In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) is an economically and culturally important species. Because of the difficulty in obtaining plantlets from seeds, micropropagation has emerged as an alternative that could increase production. This work aimed to evaluate the effect that treatment with 6-benzyladenine (BA), at concentrations of 2.2, 8.9, and 20 µM and associated with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA, 0.5 µM), has on the in vitro growth and leaf emission of I. paraguariensis nodal segments cultivated in 0.5 X Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium or 0.5 X Woody Plant Medium (WPM). The most efficient treatment was MS medium with 8.9 µM BA+NAA, in which I. paraguariensis presented greater shoot elongation and higher leaf counts than in the other treatments. Therefore, use of the MS medium with 8.9 µM BA+NAA is recommended in order to increase efficiency in the initial development of I. paraguariensis explants.
Aquifoliaceae; growth regulators; naphthaleneacetic acid; vegetative micropropagation; yerba mate
