemotherapy applied during in vitro bulb differentiation prior to meristem tip culture led toa complete elimination of LSV in the LO hybrid 'Triumphator'. Ex vitro chemotherapy was ineffective invirus elimination even when applied at high concentrations.