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Organic nitrogen, which comes from amino acids, is absorbed and transported more rapidly than inorganic nitrogen by plant cells and tissues. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of some amino acids on the response of single nodes of grape Vitis vinifera L. Superior and Red globe cultivars were classified for in vitro multiplication to develop an efficient protocol for propagation of these two valuable species. The study included two experiments: first, the effect of adding three concentrations (0, 0.5, and 1) mg L-1 of Benzyl Adenine (BA) to the MS medium in the initiation stage. The second investigation utilized three amino acid types (glutamine, asparagine, and methionine) at five concentrations (0, 10, 20, 40, and 80) mg L-1 added to MS medium containing 2 mg L-1 of BA. Results indicated that the most significant newly initiated shoots (2.40 and 2.88) and the largest leaves number (7.90 and 5.88) for both cultivars, Superior and Red globe, respectively were obtained in a medium with 1 mg L-1 of BA. The multiplication results in eight weeks after cultivation showed that adding amino acid glutamine at 10 mg L-1 significantly increased the number of shoots/explant (6.60 and 6.00) and (29.50 and 38.30) leaves/explant for Red globe and Superior, respectively. The high amino acid concentrations (40 and 80) mg L-1 significantly reduced the studied growth parameters, especially the number of newly formed shoots. The results obtained from the present study exhibited the possibility of applying this modified protocol to the propagation of selected grape cultivars to encourage the expansion of the grape-growing industry in Iraq.

A reliable and successful micropropagation protocol was developed for pepino plant (Solanum muricatum Aiton) from nodal segment explants grown on MS medium. The best values of shoot multiplication traits were recorded from the addition of 3 mg.l-1 kinetin by producing 2.3 shoots/explant, 3.6 cm and 9.6 leaves/ explant which was significantly superior upon the addition of BA at the same levels. In case of adding 3 mg.l-1 kinetin, the best root formation attributes were achieved from the use of 0.2 mg.l-l IAA that resulted a maximum number of roots (14.33 roots/ explant). The longest root length (15.33 cm) was achieved when 0.3 mg.l-l IAA was used. A 100% rooting percentage was recorded from the all tested auxins including IAA, IBA and NAA. The gradually moved plantlets from the heterotrophic phase in the lab to the autotrophic phase in the greenhouse showed 100% success. The plantlets did not show any abnormal growth or morphological changes. It is concluded that this important plant can be easily propagated by tissue culture technique through a reliable micropropagation protocol.