Propagación in vitro de Caesalpinia spinosa (Mol.) O. Kuntz a partir de yemas axilares de árboles plus seleccionados

Guarango or tara [Caesalpinia spinosa (Mol.) O. Kuntz] is a tree native to the Andes, with great economic importance and for reforestation programs. The aim of this work was to in vitro propagate this specie from axillary buds of selected trees. During in vitro establishment, the effect of sodium hypochlorite (3.0%) with different times of disinfection (5.0, 10, 15 min), as well as the effect of 6-BAP on the in vitro response of buds were studied. For multiplication, different combination of 6-BAP with 0.1 mg l-1 ANA were tested. A free-growth regulator culture medium was used for rooting. The best results for in vitro establishment were achieved with a disinfection treatment with sodium hypochlorite 3.0% for 10 minutes and cultivation in a culture medium with 0.25 mg l-1 6-BAP, which 90% of buds in vitro established, with a length of 6.71 cm. The highest multiplication rate of shoot (2.88 per explant) was obtained with 1.0 mg l-1 6-BAP and 0.1 mg l-1 ANA, after 60 days of culture. The 55% of these shoots developed roots in a half-strength basal salts MS culture medium free of regulators of growth. Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, forest plant, guarango, tissue cultureEl guarango o tara [Caesalpinia spinosa (Mol.) O. Kuntz] es un árbol originario de los Andes, con gran importancia económica para los programas de reforestación. El objetivo de este trabajo fue propagar in vitro esta especie a partir de yemas axilares obtenidas de árboles plus seleccionados por sus características morfo-agronómicas superiores. En el establecimiento in vitro, se estudió el efecto del hipoclorito de sodio (3.0%) con diferentes tiempos de desinfección (5, 10, 15 min), así como el efecto del 6-BAP en la respuesta in vitro de las yemas. Para la multiplicación se combinaron diferentes concentraciones de 6-BAP con 0.1 mg l-1 de ANA. Los brotes fueron enraizados en un medio de cultivo de similar composición al de la fase de multiplicación pero sin reguladores del crecimiento. El tratamiento con 3.0% de hipoclorito de sodio por 10 minutos y un medio de cultivo con 0.25 mg l-1 de 6-BAP fue el mejor para el establecimiento in vitro, con el cual se alcanzaron un 90% de brotes establecidos in vitro, con una longitud de 6.71 cm. La mayor tasa de multiplicación de brotes (2.88 por explante) se obtuvo con 1.0 mg l-1 de 6-BAP y 0.1 mg l-1 de ANA después de 60 días de cultivo. El 55% de estos brotes enraizaron en un medio de cultivo con la mitad de las sales MS, sin reguladores del crecimiento. Palabras clave: biodiversidad, conservación, cultivo de tejidos, guarango, planta foresta

Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

Cacti species are plants that are well adapted to growing in arid and semiarid regions where the main problem is water availability. Cacti have developed a series of adaptations to cope with water scarcity, such as reduced leaf surface via morphological modifications including spines, cereous cuticles, extended root systems and stem tissue modifications to increase water storage, and crassulacean acid metabolism to reduce transpiration and water loss. Furthermore, seeds of these plants very often exhibit dormancy, a phenomenon that helps to prevent germination when the availability of water is reduced. In general, cactus species exhibit a low growth rate that makes their rapid propagation difficult. Cacti are much appreciated as ornamental plants due to their great variety and diversity of forms and their beautiful short-life flowers; however, due to difficulties in propagating them rapidly to meet market demand, they are very often over-collected in their natural habitats, which leads to numerous species being threatened, endangered or becoming extinct. Therefore, plant tissue culture techniques may facilitate their propagation over a shorter time period than conventional techniques used for commercial purposes; or may help to recover populations of endangered or threatened species for their re-introduction in the wild; or may also be of value to the preservation and conservation of the genetic resources of this important family. Herein we present the state-of-the-art of tissue culture techniques used for ornamental cacti and selected suggestions for solving a number of the problems faced by members of the Cactaceae family

<i>In vitro</i> propagation of <i>Caesalpinia spinosa</i> (Mol.) O. Kuntz from axillary buds of selected trees

