Tissue Culture and Highly Efficient Rooting of Kalmia latifolia Olympic Fire

Difficulty in root generation hinders the application of Kalmia latifolia.By in vitro culture of nodal segments of K. latifolia Olympic Fire, the effects of basal medium, plant growth regulators and perlite on rooting for rapid propagation were investigated. The results indicated that WPM basal medium supplemented with 2-ip 1.0 mg/L significantly improved bud break and growth directly from nodal segment explants, and the sprouting rate was about 72.5%. The optimal medium for shoot multiplication was WPM+1.0 mg/L 2-ip+0.05 mg/L NAA, on which the multiplication coefficient reached 5.42 and the average height of shoots were 3.42 cm. Rooting of shoots was optimized on half-strength WPM medium with 1.0 mg/L IBA+0.1 mg/L NAA combined with perlite, on which the rooting rate was 80.03%. After acclimatization, about 60% of rooting plantlets could survive when transplanted into the matrix composed of peat soil and perlite (1:1, volume ratio).