OPENING ROADS FOR MICROPROPAGATION OF AVOCADO IN CALIFORNIA

During the last three years, this project developed at The Huntington has focused on the micropropagation of avocado, including clonal rootstocks, cultivars, and wild relatives. Avocado propagation is very slow and labor-intensive, limiting plants' availability for growers and increasing their final cost. Although various protocols reported micropropagation of some avocado clones of interest, the mass propagation of avocado for most commercial rootstocks and cultivars needs optimization. It is broadly accepted that shorting the propagation time in the nurseries will increase the plants' availability for growers and decrease their final cost. Our approach to clonal micropropagation of avocado primarily focused on rootstocks of interest for the California industry and The Huntington field collection.