Coconut water is one of the inexpensive organic components most utilized in culture media for in vitro cultivation of plants, but there are few informations about its effect in orchids, where this kind of propagation is used. The objective of this research was to study the effects on germination and growing of Dendrobium nobile when coconut water is added to the in vitro culture medium. We used a completely randomized design, with three replications; the treatments consisted of adding five volumes of coconut water (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mL L-1) to the culture medium. Seeds of D. nobile, obtained by manual pollination were used as study material. After sowing, the cultures stayed for six months in a growth chamber with controlled temperature and photoperiod (12 hours/1000 lux; 23ºC±2), when the seedlings were evaluated. The addition of 200 mL L-1 of coconut water to the culture medium provided the best results for length diameter and number of pseudobulbs, number of leaves, number of roots, length of roots and fresh weight of D. nobile, not influencing only the germination percentage and the number of seedlings produced.
Orchidaceae; culture medium; in vitro cultivation
