ASHS 2025 Conference

Northern berry crops including blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea L.), cranberry (V. macrocarpon Ait.), cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus L.) and huckleberry (V. membranaceum Douglas ex Torr.) are native to the North. Their health promoting role in anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer and anti-tumor activities is due to their high contents of bioactive components. Although conventional methods of berry crop propagation are successful, for producing a large number of disease-free high quality plants, in vitro propagation (micropropagation) is more desirable. With the introduction of in vitro culture techniques, it is widely used to produce the true-to-type plants for year around multiplication. Propagation in vitro, using semi-solid and liquid media in different bioreactor systems, has advanced a multi-billion dollar industry in various crop plants globally. However, stresses during in vitro culture can provoke a range of genetic and epigenetic variabilities in the genome of the micropropagules leading to somaclonal variation. These variations (genetic or epigenetic) in micropropagated berry crops that include increased shoot and rhizome growth, berry production and/or antioxidant properties, might be useful for early establishment and berry production to the northern growers. This review updates the propagation technologies used in northern berry crops along with the evaluation of clonal fidelity and somaclonal variation in micropropagated plants. The existing gap in literature will be covered.