<em>In vitro</em> propagation and aclimatization of <em>Cattleya </em>Lindl. (Orchidaceae) using banana pulp and coconut water

Abstract

Coconut water and banana pulp are the most used additives in culture medium for the propagation of several species of orchids. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of coconut water and banana pulp on the in vitro growth of Cattleya labiata x Cattleya forbesii. The evaluated treat­ments were as follows : T1 : control, T2 : 50gL^-1 of banana pulp, T3 : 100 gL^-1 of banana pulp, T4 : 50 mLL^-1 of coconut water ; T5: 50 gL^-1 of banana pulp + 100 mLL^-1 of coconut water, T6 : 100 gL^-1 of banana pulp + 100 mLL^-1 of coconut water. The culture medium used was the Murashige and Skoog modified with half of the macronutrients concentration. The following variables were evaluated after 6 months from the beginning of the experiment: total fresh weight, aerial part height, greatest root length, number of roots, and sprout number. The data were submitted to analysis of variance, and complemented by the comparison of means following Tukey’s test procedures. The best results for the in vitro growth and acclimatization of C. labiata x C. forbesii were T3, T5 and T6.

Additional keywords: tissue culture; nutrient media; orchids.