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The production of seed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants coming from in vitro culture will ensure the rapid spread of promising varieties. The aim of this work was to determine the response of four Cuban varieties during minitubers formation in greenhouse from plants in vitro obtained. Plants of the varieties 'Yuya', 'Marinca', 'Grettel' and 'Ibis' with height between 6.5 and 7.0cm were used. These were planted at a distance of 10x10cm on a substrate composed of organic matter (100%). At 15 days of culture the number of live plants was quantified and the percentage of survival was calculated. Subsequently, the fresh and dry mass of the foliage and root system were determined every 15 days and up to 90 days of culture and the absolute and relative growth rate were calculated. At 75 days of culture the number, diameter, fresh and dry mass of the minitubers were quantified. The results showed high plant survival (> 96.5%). The absolute and relative growth rate in the time and the formation of minitubers were dependent on the variety. The highest number of minitubers per plant was obtained in the variety 'Ibis' while the largest number with seed size (2.9-4.5 cm in diameter) was obtained in the varieties 'Yuya' and Grettel. The results of the work provided important information to establish differential agronomic management for each variety to increase the number of seed size minitubers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic embryogenesis is a useful process for clonal propagation and genetic improvement by induction of mutations. This work was carried out with the objective of determining the effect of 60Co source Gamma radiations on embryogenic cell suspensions of banana cv. 'Grande naine' (Musa AAA) until conversion to plants. Different doses of radiation (0, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 Gy) were applied to embryogenic cell suspensions in the multiplication phase and the embryos were later formed, matured and germinated. To determine the ex vitro response of the population of plants obtained these were transferred to greenhouse. The results showed that with somatic embryos formed fresh mass no differences were observed between the effect of the different doses of radiation applied and the control. However, the radiation dose affected the percentage of somatic embryo formation and germination. Plants with phenotypic variations were regenerated with 40 Gy. The results at the greenhouse showed that as radiation doses increasedup to 50 Gy, the frequency of variations increased. With higher doses of radiation the survival of the plants was affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing inoculation time during Agrobacterium-mediated transformation has been shown to favour transformation efficiency in several plant species. The effect of inoculation time in combination with spermidine (Spd) on efficiency was determined during Agrobaterium-mediated transformation of the Musa cultivar 'Grande naine' (AAA). Banana embryogenic cell suspensions (ECSs) were incubated with the bacterial strain EHA 105 carrying the binary vector pFAJ3000. Six different inoculation conditions (6 h, 6 h+Spd, 12 h, 12 h+Spd, 24 h, 24 h+Spd) were compared based on transient GUS expression and number of embryo colonies formed. Moreover, leaf fragments from 24 randomly chosen regenerated plantlets were assayed presence and expression of the transgenes. Consequently, samples that were inoculated for 24 h in medium supplemented with 1 mM spermidine showed the highest transformation efficiency, expressed as number of blue foci and regenerated colonies after the selection treatment. Here we showed for the first time that longer inoculation times in combination with spermidine enhance the efficiency of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the banana cultivar 'Grande naine'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obtaining of original seed of national potato varieties (Solanum tuberosum L.) is of great importance. The objective of the present work was to obtain minitubers from four national potato varieties in a greenhouse with zeolite as substrate. The plants in vitro propagated of the varieties 'Grettel', 'Yuya', 'Ibis' and 'Marinca' were planted and received cultural and phytosanitary attention according to the protocol existing at IBP. Harvest was performed at 75 days of culture and the total number of minitubers and the number of minitubers with a diameter greater than 15 mm were quantified for each plant. Plants and tubers showed the typical characteristics of each variety under zeolite substrate culture conditions. The highest number of minitubers per plant was achieved in the 'Yuya' and 'Ibis' varieties with 3.84 and 3.52 respectively. For the number of minitubers available as original seed (> 15 mm), the 'Yuya' variety was superior with 82.3%. The culture conditions with zeolite substrate allow to obtain minitubers of potatoes of the four varieties from plants in vitro cultured. 