315 Alstroemeria Plants Free of Alstroemeria Mosaic Potyvirus (AIMN) through in Vitro Culture Shoots and Thermotherapy
Alstroemeria (Alstroemeria spp.) is cultivated for cut flowers. Traditional propagation methods are by division of rhizomes from mature plants, so that viruses occurring in the crop can be multiplied and cause a decrease in the quality and production. The objective of this work was to obtain Alstroemeria cv. Rosario plants free of Alstromeria Mosaic Potyvirus (AlMV) by in vitro culture of shoots and thermotherapy. The best percentage of explants without contamination was obtained when adding the disinfectant PPM (1%) to the medium Murashige-Skoog (MS) while the best induction of buds was obtained when using explants of 1.5 cm. in length. In vitro multiplication of shoots was best in treatments with 2iP (isopentenyl adenine), BA (benzyladenine), and zeatin (4.4, 6.1, and 6.6 buds per explant, respectively). Rhizogenesis was observed in rhizomes growing in MS with 4.9 μM AIB (indole butyric acid) and 1.5 g·L-1 of sugar. Sixty-seven percent of plants growing in vitro did not react to AlMV antiserum and did not show particles and viral inclusions. Thermotherapy treatments of 45, 50, and 55 °C during different periods of time produced from 25% to 87.5% of plants that did not react to AlMV antiserum and did not show virus particles or cytoplasmic inclusions.