Strawberries (Fragaria spp. and Hybrids)

Strawberries pioneered large-scale application of in vitro techniques in pomology. Consequently, the scientific literature reflects all the ethusiasm and disillusionment, successes and failures, advantages and disadvantages, or finally, uses and misuses, which accompany the introduction of a fundamental new method into practice. However, specific mistakes, which could just as well have been made under axenic conditions as in the reestablishment procedure, or in experimental fields or in nurseries, gave rise to doubts, and numerous growers became worried about the “general” genetic instability of in vitro plants, regardless of the special method applied.