Exploration of effects of bleeding water of grapevine on in vitro germination of single-point endemic Lophanthus turcicus seeds

Turkey is highly rich in endemic plant species. Natural spreads of these species are subjected to the risk of extinction through pressures exerted by various factors, especially by anthropogenic factors. Current traditional propagation and conservation methods are rarely sufficient to protect them, thus exploitation of the biotechnological approaches is required, as well. Lophanthus turcicus Dirmenci, Yildiz and Hedge, is a single-point endemic species of Turkey, found in a very narrow area of Van region. Present study explored the efficiency of in vitro germination for this valuable delicate species, and highlighted the promising effects of the artificial medium composed of agarised bleeding water (BW) of grapevine in vivo conditions. In addition to BW medium, also Murashige and Skoog (MS), Gamborg B5, Shenk and Hildebrandt (SH) and White (WH) media were tested for their efficiency. In vitro germination trials were performed both under 16 h photoperiod and in darkness. 90% of germination was achieved when decontaminated seeds were cultured on BW medium, providing a germination rate of 3.5 days and emergence rate of 8.12 days in 16 h photoperiod.