Physiological development of red anthurium (Anthurium andreanum Linden) var. Tropical in three in vitro culture systems

Objective: To evaluate the physiological development of red Anthurium andreanum L. var. Tropical in three in vitro culture systems: semi-solid, partial immersion and RITA® bioreactor. Design / methodology / approach: A completely randomized design with three treatments, semi-solid medium, partial immersion and RITA® bioreactor, and four repetitions each was used. Vitroplants of anthurium were selected with a size of 0.5 cm from the stem to the highest leaf, with three leaves in each specimen. Morphometric, chlorophyll content and hormone content analyses were carried out after 60 days of sowing. Analysis of variance and means comparison tests were performed on the data obtained through Kruskal-Wallis and Tukey, respectively, using the statistical software R-STUDIO. Results: The highest shoot rate and root length were obtained in partial immersion; however, the number of leaves, shoots and root multiplication did not show differences with the RITA® bioreactors. The highest concentration of chlorophylls and indole acetic acid was observed when using RITA® bioreactors. Study limitations / implications: The results are favorable for the in vitro production of anthurium, although the use of RITA® bioreactors for commercial production is a high cost in the initial investment. Findings / conclusions: With the results obtained, it is considered that the RITA® bioreactors obtained the best results for the production of anthurium, followed by the partial immersion system. This is due to the liquid medium and better gas exchange, which favors the development of plants