Propagation of Passiflora setacea DC. is extremely difficult, therefore tissue culture techniques become a viable alternative. The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro germination and determine the best culture medium for micropropagation. This work was carried out in two stages; in the first, seeds were placed in % MS culture medium and 30 g L-1 of sucrose, distributed in tubes and supplemented with different AG3 concentrations. The pH of culture medium was adjusted for 5.8 before adding 6.0 mg L-1 of agar. After seed inoculation, the cultures were kept in a growth room under 35 µmol.m-2.s-1, 26±1ºC and photoperiod of 16 hours. Just after germination, the seedlings were transferred to tubes containing % MS, constituting a second experiment, in order to test culture media with different sucrose concentrations. The experiments were arranged in a complete randomized design, in a 3x3 factorial, with four repetitions and 15 seeds/plot (first experiment) and a 4x4 factorial, with four repetitions and 3 plants/plot (second experiment). The best results for micropropagation were obtanied in MSM medium with 28.51 and 28.74 g L-1 of sucrose. The highest germination speed index was obtained with 20 mg L-1 of AG3 combined with seed tip scarification.
Passiflora setacea DC.; passion fruit; tissue culture