Vitroplant

Micropropagation

Vitroplant Italia Srl, Società del “Sistema Agroalimentare Orogel” (Company of the Orogel Agri-Food System), operates in an international context both complex and in rapid evolution.

This is why it is important to provide a clear expression of the basis on which the company operates. Vitroplant Italia has always focused on the value of sustainability, with full recognition of such values as democracy, equality, equity, solidarity, honesty, transparency, social responsibility, care for others and reciprocal aid.
These values, together with constant attention to the product in terms of innovation, safety and quality, have been behind the success of the Company and its market image.

In-vitro placement

“In-vitro” placement involves the sampling of shoots from a mother plant on the basis of a guaranteed health profile and genetic identity.

The shoots are carefully cleaned, then sterilised with sodium hypochlorite or other chemical sterilising agents.
After adaptation to the “in-vitro” conditions there follows the industrial multiplication of the plant material following the company’s listed Procedures and Protocols

* The in-vitro multiplication plan involves all the procedures the plant undergoes, from the initial placement in-vitro, through all the processes up to rooting and greenhouse acclimatisation.

Advantages

“Micropropagation” has a great many advantages:

  • Conservation of the “mother” plants in isolated greenhouses, with highly facilitated monitoring for health and genetic certification;
  • The opportunity to propagate the plant material regardless of the seasonal variations, but on the basis of the market needs;
  • The opportunity to multiply particular species or genotypes that are difficult to propagate with traditional techniques (for example, species with a low rhizogenic potential);
  • The capacity for providing high production levels in limited spaces and short periods;
  • Guaranteed genetic uniformity of the new plants in relation to the mother plant;
  • The reproduction of virus-free plants;
  • Conservation of the germplasm of a species, being those genotypes that, for various reasons, are no longer used, but are depositaries of very important genetic characteristics, that, instead of being gathered from open-field collections, may now be stored in-vitro;
  • A guaranteed reduction in genetic variations.

A little history

The first attempts to cultivate plant cells “in vitro” and to respond to the concepts of cellular totipotency, date back to 1902.

IThe German G. Habertland came up with the first hypothesis of the existence of growth hormones which he named enzymes. Later on, P.R. White in 1939 and F. Skoog in 1944 set out the first bases for the in-vitro multiplication of tissues, while T. Murashige formulated the first protocols for the multiplication of tobacco. Within the context of the application of “in-vitro” culture, the MICROPROPAGATION of plants of selected genotypes in sterile conditions has assumed massive importance.

The purpose of in-vitro micropropagation (or cloning) is to obtain rapid propagation, starting with a portion of the “mother” plant.

The advantages are notable in terms of the health, quality and uniformity of the material. Important aspects of the practical purposes and application of this technique, in fruit and vegetable culture, are set out in some publications by the authors, in chronological order: T. Murashige and F. Skoog.