In vitro establishment of olive tree cultivar 'Arbequina' for micropropagation starting

The use of tissues culture techniques aiming to improve the profitability of the cultures has been presented as an important tool that may be explored by researchers to produce plants with high sanitary quality. This research aimed to determine both the suitable culture medium and zeatin concentration for in vitro establishment of olive tree cultivar 'Arbeqyuina'. The 1cm nodal segments were obtained from plants grown in the greenhouse. In the laboratory, the material was disinfected with 70% alcohol (1 minute) and in a 2.5% hypochlorite solution for 15 minutes. Then they were inoculated onto MO, MS or WPM medium enriched of different zeatin concentrations (0, 2 and 4 mg L-1). The material was kept in growth room at 25 +/- 2 degrees C under dark conditions for a week. After darkness, they were transfered to light, 16-hour photoperiod and photon flux density of 27 mu mol m(-2) s(-1). On the 7(th), 14(th) and 21(st) day, the fungal and bacterial contamination and explants oxidation percentage were evaluated. On the 45(th) day of cultivation the material was assessed regarding to the survival rate, establishment of explants, shoots number and length, and leaves number. The present research concluded that the WPM medium showed the better performances, followed by MO medium.