Influence of Vitrofural® on sugarcane micropropagation using temporary immersion system

Sugarcane cultivation is of great economic and social importance worldwide. In vitro cloning using temporary immersion systems is an option to produce vitroplants of high genetic and phytosanitary quality to establish stock seedbeds. However, the sterilization of culture media through autoclaving increases production costs and limits the efficiency of temporary immersion systems. For that reason, the objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological and physiological changes caused by Vitrofural® in sugarcane plants under temporary immersion. We compared two types of culture media sterilization: chemical sterilization using Vitrofural® and autoclaving using Temporary Immersion Bioreactors. After four weeks of cultivation, we evaluated morphological (number of shoots, shoot length, and number of leaves per shoot) and physiological indicators (soluble and bound phenolics, and phenolics excreted to the culture medium). As well as chlorophyll-a, -b and total chlorophyll content. The results show that when Vitrofural® was added to culture medium, a higher number of shoots per explant, length of the shoots and number of leaves were observed in comparison with the shoots obtained in autoclaved sterilized medium. Furthermore, a reduced the amount of phenolics compounds were found in Vitrofural® treatent .In addition, the use of the Vitrofural® increased the synthesis of photosynthetic pigments respect to autoclaving. In conclusion, Vitrofural® has a positive effect in morphological and physiological of sugarcane cultured in vitro and is a low-cost alternative for the commercial micropropagation of sugarcane. KEY MESSAGE: Vitrofural® produced a positive effect on the growth, content of photosynthetic pigments and compounds phenols during in vitro culture of sugar cane.