IN VITRO MUTAGENESIS OF GLOBE ARTICHOKE (CV. ROMANESCO)

In vitro micropropagation and mutagenesis were applied to Italian “Romanesco” cv. C3 in order to induce variability for interesting traits such as reduction of plant height, earliness, contemporaneity of flowering time, size and bud colour. To this purpose, in vitro grown shoots were treated with different doses of gamma rays (0, 20, 40, 60 Gy) to determine the LD50. Afterwards, a dose of 40 Gy was utilised to mutagenize micropropagated shoots that were further multiplicated for two cycles of in vitro propagation and then rooted and acclimated. Micropropagated plantlets were transplanted in the field during September and subsequently analysed for induced mutations in spring-summer period. Mutants for earliness, bud colour and size, plant height were isolated, although further analyses will be needed to confirm their stability.