Clonal Micropropagation and Peculiarities of Adaptation to ex vitro Conditions of Forest Berry Plants of the Genus Vaccinium

Modern cost-effective propagation methods yield a large amount of high-quality healthy planting material of economically valuable forest berry plants. However, ex vitro adaptation of Vaccinium species and in vitro cultivation of the Kamchatka bilberry remain understudied. The research objective was to study the effect of growth-regulating substances on the organogenesis and adaptation to non-sterile conditions of the lingonberry and the Kamchatka bilberry during clonal micropropagation. The study featured regenerant lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) of Koralle, Kostromichka, and Kostromskaya Rozovaya cultivars, as well as the Sakhalin and Kuril varieties of the Kamchatka bilberry (Vaccinium praestans Lamb.). A chemical analysis was performed to reveal the following dependencies: the effect of sterilizing agents and sterilization time on the viability of explants, the effect of the nutrient medium and the growth-regulating substances on microshoots and roots, and the effect of the substrate on the survival of plants in non-sterile conditions. The highest survival rate of lingonberry (72%) and bilberry (96%) explants belonged to 0.2% of AgNO3 with 10 min of sterilization time. The maximal values of the total shoot length in vitro were observed at 0.2 mg/L of 2-iP: AN nutrient medium (7.2 cm) for lingonberries and WPM 1/2 nutrient medium (10.5 cm) for bilberries. The longest total root length in vitro for lingonberries was registered when using 2.0 mg/L (5.8 cm) of indoleacetic acid, while for bilberries it was 1.0 mg/L (1.9 cm) of indolylbutyric acid. The maximal survival rate ex vitro belonged to the high-moor peat substrate (89–92%) for lingonberries and a 1:1 mix of peat with sand (91–95%) for bilb erries. Clonal micropropagation with growth regulators (2-iP, indolylbutyric and indoleacetic acids) and peat substrates proved expedient for in vitro cultivation and ex vitro adaptation of the lingonberry and the Kamchatka bilberry. This scheme delivered a large amount of high-quality planting material with high plant survival.