In vitro rooting without exogenous auxins and acclimatization of Fritillaria species of Turkey

Turkey has great genetic diversity of bulbous plants (geophytes) with beautiful flowers, used as ornamental plants, and also containing alkaloids, with considerable potential for their use in the perfume and pharmaceutical industries. Fritillaria is one of the important geophytes of Turkey, which has the maximum number (36) of species of Fritillaria in the world. Rooting and acclimatization are important steps in the successful micropropagation of bulbous plants, and can be achieved by applying exogenous auxins as common practice under in vitro conditions. This study reports in vitro rooting and acclimatization of Fritillaria imperialis and F. persica (Siverek and Mersin) — genus Fritillaria of the Liliaceaea family — without exogenous application of auxins in the culture medium. Different concentrations of salts (KCl, NaCl and CaCl2); different gelling agents (agar, gelrite) and use of gelling agent + temperature were tested for in vitro rooting followed by acclimatization under greenhouse conditions. NaCl at 10 g/l followed by transfer to greenhouse conditions after 15 days, were found to be more suitable for acclimatization.