biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 49:443-445, 2005 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-005-0025-6

Effects of L-arginine and L-cysteine on growth, and chlorophyll and mineral contents of shoots of the apple rootstock EM 26 cultured in vitro

T. E. Sotiropoulos^1,*, K. N. Dimassi², I. N. Therios²

¹ N.AG.RE.F., Pomology Institute, Naoussa, Greece

² Department of Horticulture, Laboratory of Pomology, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece

1, 5, or 10 mM arginine and 25, 50, or 100 μM cysteine were added in the Murashige and Skoog medium. By increasing arginine concentration the number of shoots per explant increased. Inclusion of 50 μM cysteine in the medium resulted in maximum number of shoots but it was not significantly different in comparison to 10 mM arginine. The chlorophyll content was significantly increased in explants treated with 10 mM arginine in comparison to the control, 1 mM arginine and 25 μM cysteine. By increasing arginine and cysteine concentrations of the medium, N, K, and Ca contents of explants increased but no significant changes in P, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, and B contents were observed.

Keywords: amino acids; cell proliferation; micropropagation; nitrogen

Subjects: amino acids; apple rootstock (EM 26, MM 106); arginine; cell proliferation; chlorophylls, arginine, cysteine; cysteine; growth analysis, plant development, biomass and yield enhancement; growth, mineral elements, arginine, cysteine; in vitro culture, micropropagation; nutrient medium MS (Murashige and Skoog); rootstock, apple

Received: June 14, 2004; Accepted: August 27, 2004; Published: September 1, 2005  Show citation