Production of high quality, healthy ornamental crops through meristem culture

An increasing number of ornamental crops are being multiplied in vitro. In this article, the application of meristem culture to plants free from viruses is reviewed and is shown to be useful and cost-effective. First, a literature survey is given on results of meristem culture applied to ornamentals and on damage due to virus diseases. Secondly trials and results with lily, Alstroemeria and Delphinium and their viruses are discussed. Virus-free plants have a considerable surplus value compared with infected plants. Additional advantages are that a virus-free crop cannot be a source of contamination for other varieties of the same crop, and that there are no phytosanitary limitations. Virus-free does not mean resistant, however, and re-infection is possible, but can be prevented by strict measures. Meristem culture applied to in vitro cultures of lily, Alstroemeria and Delphinium always yielded a much lower amount of virus-free plantlets than the usual procedure, i.e. meristem culture applied to plants grown in the glasshouse.