Micropropagation of juvenile sycamore maple via adventitious shoot formation by use of thidiazuron

Zygotic embryos of sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) were dissected into plumule, hypocotyl and radicle sections. The segments were placed on MS medium containing 1 μM 6-benzyladenine (BA) and/or 0.02 μM to 0.1 μM thidiazuron (TDZ). Hypocotyl and plumule explants produced callus, adventitious buds and shoots with increasing plant growth regulator concentrations. Hypocotyls produced more, but smaller shoots compared to plumule segments. Subculturing excised shoots and calluses on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with 1 μM BA and/or 0.04 μM TDZ led to continuous production of shoots. The best proliferation capacity occurred with 0.04 μM TDZ and 1.0 μM BA, both shoots and calluses. This combination showed a stimulatory effect also on length of newly formed shoots. Calluses performed generally better compared to shoot explants independent of growth regulator treatment. Excised shoots 2 to 3-cm-long were successfully rooted on MS media either with or without growth regulators (123 μM IBA pulse) followed by transfer to the greenhouse. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.