'Yuya' and 'Ibis' showed the best results and potentially could be incorporated into the national seed production program in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of organic and inorganic substrate has not been completely developed in Cuba for biotechnological potato seed production using in vitro plant. In orderto define a suitable substrate for the production of potato minitubers in greenhouse this research was conducted, for which five formulations with casting and zeolite were used. The response of growth and development of potato plants cv. 'Desiree' obtained through in vitro culture was determined. The treatments consist of the following formulations: 1) 100% Casting, 2) 85% Casting + 15% Zeolite, 3) 70% Casting + 30% Zeolite, 4) 55% Casting + 45% Zeolite, 5) 100% Zeolite. Physiological indexes: Net Assimilation Rate (NAR), Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Absolute Growth Rate (AGR) were determined in three stages of the crop: 0, 15, 30 and 45 days after plantation. The number of mini-tubers and the average weight of tubers were determined at 90 days. The response to the growth and performance of minitubers weight per plant and the quality of tubers over 45 g was higher in the 100% Casting substrate and substrate combination 85% Casting + 15% Zeolite. The best results in the number of tubers per plant were achieved with formulations of 100% zeolite substrates, 55% Casting and 45% Zeolite, without significant deference to the formulation of 70% Casting and 30% Zeolite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a number of reports and references on quality, which broadly covered the concepts, bases, importance, techniques and methods, but only theoretically. This issue enables the existence of quality systems limited to certain conditions. Together with this situation appears the fact that not even specialized literature in quality shows how to design quality systems from integral and scientifically formulated tools. Biofactories are acquainted with this problem. Therefore, there are no reports showing bibliographic quality control systems for these entities, adjusted to the characteristics of biological processes and the requirements of their technologies. This paper shows a methodological tool, scientifically tested for the design of a quality system in biofactories to facilitate its implementation according to current trends in quality and the technological specificities and biological processes that sustain them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although protocols to propagate large numbers of woody species by in vitro culture have been developed, microbial contamination of explants is a fundamental problem which limits its application. The objectives of this study were: to identify the donor plant mycobiota and to identify filamentous fungi contaminants at the establishment phase of mahogany, teak, majagua, pine and cedar. Explants of donor plants were placed in moist chamber and were prepared to direct optical microscope of fungal growth. Cultural characteristics and morphological were taken into account to identify filamentous fungi contaminants in the establishment phase. Frequency of all genera identified was determined. Eleven genera of filamentous fungi in donor plants and twenty genera in the establishment of forest species were identified. The genera Botryodiplodia, Cephalosporium, Diplodia, Dreschlera, Geotrichum, Gloeosporium Helminthosporium, Memnoniella, Oidiodendron and appeared only during establishment phase. Others such as Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cercospora, Curvularia, Cladosporium, Colletotricum, Fusarium, Nigrospora, Penicillium and Pestalotia were detected in donor plants and during establishment phase. This indicates that the possible source of contamination was the initial explant. The most frequent genera were Botryodiplodia in teak, Nigrospora in majagua and Alternaria in pine, cedar and mahogany. A phytosanitary plan of defence for donor plants was developed. The plan included systemic and contact fungicides whose spectrum of activity covered the identified genera of fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of productive goals in plant mass propagation with the efficiency and efficacy demanded from market competence of in vitro plants nowadays has an unstopped increase of workers productivity, mainly the laminar flow hood operators which are the fundamental force for the in vitro production and its fundamental indicators. The organization in the productive processes requires the use of work norms for each task establishing the workers performance during the working time. The calculation of these norms is supported, as common practice, in the implementation of methods and time analysis techniques. The current work is aimed to show the methodological procedures that have been designed to calculate the work norms in the manipulation of the plant material in the culture rooms in the Cuban biofactories, some examples of its application and general recommendations for its application in the current conditions of the in vitro culture commercial laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]