MULTIPLICATION AND GROWTH OF HYBRID POPLAR (POPULUS ALBA X P. TREMULA) SHOTS ON A HORMONE-FREE MEDIUM

The present study explored an alternative approach for poplar micropropagation, based on the restriction of gas exchange between inside and outside environments of culture vessel, rather than on the application of exogenous hormones. Apical and nodal stem segments (explants) excised from in vitro-developed shoots of hybrid white poplar (Populus alba L. x P. tremula L.) were incubated in either sealed (with Parafilm) or unsealed capped glass culture tubes (150 x 20 mm) on a hormone-free Woody Plant Medium. Shoot proliferation on apical explants was observed in sealed culture tubes but not in the unsealed ones; the difference between these two samples in respect of shoot number increased in the course of time and became threefold after three months of culture, with 3.2 +/- 0.4 (mean +/- SE) shoots per explant in the sealed tubes versus 1.1 +/- 0.1 in the unsealed ones (for comparison, the mean shoot numbers on nodal explants were 2.4 +/- 0.3 and 3.4 +/- 0.4 in the unsealed and sealed culture tubes, respectively). Moreover, the shoots taken from the sealed culture tubes could be distinguished by superior shoot length, if compared to the shoots from the unsealed tubes, during the subsequent culture stage under uniform conditions.