Water-dissolved Ozone Mediates Optimization of Biotechnological Seed Production of Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

ABSTRACT Taro is a food source for many people in tropical countries. The use of biotechnological techniques for seed production is an alternative that allows obtaining propagation material of higher phytosanitary quality. During the taro in vitro propagation it is of great importance to increase the efficiency of the protocols that are affected mainly by the incidence of microbial contamination and low multiplication coefficients. At the initiation stage, 100% of taro apical meristems sprouted with the immersion in water-dissolved ozone at 2 ppm for 15 min. Furthermore, the microbial contamination was eliminated and the explants showed better quality, increasing the multiplication coefficient in the subsequent subcultures. The disinfection strategy applied allowed to rise the number of taro explants by more than three times, increasing the economic efficiency of the process.