APPLYING MERISTEM TIP CULTURE AND THERMO THERAPY TO ELIMINATE VIRUSES FROM PINEAPPLE (ANANAS COMOSUS) AND TARO (COLOCASIA ESCULENTA)

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2020-05
Authors
Domingo, Ryan S.
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Shintaku, Michael
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Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science
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Viruses in important crops such as pineapple (Ananas comosus) and taro (Colocasia esculenta) decrease plant growth, fruit or tuber yield, and overall crop production (Sether et al. 2001). Farmers are also negatively impacted by a decrease in profit due to subpar produce quality as a consequence of virus/viruses infecting crops. Lower taro yields affect the culture and diet of Pacific Island regions and countries because taro is a significant component of their diet, cultural events, and practices (Deo et al. 2009). Plant virus outbreaks also have environmental consequences; serious outbreaks can result in farmers abandoning fields and clearing land to establish new ones. This recently occurred on the island of Hawai‘i when an outbreak of banana bunchy top virus prompted the move of banana plantings (approximately 200 acres) from Kea‘au to Hāmākua. The elimination of viruses in such crops are important to minimize the negative economic, cultural and environmental impacts of plant viral infections. (Deo et al. 2009). Worldwide, pineapple is the most highly traded tropical fruit, ranked second in tropical fruit production in 2018 at approximately 28.3 million tons. Costa Rica is the largest producer and exporter of pineapple, followed by Brazil (Altendorf, 2019). In 2018 Hawai‘i produced 2.99 million pounds of taro representing a 1.97-million-dollar industry (Quickstats.nass.usda.gov, 2020). Currently only 70 (69 native to Hawai‘i) of the 150 landraces previously cultivated by Hawaiians remain in Hawai‘i (Helmkampf et al. 2017). The United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center, Tropical Plant Genetic Resource and Disease Research unit in Hilo Hawai‘i (USDA ARS DKI PBARC TPGRDR) houses and maintains 186 Ananas accessions ranging from local to wild type pineapples. The loss of unique culturally significant taro varieties and the need for maintaining and preserving the genetic diversity of both crops warrants a protocol for aiding germplasm maintenance, which is the aim of this study. Methods such as meristem tip culture, thermo therapy, or a combination of the two on certain crops has been shown to eliminate viruses at varying rates of efficacy. This study will be the first in Hawai‘i to quantify the effectiveness of meristem tip culture followed by in vitro thermo therapy growth rates to achieve “virus free” pineapple and taro plants compared to other methods. Information derived from this study can play an integral part in establishing uninfected pineapple and taro plant material that will benefit researchers, farmers and the agricultural community as a whole leading to other studies applying similar techniques and measuring virus removal efficiencies on other important crops.
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Agriculture, Horticulture, Meristem tip culture, Pineapple mealybug wilt associated virus, Taro vein chlorosis virus, Thermo therapy
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90 pages
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