<i>Malus</i> tissue cultures. I. Sorbitol (<scp>D</scp>-glucitol) as a carbon source for callus initiation and growth

Abstract

Callus cultures from 1-year-old twigs of the apple, Malus pumila, cultivars McIntosh, Cortland, and Red Delicious, and of the crabapple rootstock, Malus robusta No. 5, were successfully isolated and maintained on a medium with sorbitol as the sole carbon source. Investigation with various carbon sources, each at 3% concentration, showed that McIntosh callus grew equally well on sorbitol, sucrose, and glucose. Cortland and Robusta cultures responded equally to sorbitol and glucose but poorly to sucrose. The relative growths of the callus cultures on sorbitol were in the decreasing order, McIntosh, Cortland, and Robusta. Sorbitol served as an excellent carbon source for all three cultures.