Commercial Production of Hops by In Vitro Technology**

仅2014年一年，加拿大就进口了近1250吨啤酒花，价值约1900万美元（自2010年以来增长了33%）。由于供应链短缺，对特定啤酒花品种的需求增加，以及购买批次之间的不一致，由于产品质量和成本问题，加拿大啤酒花酿造商无法在国际上竞争。Hops Connect希望通过建立一个持续的啤酒花大规模生产供应来源来扩大其生产能力(cv。大脚野人和喀斯喀特)在加拿大通过植物组织培养技术。啤酒花传统上是通过根茎或软木插枝繁殖的，这是一个非常缓慢的过程，需要大量的投入、时间和空间。该项目的总体目标是为啤酒花品种的大规模分布开发和优化有效的微繁协议。微繁是一种先进的繁殖技术，通过快速繁殖植物分生组织，大量生产无病/无病毒的种植材料。由于没有其他方法可以在短时间内生产大量的啤酒花品种，因此迫切需要啤酒花品种的微繁方法。通过植物组织培养获得的植物比传统繁殖的植物更理想，因为它们的无病状态和优越的生长。此外，这项技术将以更低的成本生产植物，并提供可靠的病害来源和无压力的植物直接运送到田间，确保持续供应，以满足对适合我们地区的啤酒花品种日益增长的需求。****

In 2014 alone nearly 1250 tonnes of hops were imported into Canada with a value of ~$19 million (up 33% since 2010). As a result of supply chain shortages and increased demand for specific hop cultivars as well as inconsistencies between purchased batches, hops brewers in Canada are unable to compete internationally due to issues involving product quality and cost. Hops Connect is hoping to expand its production capacity through the establishment of a consistent supply source for mass production of hops (cv. Sasquatch and Cascade) in Canada via plant tissue culture technologies. Hop is traditionally propagated through rhizomes or softwood cuttings, a very slow process which requires much input, time and space. The overall objective of this project is to develop and optimize an efficient micropropagation protocol for the large-scale distribution of the hop varieties. Micropropagation is an advanced propagation technique in which plant meristems are rapidly multiplied to mass produce disease/virus-free planting materials. Micropropagation methods for hop cultivars are urgently needed as there are no alternate ways available to produce vast numbers of plants over a short period of time. Plants obtained through plant tissue culture are more desirable than traditionally propagated plants due to their disease-free status and superior growth. Moreover, this technology will produce plants at significantly lower cost and provide a dependable source of disease and stress-free plants delivered directly to the field, ensuring a continuous supply to fulfill the increasing demand for hops cultivars suitable for our region.****