Abstract

Amongst Chilean native fruits, one of the most promising candidates for domestication is Gomortega keule, an evergreen-leaf tree endemic to a restricted coastal area of Chile. This species is in danger of extinction and it is the only representative of the Gomortegaceae family. The fruit is consumed fresh or processed. Although micropropagation of this plant is possible for some specific genotypes obtained from zygotic embryos, successful propagation from adult trees is extremely important if selected genotypes are going to be used for agricultural purposes. This work explored in vitro establishment of plant material obtained from selected natural trees, including shoots and leaves, different locations in the tree, times of the year, sterilization protocols and basal media formulations. Contamination of cultures was the first setback, which stressed the importance of sterilization procedures. Established shoots showed better control of contamination and bud activation when obtained from either vigorous basal shoots or actively growing shoots. From the 2-5 buds present in a cultured shoot, up to 30% produced a new shoot free of contamination after 7 months of culture. These shoots typically developed 2-6 leaves, and further growth was observed on OM medium. Leaf explants also showed important contamination and in rare cases they developed callus.