Abstract

SALAZAR-MERCADO, Seir Antonio. Asymbiotic seed germination and in vitro seedling development of Cattleya mendelii Dombrain (Orchidaceae). Acta Agron. [online]. 2012, vol.61, n.1, pp.69-78. ISSN 0120-2812.

Cattleya mendelii is an endemic orchid species from Colombia, which has a great ornamental value which is in danger of extinction due to massive collection and their natural habitat's destruction by human activities. In vitro culture is an alternative to preserve this species and/or carry out its marketing. In this study the asymbiotic germination and seedling development of seeds of C. mendelii, in several in vitro culture media were evaluated. Mature capsules were collected. Seed viability with tetrazolium test was done; seeds were disinfected at the same time and planted by the syringe method to evaluate the effect of five growth culture media on the development of C. mendelii after 16 weeks of cultivation. It was found that seed viability was 93%, the highest percentage of germination was found in the culture medium Murashige-Skoog plus coconut water (MS+AC) with significant differences compared to other culture media (P < 0.05, Tukey). This study showed that MS medium supplemented with coconut water and pineapple juice, were more efficient in asymbiotic germination and seedling development of C. mendelii orchids compared with other culture media. It could be an option to reduce the costs generated by using phytohormones.

Keywords : Cattleya mendelii; culture medium; embryonic development; germination; in vitro culture; tetrazolium.

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