Commercial micropropagation plays a crucial role in increasing the production of many economically important fruit crops worldwide, including Europe. The focus has been on many woody horticultural species, such as stone and pome fruits, berries, nuts, and palms. This paper presents an updated overview of the European commercial micropropagation landscape, highlighting the countries currently operating in this sector, crop targets, and the distribution of micropropagation companies based on recent survey data. In Europe and the broader Mediterranean basin, Italy, Spain, Türkiye, and Germany emerge as the leading contributors to the large-scale in vitro production of woody fruit species, based on the number of operating commercial companies and efforts to adopt new technology. Despite this progress, several challenges limit the scalability and sustainability of in vitro propagation systems, and their expansion in underrepresented countries. These main issues include species recalcitrance, high labour and infrastructure costs, further improvement of stock maintenance capacity, logistical issues in plantlet shipment, and barriers related to intellectual property rights. To address these challenges, this paper discusses solutions such as utilizing automation and robotics, exploring new compounds to enhance micropropagation rates, and using European funding opportunities. Furthermore, being involved in pan-European cooperation and technology transfer networks is also encouraged. The COST Action 21157 “CopyTree: European Network for Innovative Woody Plant Cloning” is discussed as a practical example of collaboration in harmonizing protocols for woody plant cloning and facilitating knowledge sharing among research groups with varying levels of experience in the field. Future advancements in the micropropagation sector will depend on the investment in automation and innovative technologies, combined with policy alignment with EU standards on a broader international level, and regional development strategies.

Cryogenic cooling became a crucial tool for the storage of heterozygous plants such as globe artichoke. This study was carried out to optimize a reliable method for in vitro cryopreservation of shoot apices and callus cultures of globe artichoke using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and Plant Vitrification Solutions 2 (PVS2) as cryoprotectant solutions. Shoot apices were exposed to DMSO or PVS2 for 20, 40, 60, and 80 min prior to plunge in liquid nitrogen (LN). It was found that using PVS2 as a cryoprotectant in cryopreservation of shoot apices of globe artichoke was more effective compared with using of DMSO alone. Among the exposure time tested, 60 min gave the best results of survival. The highest survival (60%), regeneration (56%), and proliferated shootlets (4.30) were obtained after cryoprotection with PVS2 for 60 min. Regarding callus cultures, the maximum values of fresh weights and subsequently growth value of recovered callus were registered with 40 min followed by 60 min exposure time. Related to the type of the tested cryoprotectants, the best survival and growth parameters of the cryopreserved callus cultures were obtained with PVS2 treatments. Treatment with PVS2 for 40 min registered the highest survival observations of cryopreserved callus. Also, the maximum values of fresh weight (1.30 g) and growth value (4.20) were obtained with 40 min exposure time. Microscopy analysis presented as cell morphology revealed that the treatment of PVS2 40% was the optimum for cell growth of cryopreserved callus of globe artichoke. The results demonstrated that using PVS2 as a cryoprotectant in cryopreservation of shoot apices and callus cultures of globe artichoke was more effective compared with DMSO.

Evaluation of ElecTIS bioreactor for the micropropagation of Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill., an important autochthonous species of Albania | Valbona Sota, Carla Benelli, Brunilda Ҫuko, Elektra Papakosta, Claudio Depaoli, Maurizio Lambardi, Efigjeni Kongjika | Agricultural Journals

Juglans regia L. is a crucial species as a forest tree and for its nutritional and medicinal values. It is also included in the list of endangered species in Albania and thus, there is a need to find methodologies to ensure its rapid regeneration and ex situ conservation. This research, investigated the regeneration of plantlets from synthetic seeds containing shoot tips of four native walnut varieties: ‘Përmet’, ‘Korçë’, ‘Peshkopi’, and ‘Tropojë’. First, in vitro-derived shoot tips from walnut seedlings are encapsulated using sodium alginate. After that, the regeneration potential of the encapsulated shoot tips and the influence of incubation conditions are evaluated. The synthetic seeds were incubated at either 25 °C or 8 °C, with and without dehydration treatment, in 0.5 M sucrose solution for 3 h. The synthetic seeds in both temperature regimes (25 °C and 8 °C) develop plantlets and provid conservation potential without the need for subcultures for 4 and 3.5 months, respectively. Furthermore, all walnut varieties incubated in these conditions achiev a high regeneration rates.