Vol. 110 (1997): Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society
Citrus

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

Published 1997-12-01

Keywords

  • nutritional leaf sprays,
  • total soluble solids,
  • juice content,
  • solids production

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 high quality plants. Outstanding performance in two field trials is reported for several new hybrid rootstocks for which efficient micropropagation procedures are being developed.