Micropropagation of the apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) cv. Hacihaliloglu by means of single node culture

Hacihaliloglu is one of the most widely cultivated apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) cultivars in Turkey. It produces fruit of excellent quality and is consumed both fresh and dried. In this study several factors affecting in vitro culture, rapid proliferation, rooting, and acclimatization of the apricot cultivar Hacihaliloglu were examined. During this study significant differences in harvesting dates were observed, with the month of May being noted as the best time to examine the in vitro culture of Hacihaliloglu. The effects of the cytokinin 6-benzylaminopurine (BA), kinetin (Kin), and thidiazuron (TDZ) were evaluated individually, and different concentrations of BA were also tested. BA levels were tested for their effects on shoot proliferation and 1.0 mg L-1 of BA was the most suitable dose for promoting shoot multiplication cultures. The greatest number of shoots (3.42 +/- 0.19) was obtained using 2.0 mg L-1 of BA; this was significantly greater than that of the control, but there was no significant difference in the mean obtained with 1 mg L-1 of BA. The effect of a carbon source on shoot proliferation was studied by using glucose, sucrose, fructose, and lactose at the 3.0% concentration. Sucrose resulted in better shoot proliferation than the other sugar varieties tested. The best rooting percentage was obtained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2.0 mg L-1 of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The regenerated plants were successfully transferred to soil. Herein a simple and effective method is reported for the micropropagation of the apricot cv. Hacihaliloglu from adult plants.