Mineral nutrition and in vitro growth of Gerbera hybrida (Asteraceae)

• Published in: In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Plant 2014-08, Vol.50 (4), p.458-470
• Main Authors: Niedz, Randall P., Hyndman, Scott E., Evens, Terrence J., Weathersbee, Albert A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Design; Developmental Biology; Dietary minerals; Experiment design; Experiments; Life Sciences; Micronutrients; Micropropagation; Minerals; Modeling; Nutrients; Nutrition; P values; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant growth; Plant Sciences; Plants; Salts
• ISSN: 1054-5476; 1475-2689
• DOI: 10.1007/s11627-014-9620-6

The effects of mineral nutrient were examined on in vitro growth of Gerbera hybrida (G. jamesonii × G. viridifolia), specifically Gerbera hybrida cv. Pasadena. Four types of experiments were conducted to quantify the effects of mineral nutrients on four in vitro growth responses (quality, shoot number, leaf number, and shoot height) of gerbera and included groups of mineral nutrients (macros/mesos, micros, and Fe), individual salts (CuSO₄·5H₂O, MnSO₄·4H₂O, ZnSO₄·7H₂O, and Fe/EDTA), and the specific ions NO₃⁻, NH₄⁺, and K⁺. Experiments included mixture-amount designs that are essential for separating the effects of proportion and concentration. Highly significant effects were observed in all experiments, but the mineral nutrients with the largest effects varied among the four growth responses. For example, leaf number was strongly affected by the macronutrient group in one experiment and by NH₄⁺ and K⁺, which were in the macronutrient group, in the NO₃⁻/NH₄⁺/K⁺ ion-specific experiment, whereas quality was strongly affected by the micronutrients ZnSO₄ and Fe/EDTA. Because mineral nutrient effects varied significantly with the response measured, defining an appropriate formulation requires a clear definition of "optimal" growth.