The major bottleneck in anthurium cultivar release is the availability of microprogated plants for field testing. Genotype has been a major consideration for anthurium protocol development. Different genotypes vary in in vitro performance even when using optimized media, therefore assessing proliferative variation under in vitro conditions could help identify cultivars that could introgress tissue culture traits and provide guidelines for future protocol development. The objective of this study is to assess the in vitro performance of different anthurium accessions from the University of Hawaii anthurium breeding program under the RITA® temporary immersion system and to observe how lineage affects in vitro performance. To evaluate shoot initiation/proliferation, 20 accessions of anthurium (parents, interspecific hybrids, complex hybrids, and wild relatives) were placed in RITA® supplemented with a liquid medium containing 0.3X MS salts with 0.2 mg/L BA, 15% coconut water and 20 g/L sucrose. Primary shoots were excised after 45 days to allow axillary buds to develop into secondary shoots. Bud masses (trimmed explant bases) were placed on a solid medium containing ½ MS salts with 15% coconut water, 20 g/L sucrose and 2g/L gellan gum to observe shoot proliferation and growth. Parameters were analyzed using mixed models with time block as random effects and accessions as fixed effects. Previously identified check cultivars (‘Marian Seefurth’ and ‘New Pahoa Red’) were used as controls in this study. Significant differences among the genotypes were observed in terms of the number of primary shoots, the number of secondary shoots, total axillary bud mass volume (cm3), number of explants with shoot, and number of explants with roots. Three selections and an accession were identified to have potential use for breeding. UH2053, UH2409, UH2327 and ‘New Pahoa Red’ showed superior or comparable number of primary and secondary shoots, explant volume, and rooting compared to the check cultivars. These lines will be considered as parents in future crosses for cultivar development. Cluster analysis was also performed and was cross-referenced to existing pedigree and breeding records. Our analysis revealed five clusters which indicate that that parentage influenced in vitro shoot production particularly in lines with Anthurium andraeanum, A. amnicola, A. formosum and A. kamemotoanum in their background. Pedigree and breeding records are valuable resources for predicting response profiles of anthurium in vitro performance.
