Physiological reactions of lilies during cold storage in vitro

Induction of dormancy with subsequent cold incubation is important for maintaining the natural sequence of developmental events during production of lily bulblets by means of tissue culture. The present study was initiated to test a possibility of using enzyme activities as biochemical markers for morphogenic capacity and viability of lily bulblets as affected by the duration of pretreatment period and carbohydrate content in the cultivation medium. Bulblet quality was affected both by the length of period for dormancy induction as well as by the concentration of sucrose in the medium. Pretreatment period of 21 days together with increased sucrose concentration (4-6%) gave the best results yielding bulblets of high quality with well- developed roots after two months of cold storage. Activities of peroxidase and catalase were inversed to the quality of bulblets, peroxidase activity being more characteristic indicator.