Influence of Vessel Type, Physical State of Medium and Temporary Immersion on the Micropropagation of Three Rhodophiala species

Abstract

Rhodophiala C. Presl (Amaryllidaceae) is a genus of attractive flowering geophytes native to South America. They have ornamental value, but most species are not well-known and have conservation problems. The objective of this study was to optimize a micropropagation process to support the use and preservation of three Chilean native species, R. montana (Phil.) Traub, R. splendens (Rengifo) Traub., and R. ananuca (Phil.) Traub. The research evaluated the feasibility of implementing liquid medium culture and assessed the influence of different tissue culture systems on the shoot production and biomass increment of small bulbs. Three experiments were carried out. The first one determined the influences of flask size and volume of media; the second compared liquid and solid media, and in the third experiment, a temporary immersion system (TIS), and conventional culture in static liquid, shaken liquid and gelled Murashige and Skoog (MS) media were compared. By using larger (350 mL) flasks with higher (50 mL) media volume, 100% more fresh weight of microbulb was obtained that treatment with smaller flasks (45 mL) and media volume (10 mL). In gelled medium, hyperhydricity affected only 5% of explants, while in liquid medium was 16-40%. Survival to acclimatization reached 87-94% for plants from gelled medium; from liquid medium only 38-69%. TIS yielded higher propagation rate (1.9 shoots in 30 d) compared with shaken liquid medium (1.0) (P < 0.05) in R. ananuca only. Current procedures are appropriate for the support of ex situ conservation and germplasm bank establishment.

In vitro Growth of Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plantlets in Different Culture Vessels and Light Intensities

“…Larger vessels allow for better gas exchange between the cultures and the external atmosphere and this reduces hyperhydricity and humidity, leading to healthy plant growth. This assertion has also been supported by Amoo et al (2009), Munoz et al (2009 and Preeti et al (2009).…”

“…Various researchers have used different type of containers for the in vitro culture of bananas (Kane and Philman, 1992;Preeti et al, 2009). It is believed that the type and size of culture vessel and light intensity are some of the important factors in micropagation because they have tremendous effect on plantlet growth (Amoo et al, 2009;Munoz et al, 2009;McClelland and Smith, 1990). The natural conditions under which plant growth occurs allow for the dissipation of secondary products into the soil or atmosphere, while tissue culture systems lack an effective method of secondary product disposal.…”

Amaryllidaceae alkaloids: identification and partial characterization of montanine production in Rhodophiala bifida plant

“…The genus Rhodophiala (Amaryllidaceae) is endemic in South America and contains more than 30 bulbous species showing ornamental potential due to their colorful and attractive flowers. These plants usually grow in restricted areas and are geographically isolated 1 . Amaryllidaceae alkaloids such as galanthamine present anticholinesterase activities used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease; lycorine presents cytotoxicity and antitumor properties.…”

Alkaloids from Chilean species of the genus Rhodophiala C. Presl (Amaryllidaceae) and their chemotaxonomic importance

“…It also presents fl owers of red, pink, orange and yellow. These plants have high ornamental value, with many lesser-known species, some of which even have conservation problems (Muñoz et al 2009).…”