Modeling and Optimizing a New Culture Medium for In Vitro Rooting of G×N15 Prunus Rootstock using Artificial Neural Network-Genetic Algorithm

Mohammad Mehdi Arab; Abbas Yadollahi; Maliheh Eftekhari; Hamed Ahmadi; Mohammad Akbari; Saadat Sarikhani Khorami

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-27858-4

Modeling and Optimizing a New Culture Medium for In Vitro Rooting of G×N15 Prunus Rootstock using Artificial Neural Network-Genetic Algorithm

Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 2;8(1):9977. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-27858-4.

Authors

Mohammad Mehdi Arab^{1

2}, Abbas Yadollahi³, Maliheh Eftekhari¹, Hamed Ahmadi⁴, Mohammad Akbari⁵, Saadat Sarikhani Khorami^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Horticulture, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran (UT), Tehran, Iran.
³ Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran. yadollah@modares.ac.ir.
⁴ Bioscience and Agriculture Modeling Research Unit, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

The main aim of the present investigation is modeling and optimization of a new culture medium for in vitro rooting of G×N15 rootstock using an artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA). Six experiments for assessing different media culture, various concentrations of Indole - 3- butyric acid, different concentrations of Thiamine and Fe-EDDHA were designed. The effects of five ionic macronutrients (NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, Ca²⁺, K⁺ and Cl^-) on five growth parameters [root number (RN), root length (RL), root percentage (R%), fresh (FW) and dry weight (DW)] were evaluated using the ANN-GA method. The R² correlation values of 0.88, 0.88, 0.98, 0.94 and 0.87 between observed and predicted values were acquired for all five growth parameters, respectively. The ANN-GA results indicated that among the input variables, K⁺ (7.6) and NH4⁺ (4.4), K⁺ (7.7) and Ca²⁺ (2.8), K⁺ (36.7) and NH₄⁺ (4.3), K⁺ (14.7) and NH₄⁺ (4.4) and K⁺ (7.6) and NH₄⁺ (4.3) had the highest values of variable sensitivity ratio (VSR) in the data set, for RN, RL, R%, FW and DW, respectively. ANN-GA optimized LS medium for G×N15 rooting contained optimized amounts of 1 mg L^-1 IBA, 100, 150, or 200 mg L^-1 Fe-EDDHA and 1.6 mg L^-1 Thiamine. The efficiency of the optimized culture media was compared to other standard media for Prunus rooting and the results indicated that the optimized medium is more efficient than the others.