INVITRO MICROPROPAGATION AND PLANT ESTABLISHMENT OF MUSCADINE GRAPE CULTIVARS (VITIS-ROTUNDIFOLIA)

Shoot apical meristems were used to establish regenerative axillary bud cultures of 9 muscadine grape cultivars. Meristems taken from 10 cm long shoots had less contamination (3%) and a higher survival rate (94%) than those from shorter or longer shoots. Of media tested, MS, 1/2 MS, and C2D resulted in equivalent shoot proliferation rates, whereas, WPM produced stunted shoots. When pooling results for 3 cultivars, 5, 10 and 20-mu-M BA and 5-mu-M TDZ produced the highest average number of shoots per cultured apex (3.4-3.8). However, shoots produced with TDZ were stunted and did not root well. For rooting of shoots directly in potting mix, a rooting powder pretreatment significantly increased the number of roots per shoot but did not affect percent rooting or root length. For rooting in vitro, 1-mu-M NAA significantly increased all parameters measured. Although more shoots rooted in vitro than in vivo (77% vs. 46%), the latter was judged preferable since acclimatized plants were produced in less time and a major culture step was eliminated. Significant differences among cultivars were noted for measured responses in all experiments.