A robust method for haploid sugar beet in vitro proliferation and hyperhydricity reduction

Sugar beet is recalcitrant to in vitro tissue culture. Usually, proliferation of in vitro cultured rosette explants is a prerequisite for micropropagation. Although hormonal treatments can induce proliferation in sugar beet rosette explants, they may also result in some side effects. In vitro culture of sugar beet explants and some hormonal treatments make them more prone to hyperhydricity. Effects of media with different concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin (Kin) on the proliferation and hyperhydricity of haploid sugar beet explants were investigated. It was observed that 0.2 mg L^-1 Kin, with a reasonable amount of proliferation and minimum rate of hyperhydricity, performed better than BAP in different concentrations and combinations. The effect sizes of the treatments on the dependent variables were large. The correlation between proliferation and hyperhydricity of the treated explants was statistically negative and the association was large. However, the hormonal treatments without BAP or with the lowest amount of it produced the highest proliferation rate with the least hyperhydricity. The coefficient of determination was R² quadratic = 0.885. The results suggest that, in comparison with BAP, Kin is a potent plant growth regulator for the proliferation of sugar beet haploid explants that causes the least hyperhydricity. Although explants proliferated better in the presence of 0.01 mg L^-1 BAP in combination with Kin than under Kin alone, the hyperhydricity of the proliferated explants decreased their suitability for in vitro propagation.