Strawberry Tissue Culture: A Better Pathway to Disease-Free and Uniform Planting Material
- นภสร ตาปะสี
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
Strawberry is a crop that can be propagated effectively through runners. However, in commercial production, this traditional method carries risks that are often overlooked. Diseases can accumulate and be transmitted from the mother plant to the next generation, including viruses, fungi, bacteria, and phytoplasmas. When the initial planting material is not clean, the impact does not stop at a single plant. It can affect the entire production field, from plant growth and crop uniformity to yield consistency and fruit quality. This is why tissue culture has become an important tool for producing planting material with a higher level of control.
One of the key strengths of strawberry tissue culture is its ability to produce large numbers of plantlets with relatively uniform size while helping reduce disease accumulation when the right starting material is used. This is especially important in meristem culture or shoot tip culture, which are widely recognized techniques for producing disease-free planting material. The shoot tip or meristem is extremely small. In some studies, the explant size may be only around 0.1–0.5 millimeters, which requires high technical skill. However, the advantage is that it offers a greater chance of reducing virus transmission compared with using larger explants taken directly from the mother plant.
Several types of explants can be used in strawberry tissue culture, but the choice must match the production goal. If the objective is to produce high-quality disease-free mother stock, the process should begin with meristems or shoot tips from young runners. This approach is suitable for developing mother stock or foundation stock. If the mother plants have already been tested for disease and the goal is to multiply them in a production system, nodal segments, axillary buds, or shoot clusters can be used effectively for shoot multiplication. For example, a farm producing strawberry plants for greenhouse cultivation may start with disease-tested mother plants and then use axillary buds in the multiplication stage to produce enough plantlets for planting.
On the other hand, leaves, petioles, or leaf discs are generally more suitable for research involving callus induction, organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, or breeding. Although these explants can produce shoots under certain formulas, passing through a callus stage carries a higher risk of somaclonal variation, or off-type plants, compared with direct multiplication from axillary buds. If the goal is to produce commercial planting material that must remain true-to-type—such as maintaining the same plant form, flowering behavior, fruit quality, and runner-producing characteristics—the pathway from meristem or shoot tip culture to axillary shoot multiplication is generally safer.
The basal medium most commonly used for strawberry tissue culture is MS medium. It is often supplemented with around 22.5–30 grams per liter of sucrose, 6–8 grams per liter of agar, and adjusted to a pH of approximately 5.7–5.8 under suitable light and temperature conditions. Plant growth regulators used for shoot multiplication may include BA or BAP, kinetin, zeatin, and TDZ, sometimes combined with low levels of auxins such as IBA or NAA. For example, studies on the cultivar ‘Oso Grande’ have reported the use of MS medium with BA and IBA to multiply shoots from meristems. Other studies using nodal segments have applied BA, NAA, and adenine sulphate to improve shoot sprouting and increase the sprouting percentage.
However, strawberry is clearly a genotype-dependent crop when it comes to tissue culture response. A formula that works well for one cultivar may not be the best choice for another. For example, ‘Aroma’ may respond well to zeatin, while ‘My Da’ may perform better with a combination of BAP and kinetin. ‘Pharachatan 80’ has also been reported to respond to low levels of BAP and IBA for both shoot and root development. Therefore, when a laboratory wants to produce a new strawberry cultivar, it should not simply adopt one research formula and apply it immediately. A screening trial should be conducted to evaluate shoot multiplication, hyperhydricity, rooting performance, and plantlet strength after deflasking.
The rooting and acclimatization stages have a major influence on the final quality of strawberry planting material. Even if plantlets look healthy inside the culture vessel, their leaves may still have a thin cuticle, their stomata may not function fully, and their roots may not yet be adapted to external conditions. A commonly used rooting formula is half-strength MS medium combined with a low level of IBA or NAA. For example, studies on ‘Oso Grande’ reported that half-strength MS supplemented with 1.0 mg/L IBA supported good rooting of microshoots. In Thai research on ‘Pharachatan 80’, hydroponic acclimatization using half-strength Hoagland’s solution resulted in high survival and helped support early root system development.
Mass production systems are another important business consideration. Semi-solid medium remains the standard system because it is easy to control and suitable for maintaining plantlet stability. However, it is labor-intensive. To increase production capacity, liquid medium systems or temporary immersion bioreactors may help accelerate multiplication. Some studies have shown that liquid culture can increase shoot numbers significantly, but it may also lead to hyperhydricity, or water-soaked shoots, requiring plantlets to be transferred back to semi-solid medium for recovery. Temporary immersion systems offer stronger potential for large-scale production because they allow control over the timing of contact between plant tissue and liquid medium. However, immersion frequency, aeration, explant density, and hormone levels must be carefully adjusted.
One important point in strawberry tissue culture production is that the term “disease-free” should not be used simply because the plantlets are grown in sterile culture vessels. Tissue culture can greatly reduce disease risk, especially when meristem culture is used. However, if plantlets are to be sold as truly disease-free planting material, proper verification should be included, such as indexing, ELISA, RT-PCR, or specific pathogen testing based on the required standard. For example, if a laboratory is producing mother plants for farms that will later multiply runners, the process should begin with meristem culture, followed by virus or phytoplasma testing before the plants are released as mother stock. This gives customers confidence that the plants are not only visually healthy in the bottle, but also suitable for real production.
In summary, strawberry tissue culture is a highly promising technology for producing quality planting material, especially for farms, greenhouse systems, and mother stock businesses that require uniformity and reduced risk from accumulated diseases. A suitable commercial production approach should begin with traceable mother plants, use meristems or shoot tips when disease-free stock is required, apply axillary buds or shoot clusters for multiplication, minimize callus-based pathways when true-to-type plants are the goal, and include a clear post-deflasking quality control system.
Good strawberry planting material is not defined only by how many plantlets can be produced. It must be strong, uniform, traceable, and ready to deliver reliable performance in real cultivation conditions.
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