High in vitro shoot proliferation in the apple cultivar Jonagold induced by benzyladenine analogues

Thein vitroshoot multiplication of apple cv. Jonagold was tested on media containing benzyladenine, benzyladenine riboside or meta-topolin in different concentrations (from 0.0 to 5.0 mg l-1). The optimal concentration for the best multiplication varied according to the type of cytokinin. The highest multiplication rate (on average 6.9 and 5.9 new shoots per explant) was achieved using 5.0 mg l-1meta-topolin or 2.0 mg l-1benzyladenine riboside. The longest shoots were formed on media containing benzyladenine riboside at a concentration of 0.5 mg l-1. The length of newly developed shoots was strongly suppressed by high concentrations of different cytokinins, but the suppression effect of a high concentration of meta-topolin on shoot length was less than that of benzyladenine or benzyladenine riboside. In this study meta-topolin and benzyladenine riboside proved to be effective cytokinins to induce adequate shoot proliferation, while benzyladenine was the least active cytokinin