Protocols for Micropropagation of Woody Trees and Fruits

CHAPTER 26
IN VITRO CONSERVATION AND
MICROPROPAGATION OF BREADFRUIT
(ARTOCARPUS ALTILIS, MORACEA)
S.J. MURCH 1 , D. RAGONE 2 , W.L. SHI 3 , A.R. ALAN 3
AND P.K. SAXENA 3
1 Chemistry, I.K. Barber School of Arts & Sciences, University of British Columbia
Okanagan, Kelowna, B.C., Canada, V1V 1V7. 2 Breadfruit Institute, National
Tropical Botanical Garden. 3530 Papalina Road, Kalaheo, HI 96741, USA.
3 Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario,
Canada, N1G 2W1; E-mail: susan.murch@ubc.ca
1. INTRODUCTION
Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae) has been used for more than 3,000 years
by Pacific islanders as a traditional food crop (Ragone, 1997). Breadfruit is rich in
carbohydrates (76.7%) and nutritional energy (Adebowale et al., 2005) and readily
consumed at all stages of maturity. The range of traditional uses of breadfruit
includes roasted, baked, boiled, dried, pickled, and fermented fruits, as well as
processed flour (Ragone, 2003). Prepared breadfruit has a moderate glycaemic index
and there are multiple nutritional benefits to including breadfruit as a dietary staple
(Ramdath et al., 2004). Breadfruit trees are also a good source of medicine,
insecticides, adhesives, timber, and shelter and highly valued as a primary component
of traditional agro-forestry systems in Oceania (Morton, 1987; Ragone, 1997;
Zerega et al., 2004). Breadfruit varieties exist in two ploidy levels. Triploid accessions
(2n = 3x = 84) lack the ability to produce seeds while diploid accessions (2n = 2x =
56) differ in the ability to produce seed (Ragone, 2001; Zerega et al., 2004, 2005,
2006).
The conservation of breadfruit germplasm is of global significance, and this
important tree species is one of 35 crops covered by the International Treaty for
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Fowler et al., 2003). A number
of breadfruit cultivars have already disappeared or are on the edge of becoming rare
and endangered (Ragone, 1997). Hurricanes, devastating tropical storms, cultural and
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S.M. Jain and H. Häggman (eds.), Protocols for Micropropagation of Woody Trees and Fruits, 279–288.
© 2007 Springer.