Despite the good technological understanding about in vitro micropropagation of potato, there is no information regarding plantlet behavior during acclimatization. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of MS salt and sucrose concentrations in the in vitro multiplication and acclimatization of potato plantlets in soilless system. The experiment was carried out in laboratory and greenhouse as a factorial in a complete random design, with four replications of 20 explants. The in vitro multiplication of three potato clones (Asterix, Macaca, and SMINIA793101-3) was assessed in different salt (half and complete medium) and sucrose (30, 45 and 60 g L-1) concentrations of the MS medium. Plantlets of each treatment were acclimatized in two soilless systems (floating and mineral substrate) under greenhouse conditions. During in vitro multiplication, there were differences among clones, except for root number. Increasing the salt concentration of the MS medium increased the number of leaves from 4.4 to 4.7, and reduced the number of roots from 3.7 to 3.4. Increasing the sucrose concentration of the MS medium reduced the number of leaves from 5.0 to 4.1 and the shoot length from 2.4 to 2.1 cm. Only the MS salt concentrations affected the ex vitro survival of potato plantlets; reducing salt concentration increased the survival from 94.8% to 97.5%. Acclimatization in soilless system is not a limiting step for the production of potato plantlets either in floating or mineral substrate, underirrigated with nutrient solution.
Solanum tuberosum; ex vitro survival; plantlet production; vegetative propagation
