Abstract

Commercialized sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) was used to sterilize young shoots of cashew cultivars selected from the Hung Loc Center, Dong Nai province. In the rainy season, all shoots were contaminatied and died after 6 days of culture with whatever concentrations of NaOCl and duration applied. In the dry season, young shoots were selected from the pretreated cashew trees. The contamination rate was 27% and survival rate was 63% for the TL11/2 cultivar when these shoots were sterilized by 30% NaOCl for 40 minutes. There is a variation of contamination rates among cashew elite cultivars (PN1, LG, TL6/3, MH5).