A research on meristem culture with using buds in dormant period for grape

Türkiye is one of the countries with the most favorable climatic conditions in the world for viticulture. While grape (Vitis vinifera L.) is the most grown fruit in our country, it ranks third in the world. Our country ranks first in the world in raisin production, fifth in terms of total grape production area and sixth in terms of production amount. Türkiye, which is an important country in grape cultivation, regresses to the lower ranks due to the low yield per unit area. Climatic conditions and diseases (plant pathogenic viruses, fungi and other bacteria) in the production areas are important threats in low yields. Another problem in low yield is time-consuming sapling production with traditional propagation methods. For this reason, meristem culture and micropropagation have been widely used in recent years for both disease-free and rapid sapling production. However, the high amount of pathogen inoculum in the shoots taken during the active period in meristem culture and insufficient sterilization conditions make it difficult to obtain disease-free saplings. In addition, obtaining the explant sources from the organs of the plant in the active period causes the prolongation of micropropagation. For this purpose, the reproduction possibilities of three different grape varieties (Trakya İlkeren, Alphonse Lavallée and Sultani Çekirdeksiz) which are widely grown in our country were investigated by meristem culture in shoots taken during the dormant period. Meristem viability, meristem development levels and plant transformation rates were investigated in buds taken from cultivars. The variety with the highest meristem vitality is Alphonse Lavallée; It was seen that the cultivar with the least vitality was Sultani Çekirdeksiz. It was determined that the cultivars were ranked as Trakya İlkeren, Alphonse Lavallée, Sultani Çekirdeksiz in terms of conversion rate to plant. According to the results of this study, while the buds taken in the dormant period for the production of disease-free vine saplings provide significant advantages for production, the suitability of other varieties for reproduction with meristem culture in the dormant period should be investigated and brought into production.