Developmental and photosynthetic characteristics of a photoautotrophic Chrysanthemum culture

Chrysanthemum plantlets were cultivated in vitro on media with 2.0, 0.3, or 0% sucrose, or photoautotrophically without an organic carbon source but w ith supplementation of the culture vessel atmosphere with 2 % CO2. The phot oautotrophically cultivated plantlets showed a better growth and multiplica tion, higher contents of chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoids, higher Chl a/b ratio, net photosynthetic rate and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ox ygenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activities than plantlets grown on the medium with sucrose.