Guarango or tara [Caesalpinia spinosa (Mol.) O. Kuntz] is a tree native to the Andes, with great economic importance and for reforestation programs. The aim of this work was to in vitro propagate this specie from axillary buds of selected trees. During in vitro establishment, the effect of sodium hypochlorite (3.0%) with different times of disinfection (5.0, 10, 15 min), as well as the effect of 6-BAP on the in vitro response of buds were studied. For multiplication, different combination of 6-BAP with 0.1 mg l-1 ANA were tested. A free-growth regulator culture medium was used for rooting. The best results for in vitro establishment were achieved with a disinfection treatment with sodium hypochlorite 3.0% for 10 minutes and cultivation in a culture medium with 0.25 mg l-1 6-BAP, which 90% of buds in vitro established, with a length of 6.71 cm. The highest multiplication rate of shoot (2.88 per explant) was obtained with 1.0 mg l-1 6-BAP and 0.1 mg l-1 ANA, after 60 days of culture. The 55% of these shoots developed roots in a half-strength basal salts MS culture medium free of regulators of growth.   Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, forest plant, guarango, tissue cultur

In Vitro Biomass Production of Astragalus gilvus

Biomass production of medicinal plants is crucial to take advantage of their biological activities. In vitro biomass production is a beneficial, controllable and ecofriendly way of this process. In this study, an efficient protocol for biomass production of in vitro grown Astragalus gilvus Boiss shoots was specified. Shoots were exposed to different concentrations of 6-benzyladenine, indole-3-butyric acid, indole-3-acetic acid and doubled concentrations of vitamins (nicotinic acid, pyridoxine and thiamine). To identify the effects of growth regulators, growth parameters such as shoot elongation, shoot formation per explant, single and multiple shoot formation percentages were examined and biomass accumulations such as fresh (FW) and dry (DW) weights and relative dry weight percentages were also specified. Maximum biomass production rates (FW = 0.46 g/month/explant and DW = 0.031 g/month/explant) were obtained in WPM medium supplemented with doubled vitamin concentration and 1 mg/L BA amongst the media used. In this medium, a total of 168 shoots obtained and this was the 19.33% of all shoots regenerated. In respect to data obtained, a three-step process is offered for high quality biomass production

Somatic embryogenesis of the banana hybrid cultivar FHIA-18 (AAAB) in liquid medium and scaled-up in a bioreactor

The development of somatic embryos in liquid culture medium has a number of advantages for large-scale propagation of plants. This paper describes an improved system for the mass propagation via somatic embryogenesis of the banana hybrid cultivar FHIA-18 (AAAB). Explants from immature male flowers were used to form high frequency embryogenic tissue, this tissue was then used to establish embryogenic cell suspensions in a basic MS medium plus 1.0 mg 1 -1 biotin, 100 mg 1 -1 glutamine, 100 mg 1 -1 malt extract (Sigma), 1.0 mg 1 -1 2,4-D and 45 g 1 -1 sucrose. Secondary multiplication of somatic embryos was achieved in liquid media in rotary shaker and in bioreactors. The number of embryos per litre obtained with 80.0% DO 2 and effects of pH were also studied. A high regeneration percentage of plants were obtained (89.3%) in only 1 month of culture, somatic embryos were then placed to germinate in temporary immersion systems and field testing of somaclonal variation

The surface-active bio oil solution in sulfured copper mineral benefit

Surface-active bio-oil (SABO) solutions, prepared from vacuum pyrolysis bio-oil with a phenol-to-levoglucosan mass ratio of 4.8, was compared to pine-oil (PO) as foaming agent in the process of flotation of sulfured copper minerals. With the aid of 2³ factorial designs, regression models were obtained for % Cu in flotation concentrate (L Cu) and % Cu recovery (R), as functions of foaming agent-to-Cu mineral, collector-to-Cu mineral mass ratio and liquid-to-solid ratio (v/w). Experimental designs composed of a <IMG SRC="/img/revistas/bjce/v22n1/a01img01.gif">saturated design in its first half and a fold over <IMG SRC="/img/revistas/bjce/v22n1/a01img01.gif">design in its second half allowed to study the influence of flotation conditions on L Cu and R when SABO was the foaming agent. The factors selected were: particle size; pulp pH; flotation time; initial Cu content in the mineral (mineral type); liquid-to-solid ratio and finally SABO-to-mineral and collector-to-mineral mass ratio. Within the chosen experimental region only pulp pH affected significantly both responses. It is shown that high pulp pH, in the presence of minerals rich in Cu content leads to a significant increase in L Cu and R. Although SABO to mineral mass ratio is high compared to PO, it is considered that an optimization study on pulp pH should reduce this difference making SABO an attractive alternative to PO and a way to widen the field of applications of pyrolysis products