Abstract:
Fig trees are threatened by the attack of Fig Mosa
ic Disease (FMD) on leaves and fruits
caused by viruses of several genera. Shoot-tip cult
ure is a convenient method for viral
sanitation. For this purpose, a reliable protocol f
or rapid
in vitro
propagation was
developed with shoot-tips of three major Tunisian l
ocal fig (
Ficus carica
L.) varieties Zidi
(ZDI), Soltani (SNI), Bither Abiadh (BA) and one ra
re and recalcitrant caprifig Assafri
(ASF). For each
in vitro
step, four Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with dif
ferent
combinations of plant regulators were used. The bes
t initiation of shoot-tips with sizes 0.5,
1 and 1.5 mm was obtained on medium M
3
containing 0.2 mg L
-1
Benzyle Amino Purine
(BAP), 0.1 mg L
-1
1-NaphthaleneAcetic Acid (NAA) and 0.1 mg L
-1
Gibberellic acid
(GA
3
). The variety (SNI) showed the highest shoot-tip i
nitiation potentialities for the
establishment step with 100%
of explant development rate. The shoot multiplicat
ion and
plantlet development were provided by medium M
6
with 0.5 mg L
-1
BAP and 0.1 mg L
-1
NAA. The highest average of leaf number increase (9
2 leaves per plant) and proliferation
rate (16.91 branches per plant) were reached on M
6
. The best rooting rate (83.34%
) was
favored by medium M
11
with half-strength MS and 1 mg L
-1
Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA).
Ex vitro
rooting of fig plantlets was successfully performe
d on moist peat with success rate
of 90%
. The acclimatized fig vitroplants showed high esta
blishment rates (92.1%
) and
rapid growth on substrates S
1
composed by peat without symptoms of virus disease
s or
morphological abnormalities.
Keywords:
Acclimatization, Culture media, Explant size, Micro
propagation.
