Micropropagation of American Elderberry: Disinfection of Explants

The fruits and flowers of the American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) hold potential as a source of food and nutraceutical products. Consequently, commercial scale orchards are beginning to appear in North America. Research to produce new cultivars and identify promising specimens from wild populations is currently underway in response to an increasing demand for large scale production of elite plants. Using only a limited number of mother plants, an efficient micropropagation method could satisfy such a demand. A detailed procedure for micropropagation of American elderberry is presented. In this first part, various disinfection procedures were tested to control the high internal contamination level observed with elderberry explants. Whole nodal sections containing two buds proved to be the most successful material giving a fast growth and a satisfactory multiplication rate. The best results were obtained when nodal sections were disinfected in a 3% solution of sodium hypochlorite then soaked in a 0.5% silver nitrate solution followed by a final bath in a solution of citric and ascorbic acid. The need for a strong disinfection procedure resulted in a low survival rate with some cultivars. The proposed disinfection procedure was judged satisfactory for commercial purposes. Medium optimization is presented in a second paper.