In order to increase the availability of healthy strawberry seedlings, this study aimed to analyze the number of subcultures that enables multiplication on a large scale, without the occurrence of changes in phenotypic characteristics of clones through the process of in vitro micropropagation. In a first step, explants of the cultivars 'Aromas', 'Camarosa' and 'Camino Real', at the Laboratory of Plant Tissue Culture, were submitted to twelve subculture cycles, and in the following year, explants of the same cultivars, from the same mother plants, were subcultured for three cycles. The acclimatization and evaluation of the plants in the field were conducted in a greenhouse at the Horticulture Sector of the Instituto of Agronomia of the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. The experimental design was randomized blocks in a 3x2 factorial, (genotypes and subculture levels). The characteristics evaluated were plant height and root length (cm), fresh mass and dry mass of shoots and roots (g) and number of stolons per plant. In the field evaluation, no differences between the two levels of subcultures were observed. Cultivars 'Camarosa' and 'Camino Real' showed the highest variation between the two levels of subcultures, with the greatest variations observed in plants subjected to three subcultures. With twelve in vitro subcultures of strawberry plants, of cultivars 'Aromas', 'Camarosa' and 'Camino Real', it is possible to obtain greater number of plantlets without changes in phenotypic characteristics. The cultivar 'Aromas' showed greater stability in phenotypic characteristics studied in relation to different cycles of in vitro subculture.
Fragaria ananassa (Duch.); tissue culture; quantitative characters
