The article showcased experimental data on key stages of the propagation technology of four varieties of an organic strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) planting material in apical meristem culture, using molecular methods of virus identification and chimeras‘ absence, for the creation of central and reproductive mother plantations and accelerated introduction of the world collection‘s best varieties into production. The screening of newly introduced strawberry cultivars for five viruses by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), comprised the strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV), the strawberry crinkle virus (SCV), the strawberry mottle virus (SMV), the strawberry pallidosis-associated virus (SPaV), and the beet pseudo yellows virus (BPYV). The strawberry cultivars were free from any virus infection. At the introduction stage into tissue culture, sterilizing strawberry plants with active chlorine preparations ensued in sodium hypochlorite with different concentrations and exposures. Also, initiating environmentally safe growth regulators, amino acid proline, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and vitamin C-ascorbic acid at a concentration of 10 mg/L into the nutrient medium helped activate regeneration after the introduction of apexes into tissue culture. Plants introduced into in vitro culture attained propagation at a required amount on MS medium containing 1% Eleutherococcus extract instead of cytokinin-6-BAP at the proliferation stage and 1% alcohol extract from the bark of Salix weeping willow instead of auxin-IMC at the rhizogenesis stage. The time of introduction into tissue culture and regeneration helped determine the ascorbic acid effect on the reduction of phenolic oxidation of apexes. The medium induced with amino acid proline and ATP increased regeneration by 10%–15%. The inclusion of Eleutherococca increased the multiplication ratio to 1:3 per one passage with the Salix extract, which increased rhizogenesis by 75%–80%. All the obtained primary strawberry plants incurred testing for chimeras‘ absence using molecular markers.
Organic strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), clonal micropropagation, in vitro, ex vitro adaptation, polymerase chain reaction, strawberry viruses, chimera
The task sought to study environmentally safe growth regulators of plant nature in the biotechnological recovery process and clonal micropropagation of garden strawberries with the release of organic seedlings tested for the absence of viruses and chimeras. Planting a central nursery with eco-strawberry seedlings targets the production of organic plants, with the subsequent establishment of industrial plantations and organic berries manufacture.