In vitro micropropagation of sweet cherry

Turkey is the leading cherry producer in the world, accounting for most of production with ?0900-Ziraat? cultivar in respect to production and exportation. The aim of this study was to develop a reliable and efficient micropropagation system for juvenile and mature Prunus avium L. cultivar ?0900-Ziraat?.Mature seeds and sprouting axillary buds sampled from a mature five years old P.avium L. cultivar ?0900-Ziraat?were used as starting material for in vitro culture establishment. In order to initiate axenic cultures from mature seeds, which outer pericarp was removed, the surface sterilization technique using 15% NaOCl at 20 min was completely effective on the axenic germination of cherry seeds for the use of further tissue culture studies. Mature buds were also surface sterilized by a 15% NaOCl with 25 min. Establishment of axenic cultures sterilization technique depends upon the period of explant harvesting time and the preparation methots of explants used.Axillary buds were used for the culture initiation. Dormant buds produced high level of rosette shoots, but successful culture initiation was obtained by the explants which the scale leaves were removed. The most suitable time for the initiation of axenic cultures was over the period of January-March. The cultures with a 95% success rate were initiated when modified MS medium containing 2 mgl-1 BAP + 0.5 mgl-1 IAA or 2 mgl-1 BAP was used for the establishment of cultures. Sucrose at 30 gl-1 gave superior growth compared to the other three carbon sources for the establishment of cultures from buds. In the present study, the isolated embryogenic axes of mature seeds of P. avium L. were axenically germinated on MS medium devoid of plant growth regulators.The effects of different media (MS, QL, WPM and SH), cytokinin type (BAP, TDZ, kinetin) and their concentrations and GA3 and Phloroglucinol of BAP together with a control (a fresh initiation medium) on the multiplication of regenerated shoot type explants of P. avium L. were tested for shoot proliferation.MS medium containing 2.0 mgl-1 BAP + 0.3 mgl-1 GA3 gave the best results for multiple shoot proliferation from the bud derived cultures and it was determined that the explants rate for subculturing (%96 ± 4), mean number of shoots per explant, (1.7 ± 0.4), mean length of main shoot (12.0 ± 0.5 mm) and mean length of axillary shoots (5.0 ± 0.3 mm) per explants were determined. Moreover, phloroglucinol was not found to have a beneficial effect to shoot proliferation when it was added to the media. Number of shoots derived from axenic germinated seeds was increased when the BAP concentration tested was increased, and the greatest number shoots (5.4 ± 0.7) were obtained from 4.0 mgl 1 BAP containing media.In the rooting studies, effects of auxin types (IBA, NAA) and their concentration were investigated for the shoots derived from seeds. The percentages of rooting were varied between 75% and 95% and media containing IBA produced less callus and healthy roots. No rooting responses were obtained from the regenerated mature material of P. avium L. cv ?0900-Ziraat?. The best method developed for plantlet acclimatization was a sterile 2:1 mixture of peat and perlite and auxins used in the rooting treatments have an impact upon the acclimatization of plantlets.Key Words: Sweet cherry, Prunus avium L., 0900-Ziraat, micropropagation, node culture,