Orchid seedlings grown in vitro respond differently to the different culture media used for this technique. This study compares the traditional Knudson (KC) medium used in orchid in vitro cultivation with a new medium formulation based on the KC medium with modifications, which was named Novais medium (NM), and two other media prepared with NPK fertilizer in the formulations 10-30-20 + micronutrients and 30-10-10 + micronutrients. The media were tested for the in vitro growth of six-month-old orchid seedlings derived from the cross Cattleya walkeriana x Cattleya loddigesii 'Etibaia' and germinated in Knudson C medium. The KC medium was tested in the concentration of 2.0 g L-1, and the other three media were tested in the concentrations of 0.25; 0.50; 1.00; 1.75; and 2.25 g L-1. All the media were added with 20 g L1 of sucrose, solidified with 10 g L-1 agar and pH adjusted to 5.7. NM and Peters® media were added with 2 g L-1 of activated charcoal and 200 ml L-1 of coconut water. The seedlings were cultured in 320 mL glass jars containing 35 mL of medium. The experiment was maintained in a growth room at 27±2 ºC, 16/8 h photoperiod with 48 ì mol m-2 s-1 irradiance. The best responses for production of fresh matter were obtained using NPK fertilizers, in comparison with KC and NM medium. The fresh matter production increased linearly with increasing nutrients doses in both MN and KC media. The orchid seedlings grown in Knudson medium had the lowest means for the variables evaluated.
nutrition; micropropagation; Orchidaceae
