African-Violet (Saintpaulia ionantha Wendl.) is an ornamental plant widely cultivated, because of its beautiful foliage and flowers. Benzylaminopurine (BAP) can be used to violet multiplication, but there weren't information about results with several concentrations. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of different concentrations of BAP on the multiplication of violet cultures. One utilized, as explants, shoot clusters of cultivars Optimara Miki, Optimara Maki e Optimara Akemfrom, with height from 0,8 to 2,0 cm. One utilized MS medium, with half concentration of mineral nutrients and vitamins, suplementated with myo-inositol (100 mg L-1), sucrose (30 g L-1) and agar (7 g L-1). The treatments applied were: 0.0, 0.44, 1.78, 3,08 e 4,44 mM of BAP. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 5,8 before sterilization. Cultures remained at 24 ± 2 ºC, photoperiod of 14 hours and 40 mmol cm-2 s-1 of light density flux. Total shoot number and number and height of shoots with more than three millimeters were evaluated at 46 days. Addition of BAP to the culture medium was essential to multiplication of cultures. Responses of treatments varied between cultivars. Best results of total shoot number and number shoots with more than three millimeters were found with concentrations between 1.78 e 4.44 mM. The height of shoots decreased with the addition of BAP.
Saintpaulia ionantha; BAP; tissue culture
