DIRECT SHOOT ORGANOGENESIS AND PLANT-REGENERATION FROM LEAVES OF GRAPE (VITIS SPP)

Adventitious shoots developed from in vitro-grown leaves of Vitis vinifera cultivars Cabernet Sauvignon, French Colombard, Grenache, Thompson Seedless (syn. Sultana) and White Riesling, V. rupestris cv. St. George (syn. du Lot) and V. vinifera × rupestris cv. Ganzin 1. Leaf explants less than 15 mm long were excised from nodal cultures and cultured on Murashige and Skoog or Nitsch and Nitsch-based regeneration media with 0, 1, 2 or 4 mgl-1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). Adventitious shoots developed within 4 weeks at the petiolar stub and occasionally from wounded lamina tissues. Shoot organogenesis occurred only on media containing BAP and at a higher frequency with 2 mgl-1 than with 1 or 4 mgl-1. On media containing 2 mgl-1 BAP, 47, 67, 60, and 42%, respectively, of leaf explants of 'Cabernet Sauvignon', 'French Colombard', 'Thompson Seedless', and 'White Riesling' produced adventitious shoots compared to 14, 14, and 29%, respectively, for 'Grenache', 'St. George', and 'Ganzin 1'. Solid culture medium was superior to liquid medium and transfer frequency on solid medium did not affect the regeneration frequency. Further shoot growth was promoted by the transfer of regenerating tissues to fresh regeneration medium. More than 80% of explants initially producing adventitious buds exhibited further shoot growth, developing an average of more than 6 shoots each. Shoots rooted easily and the resulting plants appeared morphologically identical to parent vines. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.