Proceedings of the XLVI Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Giardini Naxos, Italy - 18/21 September, 2002

ISBN 88-900622-3-1

Poster Abstract - 3.17

CUTTING PROPAGATION OF CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS L.

ADAMO S.*, PAFFETTI D.*, CAPUANA M.**, GIANNINI R.**

*) Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Forestali, Via S.Bonaventura 13, Quaracchi, Firenze

**) Istituto Miglioramento Genetico Piante Forestali, CNR, Via Atto Vannucci 13,Firenze

Cupressus sempervirens L., adventitious rooting, vegetative propagation

The common cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.) is a very widespread species and it represents a traditional and evocative element of Mediterranean landscape. Most frequent utilisation of cypress is tree in gardens and parks; it’s also employed in sylviculture as wind-breaks and for reforestation because of its tolerance to calcareous, clayey and dry soils.

In the last twenty years, many individuals are dead or have been seriously damaged by Seiridium cardinale, the agent of bark cancer. It’s becoming a serious danger for the survival of the species, so this event has given rise to a large scale breeding program to select genetic variability of the resistance. For this reason vegetative propagation is used in the clonal selection, but cutting propagation of cypress gives a lot of problems because of its poor rooting ability. That is why our aim is to study the natural progress of the rooting potential during the year and to analyse the differential gene expression in the cutting with high and low rooting rate.

In this preliminary work we collected cuttings from a clone selected for the resistance to bark cancer. For this purpose, a series of potted plants were grown at the nursery. The cuttings weren’t treated with any growth regulator and were placed in the rooting bench at suitable and homogeneous conditions of light, humidity and temperature, with the aim to determine the rooting potential. Sixty cuttings were placed in the rooting bench (5 series of 12 cuttings each), at each considered date then, after four months from each ones, we checked the rooting rates.

To identify the genetic control of competence for cell division and that induces differentiation for adventitious rooting, we utilised all information based on studies in Angiosperm. In fact, till now, it knows very little about rooting of Gimnosperms. However, based on the accumulating evidence concerning the cell cicle and its components throughout the plant kingdom, the cell cycle machinery seems to be highly conserved in Angiosperms and Gymnosperms. So we tried to characterise the expression of some key enzymes involved in biosynthetic pathways of polyammine and other molecules correlated with adventitious rooting.