Author(s)

Kim Z. Gamburg, Viktor K. Voinikov

Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia.

Adventive regenerants of Populus × berolinensis Dipp. were obtained on 1/2 MS salts with sucrose, vitamins, BA, TDZ and NAA using stem, petiole and leaf explants. They differed from each other in plantlet dimensions. More than 50 clones were produced from initial regenerants by excision and rooting of apexes and lateral shoots. Differences in stem length and thickness were observed between 200 field plants produced from in vitro plantlets. Differences in stem length were conditioned mainly due to different number of internodes and not by internodes’ lengths. Plants grown from cuttings excised from highest and smallest plants retained the abilities of mother plants to grow with different rates. It is concluded that somaclonal variability can be used for selection of fast growing poplar plants which are necessary for industrial plantations. These plants can be used for this purpose without the limitations existing for transgenic plants.

Somaclonal Variations; Adventive Regenerants; Poplar; Populus x Berolinensis Dipp. Propagation in Vitro; Fast Growing Plants

Gamburg, K. and Voinikov, V. (2013) Somaclonal variations as a mean for obtaining regenerants with different growth rates in poplar (Populus × berolinensis Dipp.). Natural Science, 5, 599-607. doi: 10.4236/ns.2013.55075.