Meristem-tip culture of potato plants as a method of improving productivity

Three potato cultivars were propagated by meristem tip culture. The meristem-tips (apical dome with two to four leaf primordia) were cultured on several nutrient media and the plants obtained were grown in a light soil mixture until they formed tubers. A comparison of productivity (cv. San Michele) between plants grown from these tubers and those grown from normal seed tubers showed a 60% increase in salable yield. Virus assays onChenopodium amaranticolor, Gomphrena globosa andSolanum demissum A6 were also carried out.