High frequency plantlet regeneration from cotyledonary node cultures of Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.

Abstract

High frequency plantlet regeneration was achieved in cotyledonary nodes of Aegle marmelos. Cotyledonary nodes from 1 mo. old in vitro grown seedlings of A. marmelos were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with benzyl adenine (BA) (0-8.8 mu M), kinetin (KIN) (0-9.4 mu M), and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (0-1.14 mu M) either alone or in combinations. The highest regenerative response was observed on medium containing 6.6 mu M BA+1.14 mu M IAA where approximately 86.6% of the cultures responded with an average shoot numbers of 487.5 per explant in 7-wk time. Cultures maintained on KIN-supplemented medium showed very poor response. In vitro responded shoots were transferred to root induction medium consisting of half-strength MS supplemented with auxins IAA, indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), or alpha-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Rooting was best in medium Supplemented with 14.7 mu M IBA. Rooted plantlets were acclimatized and transferred to the field with 80% survival rate.