IN VITRO MICROPROPAGATION OF CRATAEGUS ARONIA L. AND FACTORS AFFECTING THE ROOTING OF MICROSHOOTS

Abstract

Crateagus aronia L. (Hawthorn) is known an important medicinal plant in the world, though not commercially cultivated. Hawthorns is consumed as a fresh fruit or extracted as medicinal purpose worldwide, therefore there is an excessive global demand for the hawthorns fruits. The research on Hawthorns culture is quite limited, therefore certified varieties are not available in the market Hawthorns genotypes with a high quality characteristics are available in Turkey, they can be recorded and cultivated to meet the hawthorn fruit demand. This study was aimed to develop an applicable specific micropropagation protocol for commercial cultivation of crateagus. The results revealed that the highest number of shoots (14.71 units) and shoot length (2.21 cm) per explant were obtained in a media containing 1 mg / IBA + 0.01 mg L-1 IBA and 0.01 IBA and 0.5 mg L-1 (1)BA, respectively. The best results in rooting of micro shoots (93.33%) were obtained in NRM medium containing 7.5 mu M IAA, while obtained in NRM medium occurred in medium containing NAA and 2,4- D. Salicylic acid and Phloroglucinol treatments had no effect on the rooting of crateagus microshoots. The results concluded that micropropagation, one of the clonal propagation methods, can successfully be used in the production of crateagus seedlings and microshoots of crateagus can be rooted at a promising level.