Influence of the mineral composition of a selective environment on flax morphogenesis <i>in vitro</i> culture

Relevance. Fiber flax — Linum usitatissimum L. — is one of the main bast crops, which is widely cultivated in various countries of the world for the production of fiber and oil. Before the revolution, Russia was the main producer of this crop in the world (80% of the world's crops, 70% of the total harvest — up to 360 thousand tons), but today the Russian Federation is losing ground. A number of reasons contribute to this. One of them is that the cultivated varieties of fiber flax do not fully meet the requirements of agricultural producers. The susceptibility of flax to fungal diseases is the main difficulty in obtaining consistently high yields of fiber and seeds, maintaining their marketability and, accordingly, the quality of the products obtained. The annual loss of flax crop due to diseases is more than 40%. The situation is aggravated by the appearance of resistant isolates of phytopathogens, which makes the regular use of fungicides inappropriate. Infection of flax crops with fungi of the genus Colletotrichum lini Manns et Bolley leads to a decrease in fiber yield by 20–35% and the accumulation of infection. The selection of anthracnose-resistant forms of flax by traditional methods is accompanied by certain difficulties.Methods. The main methods used in the research were: microbiological, cell selection, culture of immature embryos and hypocotyl segments.Results. To obtain cultural filtrates of strains of the fungus — the causative agent of flax anthracnose, it is possible to use nutrient media Gamborg, MS, Sh-2, which do not contain vitamins, chelate complex, phytohormones. The dependence of the formation of morphogenic callus on the basis of primary explants on the morphogenetic potential of the genotype has been established. The formation of morphogenic callus under selective conditions depended on the mineral composition of the selective medium. Gamborg's medium was the least suitable for in vitro selection studies. A high morphogenetic potential was established in lines L 2053-5-11 and L 957-8-7.