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Article

Micropropagation of Apple Cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in Bioreactors

1
Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Mach 1, 38098 San Michele all’Adige, Italy
2
Misión Biológica de Galicia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avda de Vigo s/n, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
3
The Greenplant Company, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Plants 2025, 14(17), 2740; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172740
Submission received: 31 July 2025 / Revised: 21 August 2025 / Accepted: 25 August 2025 / Published: 2 September 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of In Vitro Culture Techniques in Plants)

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate culture conditions for the efficient micropropagation of apple cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in liquid medium by temporary immersion. RITA® bioreactors were used for the multiplication stage whereas RITA® or Plantform™ were used for the rooting stage. Murashige and Skoog media (MS) with N6-benzyladenine (BA) was used for shoot multiplication and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) for root induction. During the multiplication phase, we evaluated the mineral medium, BA concentration, immersion frequency, silver nitrate and activated charcoal supplementation and the use of physical supports to hold explants in an upright position. The results demonstrated that longer incubation periods (10 weeks) were better than shorter periods (6 weeks) for decreasing hyperhydricity and increasing the multiplication coefficient (MC). For ‘Golden Delicious’, the highest MC were obtained either with explants placed directly on the bioreactor basket and immersed six times per day for 60 s in MS with 2.2 µM BA or explants placed between rockwool cubes cultivated with 4.4 µM BA (both yielding MC of 8.9 and 5–10% hyperhydricity). These results were superior to ‘Royal Gala’, which showed a MC of 7.3 and 23% of hyperhydricity when cultivated in MS with half nitrates, 1.55 µM BA and rockwool cubes. Both varieties rooted efficiently (96–100%), and resulting plantlets were successfully acclimated. This is the first report in the micropropagation of these two commercial fruiting cultivars in temporary immersion, demonstrating the potential of this technology to enhance large-scale plant production for the apple nursery industry.
Keywords: hyperhydricity; in vitro; Malus domestica; multiplication; rooting; temporary immersion hyperhydricity; in vitro; Malus domestica; multiplication; rooting; temporary immersion

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MDPI and ACS Style

Miranda, S.; Malnoy, M.; Aldrey, A.; Cernadas, M.J.; Sánchez, C.; Christie, B.; Vidal, N. Micropropagation of Apple Cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in Bioreactors. Plants 2025, 14, 2740. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172740

AMA Style

Miranda S, Malnoy M, Aldrey A, Cernadas MJ, Sánchez C, Christie B, Vidal N. Micropropagation of Apple Cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in Bioreactors. Plants. 2025; 14(17):2740. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172740

Chicago/Turabian Style

Miranda, Simón, Mickael Malnoy, Anxela Aldrey, María José Cernadas, Conchi Sánchez, Bruce Christie, and Nieves Vidal. 2025. "Micropropagation of Apple Cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in Bioreactors" Plants 14, no. 17: 2740. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172740

APA Style

Miranda, S., Malnoy, M., Aldrey, A., Cernadas, M. J., Sánchez, C., Christie, B., & Vidal, N. (2025). Micropropagation of Apple Cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Royal Gala’ in Bioreactors. Plants, 14(17), 2740. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14172740

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