Conservazione in vitro di specie ornamentali mediante crescita rallentata: il progetto "Vitroflor"

Among the main goals of the “VITROFLOR” project, funded by the Italian Ministery for the Politics in Agriculture and Forestry, there is the improvement of the in vitro conservation technique (slow growth storage) for shoot cultures of economically-important ornamental species. The study carried out at the CNR-IVALSA of Florence is aimed to optimize the in vitro conservation at low temperature and in the dark of shoot cultures of Anthurium andreanum and Ranunculus asiaticus. The first experiment evaluated the effects of different storage temperatures (6° and 10°C, in dark conditions) and different sucrose concentrations (30 or 60 g l-1) on the maximum time of conservation and the regrowth potential of shoots in post-conservation. Data recorded periodically during the conservation period consisted on the survival and quality evaluation of shoots; moreover, the Relative Growth Rate was evaluated during both the storage period and in post-conservation, and compared to shoots in standard culture conditions. It was shown the possibility to extend the conservation time up to 8 (anthurium) and 9 months (ranunculus) with a good regrowth of shoots when moved back to standard culture conditions. As for the conservation temperature, the storage of anthurium shoots was possible only at 10°C, while ranunculus adapted well to both the tested temperatures; differently, ranunculus shoot cultures responded well only to the storage in medium supplemented with 60 g l-1 sucrose.