Commercial Production of Hops by In Vitro Technology**

仅在2014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%）。由于供应链短缺和对特定啤酒花品种需求的增加以及采购批次之间的不一致，加拿大的啤酒花酿造商由于产品质量和成本问题而无法在国际上竞争。 啤酒花连接希望通过建立一个稳定的供应来源，大规模生产啤酒花（cv. Sasquatch和Cascade）的植物组织培养技术。啤酒花传统上是通过根茎或软木插条繁殖的，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开发和优化一种有效的微繁殖协议，用于啤酒花品种的大规模分布。 微繁殖是一种先进的繁殖技术，其中植物分生组织快速繁殖以大量生产无病/无病毒的种植材料。啤酒花品种的微繁殖方法是迫切需要的，因为没有替代方法可用于在短时间内产生大量的植物。通过植物组织培养获得的植物由于其无病状态和上级生长而比传统繁殖的植物更理想。此外，这项技术将以显著降低的成本生产植物，并提供直接交付到田间的无病害和无应力植物的可靠来源，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.****