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Research Article

ScienceAsia 32 (2006): 031-037 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2006.32.031

Factors Effecting In Vitro Microrhizome Formation and Growth in Curcuma longa L. and Improved Field Performance of Micropropagated Plants


Sanghamitra Nayak* and Pradeep Kumar Naik

 
ABSTRACT: Microrhizomes were successfully produced from tissue culture derived shoots of Curcuma longa by transferring them to the liquid medium of Murashige and Skoog (MS) supplemented with 13.3mM BA (6- benzyladenine) and 6% sucrose, and culturing with a reduced photoperiod of 4 hours daily. Microrhizomes were formed at the base of the shoots grown on the medium after 30 days of incubation at 25 1oC. The number of buds per microrhizome varied from 1-4 and the weight varied from 50 mg to 580 mg. Factors such as concentration of sucrose and BA in the medium, as well as photoperiod and their interaction, were found to have a significant effect in the induction of microrhizomes. Sucrose was most effective in rhizome formation, followed by photoperiod and BA in the medium. Microrhizomes were harvested after 120 days of culture. These microrhizomes could be stored in MS media with a low concentration of BA (0.04mM) and in moist sand at room temperature. Microrhizomes were produced in vitro independent of seasonal fluctuation, and sprouted with roots and shoots in the potting soil and were then transferred to the field. Rate of sprouting of microrhizomes was not affected by the amount of sucrose and BA in induction medium, but only by duration of photoperiod in culture. Comparison of field performance of conventionally seed propagated and micropropagated plants revealed relative improvement in rhizome yield of micropropagated plants of Curcuma longa through in vitro induction of microrhizome.

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Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan 173 215, Himachal Pradesh, India.

* Corresponding author, E-mail: sanghamitran@yahoo.com

Received 15 Sep 2004, Accepted 15 Aug 2005