Encapsulation of black mulberry microcuttings: Studies on capsules and synthetic seeds

The encapsulation technology for plant tissue culture can be an efficient tool to optimize the plant management systems and to preserve valuable plant germplasm. In this paper, two experiments were carried out to evaluate the encapsulation efficiency in mulberry (Morus nigra L.). In the first experiment, gel capsules were stored at 4°C for different times (0, 30, 90, 180 and 360 days). The highest percentage of shoot viability (82.5%) and regrowth (72.5%) was scored after 180 days of storage, with an average development of 2.5 shoots/capsule. The second experiment was aimed to point out an efficient protocol to turn the capsules of black mulberry in synthetic seeds ready to develop into whole plantlets was studied. The immersion in a rooting inductive solution (5 mg L-1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 15 g L-1 sucrose) before the storage period of 40 days induced the highest level of rooting and conversion (47%). Our results show an improvement in the field of schedule and management of micropropagation processes and for germplasm preservation strategies.