Rapid Propagation of High-quality Garlic Seed-bulb Derived from Meristem-tips

• Published in: Plant Biotechnology Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 207 - 212
• Main Authors: NAGAKUBO, Takayuki, TAKAICHI, Miyuki, OEDA, Kenji, OSHIO, Hiromichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Japanese Society for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology 1999; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• ISSN: 1342-4580; 1347-6114
• DOI: 10.5511/plantbiotechnology.16.207

Conditions for rapid propagation of high-quality garlic seed-bulb derived from meristem-tips were investigated. Meristem-tips of garlic ‘Howaito-roppen’ were excised with or without a leaf primordium, and propagated to produce in vitro bulblets. Cloves were formed through one year of cultivation of the bulblets. Western blots for the obtained garlic plants indicated that meristem-tips without a leaf primordium to be a more suitable material to obtain healthy plants. Evaluation of clove formation could be performed on the column diameter at mid May. The clove formation depended on the size of the plant at the time of formation of clove initials. Plants without symptoms of virus were obtained irrespective of the size of the meristem-tips excised. However, some of the plants with no mosaic symptoms reacted with antiserum of garlic viruses, and portions of these plants increased when meristem-tips were cultured with leaf primordium. The resultant bulbs were cultivated in farmer's fields to investigate re-infected viruses. Sixty percent of the plants exhibited mosaic symptoms after 5 years of cultivation, the major viruses being LYSV and GMbMV. Re-infection was prevented by culturing bulbs in an isolated field.