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Title: ENHANCING DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED ROOTSTOCKS BY TISSUE CULTURE PROPAGATION AND FIELD PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED ROOTSTOCKS

Author
item Bowman, Kim
item HARTMAN, ROBERT
item LAMB, ANN
item Wutscher, Heinz

Submitted to: Proceedings of Florida State Horticultural Society
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/2/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A recently established Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the USDA and Twyford International to develop micropropagation procedures for new hybrid rootstocks promises to significantly expand the range of germplasm that can be effectively used as rootstocks for citrus, and accelerate testing and release of promising selections. Micropropagation of rootstock cultivars makes it possible to rapidly obtain thousands of uniform plants from a few buds of source material through tissue culture, regardless of whether the original source has fruit, seed, or comes true-to-type from seed. Many citrus relatives and hybrids that previously could not be used as rootstocks because they did not grow uniformly from seed can now be rapidly and uniformly propagated. Micropropagation has other potential advantages, including promoting the rapid distribution of new cultivars and encouraging the production of healthy and quality plants. Efficient micropropagation procedures have been established for several new hybrid rootstocks with outstanding field performance.