Division of Fruits and Horticultwal Technology Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012.
* Present address: Division of Pomology, S. K. University of Agricultural Sciences and Technoldgy, Shalimar 191 121, Srinagar (J & K).
Explants of ‘Pusa Seedless’ and ‘Beauty Seedless’ cvs. of field grown mature grapevine were cultured on MS semi-solid medium supplemented with 5 μM 6-benzylaminopurine. The cultured explants were initially exposed to varying levels of light intensity (0 to 3500 lux) with a duration ranging from 24 to 72 hours followed by continuous exposure to light intensity of 3500 lux under 16 h/8 h light dark photoperiod. Initial exposure to complete darkness for 72 h resulted in slight decrease in oxidative browning with a corresponding increase in explant survival. Various antioxidants and phenol binding agents had either deleterious or no influence on explants and some of the treatments had at best marginal influence in controlling oxidative browning.
