Guava Micropropagation: Browning inhibition, High regeneration and genetic fidelity

Tree improvement programs, either by conventional breeding, or recombinant DNA technology, often rely on vegetative propagation to preserve superior genotypes because of high inherent heterozygosity and self-incompatibility mechanisms. Mature woody plants are typically more difficult to propagate vegetatively than their juvenile counterparts. Sexual propagation is the main method of guava multiplication, producing plants of different genotypes with high diversity in physical and chemical properties. To get identical trees with high uniform fruit quality, vegetative propagation of well plants as well as selected seedy trees must be performed. Here, an innovative, reproducible, and inexpensive method is described for in vitro cloning of guava using nodal stems segments. A novel process was established for inhibiting phenolic browning completely by coating the explants cut ends with commercial silicon. High regeneration frequency with genetic fidelity and control of contamination have been established.