In vitro regeneration of shoots from Garcinia quaesita leaf explants

Garcinia quaesitais an economically valuable plant, which has a huge demand in the local as well as the export market. Lack of good quality products throughout the year coupled with the unavailability of quality planting material is a major drawback in the cultivation of G. quaesita. Thus, in the present study large scale multiplication of G. quaesita using tissue culture techniques was investigated. Leaves and nodal segments were obtained from plants maintained under green house conditions. The effect of benzylaminopurine (BAP) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on shoot initiation from leaf explants and the effect of BAP on proliferation of nodal segments were investigated. The effect of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and NAA on rooting of micropropagated shoots was also studied.

Shoots were successfully initiated by culturing in vitro grown leaves and immature leaves from greenhouse grown plants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 5.0 or 10.0 mg L-1 BAP in complete darkness. Within 24 weeks, 9−12 shoots could be produced from a single leaf explant (10 mm x10 mm). Further growth of G. quaesita nodal explants could be achieved by culturing on MS medium supplemented with 20.0 mg L-1 BAP. Rooting could not be achieved on MS medium supplemented either with IBA (1.0, 5.0, 10.0 mg L-1) or NAA (1.0, 5.0, 10.0 mg L-1).

Keywords: Garcinia quaesita, micropropagation, shoot induction.

J.Natn.Sci.Foundation Sri Lanka 2010 38 (3): 157-162

Doi: 10.4038/jnsfsr.v38i3.2304