DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTRODUCTION PROTOCOL FOR STRAWBERRY PLANTS INTO <i>IN VITRO</i> CULTURE
The research was conducted in order to develop an effective protocol for introducing strawberry plants into in vitro culture. The objects of the research were the most popular varieties of strawberries of domestic and foreign selection: Tsaritsa, Bereginya, Florence, Frida, Kimberly, etc. Mercurial preparations mertiolate at a concentration of 0.01% and sulema at a concentration of 0.1% were used as sterilizing agents. The isolation of explants was performed in several periods: the beginning of the growth was in February, active growth was in June, the decline of growth was in August. The studies have shown that the maximum aseptic cultures were obtained when processing strawberry plant material with mercury-containing sulema preparation in the concentration of 0.1%. At the first stage of micro-propagation, explants had a high viability during all periods of the isolation, the average survival rate for varieties was 74.8-80.7%. A significant influence of the genotype (varietal characteristics) on the survival rates of explants was noted. The number of explants suitable for cloning did not depend on the overall level of regeneration. Stabilization of the crop during winter introduction was much faster than in other periods. Using the winter term of the isolation of strawberry explants allowed to increase the yield of explants capable of further cloning, accelerate the stabilization of the culture in vitro and reduce the time for obtaining micro-plants suitable for planting in non-sterile conditions. On average, 75.2% of explants capable of further cloning for the varieties were obtained. As a result of the research, the conditions and methods for obtaining the largest number of viable sterile strawberry explants were worked out, which will be included into the process of reproduction in vitro and further research.