THE EFFECTS OF SUCROSE ON BULBLETS FORMATION IN IN VITRO CULTURES OF THREE LILY TYPES

To study the effect of different sucrose concentration on bulblet formation, three types of lilium plantlets, Lilium davidii var. unicolor, L. longiflorum ‘White Heaven’ and L. ‘Yelloween’ were cultured on media containing different sugar concentrations. L. davidii var. unicolor had 100% in bulblet formation at the sucrose concentration 100 g L^-1. Both ‘White Heaven’ and ‘Yelloween’ had 100% of bulblets formation on the sucrose concentration at 80 and 100 g L^-1. Diameter and weight increment of bulblets in different varieties had different results. The maximum diameter (1.243 cm) and weight gain (0.460 g) of ‘White Heaven’ bulblets could be obtained at sucrose concentration 60 g L^-1, while 80 g L^-1 was the optimal sucrose concentration of the inducing bulb formation (100%) and development for ‘Yelloween’ of which the maximum diameter reached 1.289 cm and weight gained 0.782 g. It was concluded that sucrose concentrations at 40-80 g L^-1 had a positive impact on these 3 lilies bulblets formation in vitro cultures.